Birthday's and UMNO
It's been a busy week. Chui Yan's mother celebrated her birthday. They got her a cake, but the cake was more for Chui Yan's niece. The cake had panda bears on it. Was amusing.

Getting ready to cut the cake.
One of the panda bear's head is flat, I think too much weight was put on the top of the cake box.

Now this is where babies come from. They come from a huge pot while you're hanging your laundry. Nah, actually it's just my niece in a pot while my maid is drying my laundry. Easier to keep her in one place, otherwise she'll be crawling everywhere.

Today, I was at UMNO gathering at PWTC. It was really packed. My first stop was the control room, there was a whole bunch of broadcasters hanging around sharing gossips and smoking their lungs black. I when into the mini studio and Azizah was preparing her questions while Ally was taking a nap.

Next, I when to check out the locations at the RMK9 booth and the bazaar. The bazaar was crazy, it was really pack with humans. Was a real fire hazard. During the cross-over at the bazaar the human traffic almost came to a standstill as only one person at a time could pass through the small passage we were in.

I had lunch with Azizah. She brought me up to the JPM secretariat. One of Pak Lah's speech writer joined us for lunch. He was complaining about PWTC's chicken. Personally, I have very low standards for food. If it's edible and not a health concern... it's fine by me! The guy was complaining how the cauliflower was not a match for the chicken dish and I was thinking, "damn, I'm just glad the food's free!"

Anyway, it was interesting to hear how the dude helps write speeches for Pak Lah and what are Pak Lah's speech styles. Apparently, Pak Lah likes to repeat the important things in his speech to remind people. So the next time you hear the same thing repeated over and over again, it's something really important that he wants to emphasize. For major speeches, Pak Lah has a team to work on it and different team members work on different sections of the speech.

During the UMNO assembly, he has a team of researchers taking notes of what the delegates say. They don't type out a full text speech for it, because for important speeches like this, Pak Lah uses pointers only. This is one thing that journalist are afraid of and have a hard time following.

Anyway, I personally don't like going to the UMNO gathering. It's only suitable for Malays and some of the things the delegates say are best kept for Malay ears only. I've been listening to what the delegates say, and its a good thing it wasn't fully broadcasted live. Some of them are pretty anti non-Malays. For instance, one delegate said, "Melayu ada banyak kawan Cina, tetapi Cina tak ada kawan Melayu". Now that's one thing I can't stand, stereotypes. I personally have a lot of Malay friends and I know of many other Chinese similar to me. Bashing the Chinese just to pander to the listener is stupid. It breeds hatred and generalization... and I dare say racism.

Other than the hail-Pak-Lah speeches, I personally think it's just one huge show. Everyone has to show their 'unwaivering' loyalty in public and for the media. Some of the politicians show go for acting classes to make it look better.

Azizah interviewing Nori at the RMK9 booth at the UMNO gathering at PWTC. I had to slowly sneak in behind Nori and slowly turn her to face the camera while the interview was going on. I waited until they cut to another camera before reaching in. Good thing the studio director didn't cut back to the interview, otherwise that would have been wierd with two hands on her arms.

Azizah getting ready for the cross-over at the RMK9 exibition at the UMNO gathering at PWTC. I spend half an hour with Azizah going over the questions for Nori. In the end, Nori didn't want to answer most of it.