Monday, November 12, 2007

A tale of two countries





Demonstration in Malaysia for a clean election. 10 Nov 2007.

Highlights: Water cannons and chemicals doused on protesters. Media cover-up. Interesting you-tube clips.

Contrast this with: Demonstration in Australia for climate change. 11 Nov 2007.





They caused closure of the whole stretch of main street in Melbourne (which is admittedly quite a nuisance). Only a few policemen are seen. And yeah no water cannons. By the way, they have nice music, just like a band marching to and fro from one end of the street to another. Lots of tourists take photos.

The DPM said having street demonstration is not part of Malaysian culture. Point to ponder... What exactly is defined as Malaysian culture? Who should define what Malaysian culture is?

I don't think demonstration is part of Australian culture too or any culture. I don't think demonstration has to do with culture.

The stark contrast is the action of the police and the media. The police here didn't use water cannons and they didn't arrest poeple nor use road-block and get all paranoia. They let it happened peacefully. The media didn't black out any stories. Wonder how those ppl in Malaysia dare call themselves journalists. Muppets should be a better word.

Maybe this is why Australia is a 1st world country and Malaysia is still a 3rd world country trying to play catch-up...

Felt so sad about this.. A lot of people really need to grow up and stop living in a dream.

On another note, today went for a stroll at Glenferrie.



Nice suburb. Lots of shops and Asian and Middle Eastern eateries. For those studying in Swinburne Kuching, this is what Swinburne's Hawtorn campus looks like:



Now I'm on holiday mode. Just borrowed 10 novels and magazines from the library on Friday. Now trying to juggle my time reading and watching Korean drama. Will be commencing on my Summer Vacation Scholarship at Royal Melbourne Hospital on Tuesday. So they will be another 6 weeks of 930-5 kinda routine..

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess Malaysia does not want to allow peaceful demonstrations because they would be out of power if the messages of the demonstration are to be conveyed and disseminated freely in the society. So they are not keen to catch up with the concept of democracy at all.

Aleckii said...

oooohh... I was here in Kursk, Russia watching the 4pm news on Al-Jazeera when this news item came on. And my gosh was I embarassed at our country or what. The newscaster was saying, 'and they call themselves a democratic country'...

My blog's here- intrepidlywrong.blogspot.com. I'll be adding your blog to my blogroll.

Are there any of our ex classmates who blog also