|

PREAMBLE Many of you may or may not know it but I am a Penang blogger. Last weekend, my family and I drove to KL and I took the opportunity to attend the Sunday night candlelight vigil which is held weekly to repeal the draconian ISA and to lobby for the release of RPK, the Hindraf 5 and all the other ISA detainees which have been unjustly detained. This event is held at the PJ field opposite Amcorp Mall.
Before I left for Penang, I contacted Crankster and asked if she could pick me up as she lives quite near to where I do. I had never met her before but I have a very high regard for this young lady who writes with such a mature and sharp mind that for many months now, I have longed to adopt her!!! ;) *Pic taken by Mr. Wong Piang Yow
Amazingly, she agreed and after a few phone calls, we were on our way to PJ. It is quite funny how she picked me up. We both had no idea how the other looked like and all we knew was that we were both female :) and that I would be waiting outside Carrefour(Wangsa Maju) for her and when she arrived, we both ended up talking on our mobiles until we saw each other ;). Thanks Crankster for everything and this is for you!!! When we arrived, she parked at some obscure car park and my heart was pounding with fear but I was mollified to see how cool and composed she was. On the way to the field, I realized that I had forgotten my candle but Crankster promptly produced one for me. By the time we arrived, a crowd of about 300 people had gathered and from a distance, the sight of glowing candles in the dark and the sombre mood completely awed me. Here, these people had come prepared with fortified candles burning bright in paper cups and all kinds of contraptions invented to ensure that the breeze would not snuff out the flame burning bright. I thought to myself, even if the wind did blow out the flame of the candle, it cannot snuff out the bigger flame burning bright in our hearts for RPK and the other ISA detainees.
As I looked around the crowd, I was stunned by the motley crowd that had gathered there, most of them who were wearing Anti-ISA t-shirts. Needless to say, yours truly hurried to get herself a black one. The crowd ranged from the elderly to the young ones! I was just so stunned to say the least at the atmosphere and how passes-by would honk in support and the crowd would raise their candles in response. Awesome! THE CANDLELIGHT VIGIL The evening began with Bernard Khoo getting the crowd together and telling them that Haris Ibrahim was unable to be present due to another commitment. Then, Michael who came all the way by bus from Singapore just to attend the vigil, expressed his hope that the vigils could be held on Saturdays in the future. After that, Puan Marina spoke to the crowd to give an update on RPK's case and an appeal for readers to click on the Malaysia Today advertisement for them to earn revenue so that they can sustain the costs of running the server for Malaysia Today.
READ MORE HERE: http://masterwordsmith-unplugged.blogspot.com/2008/10/penangites-experience-at-candlelight.html
|
Hope more someone like you to come and care for.
Drive safely always.