Wednesday, July 16, 2008

10 years ago...

About a decade ago, I was in a house in Jalan Setiamurni, Bukit Damansara. Masa tu bertugas. I had traipsed all around Kuala Lumpur, only to end up back there for a press conference.

In the middle of it all, pandemonium broke out. The house was surrounded by uniformed and non-uniformed personnel of several bodies of the law. Within minutes into the press conference, hell broke loose!

The window beside the front door was broken, and eventually, the door too. Men in ski masks, balaclavas if you must, rushed in, brandishing what looked like M16s.

Having heard the commotion, the person holding the press conference, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, was brought to a safer part of the house by family and friends, while idiots like me rushed to the front door to see what was happening.

The moment the men rushed in, aku dok terpaku. It was something frightening for me as I had never ever thought I would experience that in real life.

Several members of the Press, tak silap aku dari suratkhabar lain, and a member of the foreign press were roughly handled. I kept snapping photographs with my company camera.

Then the men came after me as I snapped their pics.

What do you think I did?

I ran screaming like a little girl la! What the f**k did you think I was going to do???!

They gave up chasing a hysterical queen and everything else, happened like it was reported on the news. Anwar was arrested.

Now... ten years later, it's happened again.

Again he has been arrested, and perhaps in no less a brutish manner.

Aku tak sempat tengok berita, but I knew they reported his arrest, which was no surprise.
The part everyone forgot to highlight was that not only did they arrest him before his time was up at 2pm (et they have an excuse for that), they also sent in the men with balaclavas again! (CLICK HERE to read more)

I remember back then I felt the fear of living in what was almost a police state... where you could be dragged kicking and screaming from your beds when all this happened before me. Now I feel that same dread again.

My heart goes out to the family of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The law is the law... and no one should be above it (someone tell that to certain people within the government)... but this is simply too much.

Everyone has rights.

My heart especially goes out to Nurul Izzah. It's been almost a decade too since I last spoke to her. Wonder if she still thinks Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins rule!

Whatever you guys think, consider this. What if it happened to you, or your loved one.

CLICK HERE to read Izzah's account if you've never imagined a daughter's pain and another side of the story the mainstream media conveniently forgets to highlight each time. I remember the sh*t I got for my story on the family's account even back then... so my heart goes out to my colleagues who work in this period where jouirnalistic freedom is so enjoyed (that does come with a hint of sarcasm.. you think???!!).

Away from all that (had to get that off my chest)... I spent the whole lounging (meaning bumming) at home. Tak sihat lor.

But before midnight I parked my rear end kat Pavilion (managed to avoid any stupid road blocks, the result of more paranoia).

I celebrated the dawn of my birthday (literally sebab shooting sampai 5 lebih pagik ok), with Stacy, Zahid, Shawal and Riz, apart from Cherry, Nurul and the rest of the production crew of Aku Stacy and the TV commercial shoot for the Boh tea campaign.

It was fun, and passed time playing with my N95 8gb since leh wireless to get online. Cool! A lot of pics, so brace yourselves.
Ok la.. enjoy it. Tomorrow one more shoot for the commercial. More pics then. Toodles!


PS - Wonder what happens with Raja Petra today?

The location


The hardoworking crew


The talents... getting ready...


...in all sorts of ways...


...putting on the final touches...









...while one of them starts serenading...



...still getting ready...


...some are ready and waiting...



goofing about, while recording Aku Stacy




...the men...


and finally... it begins...


and they think of the next scene...


...more preparations...


brooding...


hat tricks...


and more touching up...


even by non-appointed help in the department...


and still more...


minor adjustments ... to the shirt!


and coming up to the last scene...








and it's a wrap!!!... for today...

A bonus video

0 comments: