If you visited Kamunting today, do share your citizen journalist eye-witness accounts in the comments below:
Blog reader Rakyat@Work comments:
Way to go folks. Keep it up. Thank you all you great people. God bless all of you. Tell RPK that many more ‘reserve’ supporters (those like me who cannot make it for the trip) are still around. Don’t worry, we will continue to support and uphold him and family in prayer as well. Have fun. Cheers. Wish I was there.
1142: The crowd is singing ‘Negaraku‘ now before dispersing. They have lots of lots of flowers and cards outside the camp, but these are unlikely to reach the detainees.
Another contact at the scene reports that the crowd earlier had sung two numbers, ‘We are Malaysians‘ (sung to the tune of ‘We are the world‘) and a ‘Selamat Hari Raya‘ song. “Everyone is so cheerful and glad to be here,” says my contact, adding that Marina was touched by the show of support. The turnout today is estimated to be in the region of 200 to 300.
1133: Some 200 people are now gathered outside the Kamunting Detention Camp, many of them clad in black T-shirts. Among them are Raja Petra’s wife Marina Lee and blogger Amiruddin, the Wartawan Rasmi Laman Reformasi. Amirudin says people in the crowd have been leaving cards and flowers for the detainees.
0955: A couple of other cars with Raya well-wishers from KL are reaching the Taiping Utara toll booth now and they will probably have breakfast in Taiping. A few other cars are expected to arrive from Ipoh as well. They are all expected to meet up in Kamunting at around 11.00am.
0950: Two vans full of people along with a convoy of about seven to eight cars from Penang have left for Kamunting to convey their Raya wishes to the ISA detainees. My contact in the convoy says others are expected to drive directly to Kamunting from Penang, Ipoh, KL and elsewhere.
This morning, some concerned Malaysians are heading to the Kamunting Detention Centre to convey their Raya greetings to Raja Petra and the other ISA detainees there.
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I was there on 1st Oct… Though, there was only me and my boyfriend, we were glad that we actually made it up to the gate. Asked the policeman for permission to pass greeting card to RPK, and he pointed us to the left of the guard house where 2 other police officers were sitting underneath a pondok. I quickly wrote up my card and passed it along with a motivational poster (not written with “No to ISA” though) to the police officers. They were polite and friendly, and promised to hand it to RPK. I hope they did keep… Read more »
From “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly”:
Clint Eastwood to Lee Van Cleef on how to wreck the bad guys:
“Me from the inside, and you from the outside, right?”
Hey! RPK & some 60 more from the inside, you guys know how many are from the outside? …… more & more of the rakyat ….. still counting, sure as the sun will rise from the East every morn!
So, hang in there …… said van Cleef to Eastwood, and you know how the story will end.
Dear Malaysian readers, Due to the sudden demise of our opposition icon and hero, Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam, we have not been blogging about Malaysian current affairs lately. We will publish a series of commentaries on Malaysian politics next week after the funeral of Mr Jeyaretnam this Saturday. The first in line will be Roundtable discussion on a speech given by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew which was published in The Straits Times Review on 29 September 2008. In the article titled “The centre must hold“, Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew told an international audience comprising 200 diplomats and academics… Read more »
it’s a pity i can’t go for the kamunting trip today because i have another important appointment – to attend our college general (major seminary) bicentennial celebration. anyway glad to know that there were so many people there. to penangites, don’t forget the anti ISA vigil tomorrow at dewan sri pinang. also it seems that a group of people are joining the hindraf group to go to badawi’s open house on saturday morning. the intention is to tell badawi to release the ISA detainees. meeting point: bertam toll gate 10.00am, sat oct 4th. wear orange if you can or other… Read more »
Our 2 cars of 10 people left the island about 9.30am and crossed the Taiping Utara toll gate about 11am. There were about 50 cars from Penang and the South parked alongside the road to group up. Met a guy in a RPK T-shirt from KL who was waiting in his car for the rest of his group. Everybody was wearing black. Marina was waiting outside the gate. There were a few familiar faces. There were lots of hugs and kisses to wish her well. It was an emotional scene. Many brought cards, flowers to pass to her. Some brought… Read more »
Sunil,
Thank you for a good job co-ordinating those from south of the border! Hope you guys had a good lunch in Taiping while we were off to Penang for our Penang Assam Laksa and char-kueh teow. 😀
Nice meeting you and do keep in touch!
Yes! I made it to Kamunting. Thanks to Sunil who so kindly waited for us in Ipoh and leading the way to Kamunting. We arrived around 11.06am. Singing was underway when I got there. I was excited to see many people who were there to show support. People were mingling around with intermitten shouts of ‘Free RPK, Free Hindraf 5 and ‘Mansuhkan ISA’. There was no heavy presence of police. Marina was there. It’s good to see her smile amidst the challenges she’s facing. People she needs all the support we can give. Check out some photos in my blog.… Read more »
I was at Kamunting today. It was a great feeling especially getting to meet Marina for the first time. I wish we could do more than send cards and flowers but was told that he is not allowed to receive more than that. Hope that more people will join in to show support.
Selamat Hari Raya Malaysia … Maaf I couldnt be there ..
Way to go Malaysians …
Good on ya, ppl! This is the true spirit of Hari Raya!
RPK my brader jangan gabrah babe. we are with you all the way. you dah dulu2 suka cari pasal dengan kerajaan. heh heh heh. Hey RPK who loves you babe? we all do man. Selamat hari Raya RPK. Eid Mubarak my welsh Prince. Dude you really rattled the ruling elite in Malaysia sampai they had to lock you in our tower of london a.k.a. Kamunting. But like our poor danish King in Macbeth this dude Najib cant seem to wash his hands clean from something he may have been implicated in earlier. ‘Alas poor Yorick’! My poor sod RPK, how… Read more »
had conveyed all you sms messages, sent all the cards to Marina when we were @ Kamunting this morning.
about 100 from Penang & another 50 from KL / Ipoh. not only there were cars and van, motorcyles as well.
Marina had promised to bring RPK to Penang to meet us once he is out and hopefully, it will be very soon.
watch out for updates.
Thank you very much for all your support.
may God bless all of you.
Ronnie
Selamat Hari Raya to RPK and Others
http://romerz.blogspot.com/2008/10/selamat-hari-raya-to-rpk-and-others.html
(with pictures)
I’m not as mobile as I used to be or I would be a regular face at these gatherings. My thoughts are constantly with all those wrongfully detained – those who have neither robbed nor raped nor murdered nor as much as threatened a fellow citizen have no business behind bars! It’s a dreadful, unforgivabke sin to imprison people for their beliefs and for their bravery in the face of corrupt authority. Well done, all you good honest citizens who are keeping the precious flame of freedom and integrity burning. These are the final days of arrogant, greedy and hypocritical… Read more »
You think the government hears The people complaints and unfairness treatments Sounding it loud in the air, letters and emails Maybe they don’t read at all………… Into the hands of the structured hierarchy They are cushioned of the daily affairs They think we are children Playing marbles on the streets Flying kites on the fields and roundabout Tuning up toy cars; have a good run We don’t know what ills the country What the government leaders and little warlords do Arranging and disarranging plots and twists The people suffer tears flow in their eyes Electing them to take care of… Read more »
Anil, Just came back. I leave the “usual” reporting to you and the others. Just two observations I like to share. 1.The Penang group came with their BMWs, Mercedes, and MPVs. I have the good fortune to be “chauferred” in a Mercs. Thanks to my blogger friend Romerz. I was relieved that I didn’t drive there with my red Proton Saga! 2. Of course we couldn’t even get near the main gate. But Marina was there and we “gave” her our unreserved support, flowers, cards and 2 songs as reported. I took a cautious peep into the inside compound and… Read more »
There are rarely chances that you can see so many chinese aunties chanting ‘free free rpk’ and ‘mansuhkan isa’.
It was a great show of support Anil, i was there , baru balik rumah actually, kinda tired.. lol .. this is the difference , tired for being under the sun for the rakyat, not like pak lah who yawns in an air conditioned convention, lol .. it was great … wonderful support, police were quiet, i spotted FRU with batons but they were like 200 metres away from the crowd. it was great, Marina Lee was there, manage to pass my bouquet of flowers to her and manage to see her in LIVE actually .. rather than pics in… Read more »
Dear RPK, 5Hindraf and other detainees in Kamunting,
You all not with us but our prayers are always with you. Please be rest assured that we will fight peacefully until you are released. May God Bless You All.
Let’s pray that RPK and The Hindraf 5 are released soon. Advocate no violence. This will soon open the heart of our prime minister to consider releasing them. These detainees are advocates of truth and justice and this is also based on the fundamental teachings of all religions. Islam seeks truth and justice. Engage them in dialogues and seek the truth. This is what democracy is all about. The people should not be detained for the political survival of some aspiring politicians. The world is watching.
The conscience of the rakyat is locked up together with you, Pete.
“To err is human, to forgive is divine.”
We should thus leave the forgiving to God.
Thank you Anil for keeping us living down under informed. It is good, to see so many conscious Malaysians do care for RPK and other detainees. The spirit of ONENESS, the desire for freedom, will never be beaten by these arrogant men in power.
I was there with my two daughters.
Thanks everyone who can manage to visit the Kamunting detainees and especially our national hero RPK. Our hero will always be re remember in the history of Malaysia as well as those evil ones who put RPK into Kamunting. Those evil ones who done those evil acts during the month of Ramadan will be recorded in the history of the muslim world and in our beloved land called Malaysia. Their generations will never forget what their evil forefather had done to RPK. These evil ones will never die in peace. This is the universal law, whether you believe it or… Read more »
May all those who come with the goodness of the heart
Never from their noble goals in seeking justice depart
They are never there to partake of the food like tarts
When their desire is only to throw their freedom darts
(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng – 021008
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
Thur. 2nd Oct. 2008.