Saturday, August 18, 2007

In Solidarity with Wee Meng Chee

Thanks to the hapless MCA and Barisan Nasional Government, my schedule this weekend and next week will turn upside down. We had already planned a general election pre-preparatory committee meeting in the morning tomorrow. We have the Merdeka Dialogue in the afternoon at Crystal Crown Hotel, Petaling Jaya.

And yesterday (Friday), my boss who works us really really hard (for a good cause), called for a Mandarin forum "In Solidarity with Wee Meng Chee" in the same Sunday evening at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. Being part of the organising committee for the above, plus having to speak in the evening as well, will pretty much drive one nutty ;)

(And I'm supposed to finish my weekly column for Oriental Daily tonight!)

For those living in Melaka, the same forum will be held on Monday evening as well at the DAP Melaka State Headquarters.

Anyway, here are the details of the forum, for those who found time to read my blog, as well as those who can make it:

1. Klang Valley
Date: 19 August 2007 (Sunday)
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (No. 1, Jalan Maharajalela, Kuala Lumpur)
2. Melaka
Date: 20 August 2007 (Monday)
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Dewan Rakyat, DAP Malacca State Headquarters (Jalan Pandan, Malacca)
The distinguished panel of speakers includes:
* Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary-General
* Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader
* Josh Hong, Political Analyst
* Yeo Yang Poh, Former Bar Council Chairman*
* Tony Pua, Economic Advisor to DAP Sec-Gen
* Jeff Ooi, DAP General Election E-Campaign Director
Hope to see you there! Below is the forum write up in Chinese.

民主行动党周日举办“明智爱国,声援明志”讲座会

为了表达关注黄明志改编国歌即将被政府对付的下场,民主行动党将在8月19日(星期日)晚上7时30分在吉隆坡与雪兰莪中华大会堂一楼会议室,举办主题为“明智爱国,声援明志”的讲座会。

当晚主讲者包括国会反对党领袖林吉祥、律师公会前任主席杨映波、民主行动党秘书长林冠英、民主行动党全国大选电子选战主任黄泉安、时事评论人唐南发、民主行动党秘书长经济顾问潘俭伟等。

他们将从各个角度谈论黄明志的创作《我爱我的国家》,同时分析这首歌曲所要表达的含意,还有政府及执政党领袖为何要大肆炒作这个课题,包括为何要援引煽动法令或国歌法令来对付黄明志。

由于黄明志所创作的《我爱我的国家》一曲,道尽了许多国人的心声而引起执政当局关注,其目前上载Youtube的录影短片,在互联网上的浏览人次高达100万,甚至名列Youtube十大最受欢迎的录影短片。

随着黄明志通过卫生部长兼马华副总会长蔡细历医生向政府及国人道歉后,政府为何还要采取法律行动对付黄明志,确实令人百思不得其解。因此,民主行动党准备通过各种声援行动,捍卫黄明志的创作自由权。

正值国家庆祝独立50周年之际,国人原本兴高采烈要庆祝这个极具纪念性的重要日子。然而,面对政府采取高压行动抑制异议,包括一方面要黄明志道歉,另一方面又要对黄明志采取法律行动,让人开始怀疑这个国家是否变质了?

民主行动党诚邀所有关心黄明志命运的爱国人士,通过出席上述讲座实际声援黄明志,并表达你们对这个事件的各种看法。让我们以另类的方式来欢庆及反思庆祝马来西亚独立50周年的意义。

3 comments:

Tek Seang said...

Amidst the current furore over Wee Meng Chee's rendition of the national anthem and other works, we should also take a look at one other piece of his work. This piece is a documentary style work, posted in two parts in youtube, introducing his hometown, Muar (in Johor). Those who has seen these two clips will agree with me that, it was professionally shot with well-crafted story line touching upon the history, industry and attractive places in Muar. But what is more important for us to realize is that, Meng Chee is not just a loose cannon, as many would probably accuse him of now. That, he is also capable of producing good quality media with mature and rationale story telling.

Anonymous said...

The current questioning of what whether Meng Chee apology is genuine is pivotal if you ask me. It reflects a dangerous desire to control the truth no matter what reality is. Those who want to go after Meng Chee don't care for the truth, they just want their own version of it no matter what. This is what Meng Chee was fighting for in his video and his gift to Malaysian.

If Meng Chee prosecution was to go through, my vote is to get the hell out of this country as the fascist has taken over for sure..

Anonymous said...

他到底煽動了誰?

票選本年10大風雲人物,黃明志應可高票入選。

馬來媒體如臨大敵文攻筆伐萬箭齊發;內閣部長男女老少輪番上陣窮追猛打;《內安法令》、《煽動法令》、《愛國法令》爭先出閘張牙舞爪;“褫奪公民權!” 、“不道歉就報警!”、“道歉後還是要被對付!”喊得比“默迪卡”更響徹雲霄震耳欲聾,其對象不是安華,不是林吉祥,是這位只有24歲的年輕學子,以及他那首《Negarakuku》。


首相表示將交由總檢察長決定該採取甚麼行動來對付黃明志;可是總檢察長尚未表態,平時在國會習慣了搶著講話的首相署部長納茲里不曉得是否職業病復發,搶著表示將以《煽動法令》對付黃明志。

可是我想問的是︰他到底煽動了誰?

閱讀著本文的您,如果也看過《Negarakuku》的音樂錄像,您的情緒有因此出現異樣,忽然變得仇視您的友族同胞、並想和他們斷絕來往嗎?您有因此而覺得馬來西亞不再是你的國家、決定從今以後國慶日不掛國旗(人家說不掛國旗就是不愛國)嗎?您有覺得我們的種族關係突然變得緊張、國家安全突然受到威脅、內心深處突然感到不安嗎?

人民的腦袋不是長雜草的。歌曲的內容,你到任何一個新村的任何一家咖啡店坐下來傾耳一聽,不是在天天開講嗎?如果黃同學一首5分種的歌曲就可以“煽動種族情緒”及“威脅國家安全”,國內咖啡店早就成為恐怖份子基地了。

大人們痛斥黃明志“傷害了人民的感受”。此話當真皇恩浩蕩。原來在高官眼中人民是有感受的。講這句話的人,去年當那位牛津高材生發表“華人趁火打劫”及“種族輸贏論”的時候,是剛巧聽覺失靈所以聽之不聞,抑或覺得某些人民的感受特別脆弱,容易受傷;另一些人民則較為遲鈍,或早已沒有感受,所以不會受傷?

牛津高材生Khairy的言論煽動種族仇視情緒,內閣非但沒要求他道歉,連首相都表明道歉與否交由高材生自己決定;現在黃明志道歉了,卻還要被“依法處置”,負笈牛津和留學台灣,原來真有差別!內閣部長們如果真的認為發表破壞國民團結言論者,不論道歉與否,都必須受到法律制裁,那就勞煩總檢察署援引同樣的法令對付那位挑起種族課題的牛津高材生,還有一些喜歡舉劍喊口號、動不動就叫人“回唐山”之流。

國家獨立50年,我國的種族關係有沒有從最基本的互相容忍,進步到互相包容、互相尊重甚至互相欣賞?或相反的,種族關係漸行漸遠,甚至逐步惡化?這些問題,當政者有沒有正視過呢?這次的風波,原本可以是一次讓執政者瞭解民心所系,讓全民進行理性探討,促進種族諒解的良機。可惜,有些人為了私欲,偏愛當鴕鳥。

50年的春風化雨,如果單憑一個年輕學子唱一唱就能造成族群關係緊張 、國民團結被破壞,首先該檢討的,是誰呢?

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