Today

I had to go through 2 roadblocks just to get from Cyberjaya to Sri Kembangan.. what's up? I guess they're looking for people in yellow tees. Man I wished I wore one just to prove my theory.

As Cepe mentioned though, I really hope everything went well for those who'll be at the Dataran today. Let's pray that the usual thing when people with guns and people without guns meet each other does not happen.

Hidup umpama roda. Saya tak takut dengan kata-kata awak.

UPDATE: 10:55 PM

Well, I'm back from KL. Yeah I guess my assumptions were true. The roadblocks does have something to do with the assembly. Here's the excerpt I got from The Star Online about the roadblock:

According to PLUS Highway, traffic from the north along the North-South Expressway has been diverted to the Kota Damansara and Damansara exits as the Sungai Buloh-Jalan Duta stretch has been closed. At press time, no reason was given for the closure.

Oh yeah, like we are so stupid right? According to some people I've talked with, there were even roadblocks as far as in Nilai. The roads all over KL were blocked and the Masjid Jamek LRT station was closed for the day. As of the time I'm writing this, sources are saying that Jalan Istana is closed to all vehicle. Pergh, talk about overkill..

Anyway, were the roadblocks really necessary? What was really the intention behind the roadblocks? To stop people from going to the Dataran Merdeka right? Well.. that could be it but to me, I believe there's also another more subliminal reason for it: to burden the people, untuk menyusahkan semua orang.

Why am I saying this? Well, here's why. It's a quote I've heard from a guy:Bodoh la diorang ni. Nak buat rusuhan pulak.. Menyusahkan orang
Tadaa! What better way to stop people from supporting future assemblies? Make them hate it. Well, who wouldn't? It's a Saturday. I know many people who organized open houses today being bothered by the jam and not to mention the MCOBA Dinner at Hotel Istana. Who wouldn't hate being stuck for hours in a car right?

I don't know if you guys agree but I personally believe in this deliberate annoyance by our venerable police force who happens to be more interested in causing jams while Adik Nurin's murderer is still at large. The government owned media is also as always downsizing the exact numbers of people attending the assembly. Here's an excerpt from The Star Online:

Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd of more than 4,000 people at Jalan Tun Perak here when they tried to march towards Dataran Merdeka for an illegal assembly, said Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan.

Now, look at this picture..

Man, that really is more than 4000 people don't you think? What ever happened to journalism ethics? Hurm hurm hurm..

Personally, I hate being political. I never wanted my blog to be a political blog but there are some issues that I feel that I really need to address. Sorry to those who don't agree with me. It's a free, democratic country and I'm exercising my rights. So should you. Do comment. I'll gladly reply.

Images courtesy of Nik Nazmi & Nathaniel Tan

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You’re currently reading “Today,” an entry on pelangi hitam putih

Published:: Saturday, November 10, 2007; by amerhadiazmi

Amirul Hafidz 8:37 PM

I was thinking, maybe some of our friends were among those people in the crowd joining in the rally. This post tells that you weren't among them I guess.

Tak study aku satu hari ni tunggu update pasal mende tu. Lusa ada two papers. Haha.

amerhadiazmi 10:53 PM

I wasn't there. Tisk

Amirul Hafidz 10:28 AM

Man, I've long given up on The Star. A rally that big, and there're only 3 articles mentioning about it. And one of them is about the traffic jam. Imagine what would've happened if BN or Pemuda UMNO were the organizers, I bet the next day the news will be all over the mainstream papers. Sorry, but I can't stop from being political watching this.

You should start reading Malaysia Today Hadi, or anything in that form. I know you're not into politics really, but there's a whole new world that a lot of people people have yet to discover there. I'm just sick of our mainstream media.

amerhadiazmi 11:28 AM

If BN were the organizers, it'll definitely be front page news. Remember Khairi and Pemuda UMNO organized a riot during the Condi Rice visit? There was nothing peaceful about that. He even barged through security to get into the building. Guess what, it was given permit. Ironic if you consider that it was his father-in-law who invited Condi in the first place. Oh, and let's not forget the thing he did with a bunch of Mat Rempits sometime ago. That too was given permit. Heck, if they ought to ask for permit to held lumba haram under the name of UMNO, it will be given permit.

The problem with new media such as MalaysiaKini and such is that not many people really have access to it. To some people, going to the shop and grabbing the newspaper at the stnad is easier than staring at a 14 inch screen everyday. It's a ritual of sort.. people could not accept the fact that you can get the news elsewhere other than the newspaper. Not to mention the government is also spreading Fear, Uncertainties and Doubt about blogs and the Internet.. Some other people just don't even bother about all such things and resort to reading tabloids such as Metro and Kosmo. In the mind of many of us, legit news is still the mainstream news.

News in Malaysia are never fair. The UMNO Assembly was featured in 8 pages of Berita Harian. 8 for godsake! Buletin Utama dedicated half and hour to air unrelevant things about the assembly such as the delegations joking and making fun off each other. Where's the real news? They're pushing all the stuffs that's really important just to air politicians being stupid. Who is Pak Lah to say that he is 'pantang dicabar'? He works for us. He's not in any possition to threat us as such.

The younger generations, one with access to wider variety of informations are busy wasting their times on the motorbike, picking up girls and lepak kedai mamak. How many of peple you know have not registered to vote? I'm really wondering what those people are thinking. If people doesn't even have time to bother with such as easy thing like voting, I wonder whether they have time to think about nation building. Well, I guess changing the exhaust pipe on that RX-Z is more important right?

Tisk..