Global peace

Uploaded by luxen
I shot this at the Global Peace Forum at PWTC. I read about it in the papers a few weeks before the event. The thing was suppose to start at 9AM and Norzie wanted to hitch a ride with me to the place. She called and said we'll meet in the office at 7:30AM.

I woke up at 6AM to send Chui Yan to the LRT station at 7AM. Reached the office at 7:30AM and Norzie just woke up, we finally left the office at 9AM and reached PWTC at 9:45AM, 5 mins after Tun Dr. Mahathir started his speech. Missed the first part of the presentation. We ran into Sufi, Tun's press secretary on the way up the escalator, he help lead us through the security in the hall.

There was a lot of camera crews (still and video) when I went into the hall. They were all crouched in front of the stage taking his picture. I thought what the heck, since I brought my new camera along I did that too. There was a bunch of VIP's sitting behind me as I crouched in front of them shooting visuals of the stage and Tun.

The hall was fully packed with people. There were people of different nationalities everywhere. They started adding chairs for the other reporters that were standing. I sat down next to this lady who whispered to me that their were no foreign diplomats in the hall and I pointed out the front VIP seats that they might be seating there instead. Awhile later, she whispered that they were clapping for Tun. I thought that was amusing that she's such a pro Tun supporter. I got up to go shoot more visuals and then sat next to Ifa who was there with Anwar to report on the event for my show.

After Tun finished his speech, we when of to the press centre to watch the rest of the presentation. I saw a lot of bloggers there in the press room on their laptop. Even Malaysiakini was there editing their video. I had the most horrid piece of Roti Canai. I think it was a defrosted Roti that was heated up. It was hard and tasteless. Norzie pointed out to me this kwailo reporter that was seating with us. She was eating the roti canai too except that she had spread the curry very carefully on top of the roti like jam to eat it. The roti was so hard, it was like toast.

After that, we when to the opening the war crimes exhibition by Tun. They let in all the VIP's first and asked some of us to wait. There was a few old dudes wearing tags that said 'Participant' and were getting inpatient finally they pushed their way in saying they were with the press. I thought, fuck it, I really am with the press and I walked in too. Earlier, I had given my media tag away to the Harakahdaily reporter, she needed it more than me. I was already wearing my company vest and holding a video camera. I think it goes without saying, I'm most probably with the press.

Who ever did the exhibition on the war crimes were really good at it. It was really graphic, they had a sign out there saying no entry to those under 12 years of age. There was a lot of disturbing images in there. They had people screaming playing on a loop over the speakers. Just a few months ago, in the same exhibition hall, I was there for the UMNO's exhibition on Rancangan Malaysia Ke-9 and they had astronauts and what not. Now, the hall was totally different and it turned into a house of horror. There was part of the exhibition with strobbing lights and I felt faint walking through it. Those with epilepsy problems should avoid that area.

At the end of the exhibition, they played John Lennon's Imagine. You could still hear the screaming from the other speakers and the song was playing from a different speaker... was wierd.

After all that gore, Norzie said she was starving so we when back to the press room to find lunch. The rest of the 'pirahnas' had already eating almost all of the beehoon. There was just enough for half a serving so I gave that to Norzie. After awhile, it was time to go interview two of the speakers.

We spoke to this former Democrat senator. She was just dripping with praise for Tun. For a Malaysian to hear what she was saying, it was a bit out of this world. Another lady we interviewed was this scientist who did research on Depleted Uranium. She was an odd lady... I'm not sure if she was always like that or she changed after 'finding' herself after getting harrassed because of her research. She said she was a quaker and she supported both sides of a conflict. I was holding the microphone in my hand and thinking, "yeah... right. whatever! So this could be another side effect of Depleted Uranium".

The lady was trying to explain the side effects of Depleted Uranium (DU). She said, the radiation has been blown by the wind to every part of the planet and that is why there is an increase in breast cancer and also diabetics in worldwide and also regions closest to the warzone. She said there was no cure and nothing we can do about it now except prevent futher use of DU. I thought, "fuck, we're all going to die! Damn you Bush for using DU ammo!". I asked her then where was the safest place to be on the planet and she said Malaysia would be a good place since we're on the equator. She said how the wind patterns work, the DU would be the least around the equator.

Though I'm a bit sceptical about all her correlation between cancer, diabetics, low sperm count and DU, it is a scarry thought if it was true. Ini semua salah orang Amerika!