Better by the day

I got an sms this morning about a press conference at 12 noon. I was reluctant to go because it means I need to let my boy stay back after kindie. It costs me RM2 each time LOL. He gets lunch and a little extra time to play with his full day care friends and watch TV. He likes it actually.

But the issue on Kampung Buah Pala bugs me. I had been following up since the first day so it is rather incomplete if I just go off to KL for a whole week and not knowing what will happen to the villagers. Like I said in my previous post, I do not want to take sides but the faces of those people living there do tug at my heart. The young mother who was cradling her one month old baby yesterday told me she didn’t make any plans to move. No packing at all. The old uncle whom I talked to, told me he ‘tunggu saja’. This morning when I showered (before I got the sms from the CM’s press sec), I do imagine demolition team going into the village, before the villagers can do anything. I don’t want to see people getting injured, those adorable children traumatised, those elder folks scrambling to safety with their weak limbs….

And that’s when the saint-lilian-wannabe mode jumped in. Can’t help it because I am always the ‘i can save the world with my camera lens’ positive person. News are coming through that there are going to be lots of Hindraf activities going on in the island. Things are blurry, news are twisted, people are getting emotional (and I don’t blame them).

The chance came when I was told about a press conference. Jeng, jeng, jeng…..I can ask the CM about it. So, I went. Going to places like these mean I must be properly attired or risk getting kick out by the guards. That means, must make-up lah, must put on proper blouse and slack lah, proper shoes lah….and not forgetting checking all my barang-barang to see that there are batteries, tripod working, SD card in the camera…MP3 recorder charged (yes, I kiasu, so I record with video cam and also MP3 player).

Some Chinese press send as many as three reporters to one press conference. There are all the big TV cameras handled by big burly guys. But now, I am getting a little bolder. Size doesn’t matter one…….what I produce, how fast and how accurate are more important. And most of all, why do I go? I went because I want an answer to all those things that bug me. The folks at Kampung Buah Pala want answers and I want to get it on my video.

I got my video, the answers but then, will people listen? I guess not all will because sometimes, people want to hear what they want to hear only. I learned that 10 persons can listen to the same thing but that same 10 persons will come out with 10 different angles. It depends on who are their bosses. For me, I am my own boss so I hope I have somewhat convey the message through my video. It is up on my Youtube account and I have submitted to Malaysiakini too. Hindraf is going to have a nationwide protests and that include burning LGE’s paper effigy. Will they stop and listen to what LGE said? I can only pray they will.

For me, I have faith still. I have faith that a caring CM will not allow the demolition scenes I visualised to happen. And I hope people also have faith that as the CM, he will be able to ‘tame’ the developer because after all, the developer needs the cooperation of the state machinery for their future projects. When people allow doubts and anger and irrational thoughts to set in, that’s when chaos happen. CM said, “In life, you must be able to differentiate who are your enemies and who are your friends. You must be able to know facts from lies…”