sad news on the home front about Pak Lah

i had a strange feeling life has been going too well here for too long, and today i read the star online about Pak Lah not defending the Umno Presidency. I've never been too affected by political news before, but this piece of news really hit me deep down inside. I've come to really love and respect this man, in spite of whatever weaknesses or faults that only come with him being as human as you or me. It's a bleak evening for me here in otherwise beautiful Tassie...

i hope there really will be a silver lining in this huge grey cloud.


PRESS RELEASE FROM YAB PERDANA MENTERI

1. I have been in public service for over 45 years. I have served this country as a civil servant, and as an elected representative of the people. I have served as a member of government and feel blessed to serve in the highest office in the land. I have seen this country grow from a small, poor nation into the modern, prosperous Malaysia that we live in today.

2. Despite our successful track record, for the past few years I have firmly believed that our nation is standing at an historic crossroads. We must reform some elements of our nation, we must evolve and mature, or we risk losing all that we have gained in over 50 years. Throughout this time of reform and transformation, we Malaysians need to be united now more than ever before.

3. In all my years of service, I have always been guided by my conscience. I have always placed the interests of the nation above all else. It is with this in mind that I announce I will not stand for the Presidency of UMNO. I do not want a divided party and governing coalition, but one that is united and harmonious. A united Barisan Nasional is vital in order for the country to face the global challenges ahead and for Malaysia to become a fully developed nation, with prosperity and fairness for all.

4. My current term as President of UMNO ends in March next year. There are several initiatives I intend to see through before I leave office. These initiatives are important because they are necessary to move our country forward. These initiatives are needed to regain our country's competitiveness. They are necessary to enable our nation and our society to face the challenges that the world has in store for us. I ask all Malaysians to unite and join me in working towards making Malaysia a better place.

5. First, our institutions need to be reformed and strengthened.

i) The judiciary needs to enhance its stature and credibility in the eyes of the public. Before I end my term, I will table a Parliamentary Bill to establish a Judicial Appointments Commission. Such a Commission will propose judicial appointments in a transparent and merit-based manner.

ii) We also need a strong and effective anti-corruption body that can combat the cancer of corruption without fear or favour. Before the end of the year, I will table a Parliamentary Bill to establish the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, with greater powers of investigation and enforcement. The Commission's oversight structure has been modelled after the successful ICAC in Hong Kong.

iii) I also intend to complete the establishment of a Special Complaints Commission to enhance the integrity and effectiveness of enforcement agencies

6. Second, I have long spoken about the need to ensure that the fruits of growth are more equitably distributed. In the recent Budget, I explained the government's commitment to strengthening and enlarging the Social Safety Net.

We will speed up work on this front to help poor and disadvantaged Malaysians, regardless of background, race or religion.

I will also work to ensure that tangible results can begin to be enjoyed in Iskandar, as well as the development corridor initiatives around the country.

7. Third, I would like to see the Government and Barisan renew their commitment towards building a united and harmonious nation.

Society has seen an alarming decline in inter-racial and inter-religious relations. Various issues have cropped up which threaten to tear the very fabric of Malaysian life.

We need to tackle these issues head-on, through dialogue; deal with the issues constructively and even-handedly; ensure greater clarity and certainty for the people; and focus on the points that unite us, rather than the points that divide us.

For this reason, I will convene a BN Convention early next year. This is a long-term effort that I hope to kick-start and continue to contribute towards.

I fully intend to see through my mission, and I am sure that my successor will carry on this agenda.

I want to hand over to my successor a Malaysia that is capable of weathering the challenges of a dangerous global economy, a Malaysia not of rich and poor, of young and old or of the city or the kampung (village), not of south and north, and not of one religion or another but of unity and harmony.

This is not the time for infighting and narrow politics but for greatness, unity and cooperation.

Tuan Puteri Kembali Ke Istana Budaya

"Gabungan menjadi Stephen Rahman Hughes dan Tiara Jacquelina diharap dapat disaksikan semula menerusi PGLM 3."

"Pasukan kreatif PGLM3"

nurul hisham wrote about PGLM3 in today's berita harian (thanx nurul!). for some strange unexplainable reason, i can't seem to be able to cut and past the article text, but this is the link:

www.bharian.com.my/Current_News/BH/Tuesday/Hip/20081007073821/Article/

PGL the Musical returns next Feb!

– pinch me, I must be dreaming... YES, IT'S OFFICIAL!

PGL was originally written as a movie, but I always envisioned it as a musical. I’ve always been a huge fan of musicals and have always dreamed of the day Malaysia would have a Miss Saigon, Wicked or Phantom of the Opera of our own.

The film had seen enormous success beyond our expectations when it became Malaysia’s first entry to be considered for an Academy Award and Malaysia’s first film to be screened at the Venice Film Festival. PGL the Movie has now been screened in more than 20 countries worldwide. However, a brief meeting with Singapore’s own Andrew Lloyd Webber, Dick Lee, convinced me that creating PGL as a musical would give this story its richest fulfillment. This begun our wonderful journey into the magical world of musicals.

Through Dick’s captivating score, Roslan Aziz’s mind-blowing musical direction, Adlin Aman Ramlie’s moving and poetic lyrics and script, and the imaginative and innovative directing, staging, design and choreography by the creative team comprising of co-directors Adlin Aman Ramlie and Zahim Albakri, Set Designer Raja Malek and choreographer Pat Ibrahim, PGL The Musical transports its audience into a magical world that transcends time, uniquely reinventing the world of majestic kings, gallant warriors and a mythical princess who followed her heart.

Beyond the enchantment of watching well-loved characters such as Puteri and Hang Tuah tell the story of their love, longing and pain through powerful ballads, and watching the Sultan of Malacca sing and dance along with the rest of his kingdom, the story of PGL explores ideas and themes of loyalty, destiny and following one’s heart which resonate through time.

Every time I watch a video recording of the show, I am struck by the enormity of the production, and still cannot believe that we managed to put on this show!

I am continually amazed by the vision, talent and tenacity of our team of over 100 dedicated and gifted cast, technical and stage crew, management team and creative team – the success of PGL The Musical is the fruition of the collective hard work and commitment of all these people onstage as well as backstage.

However, as I wear two hats on this production, I must say that nothing in the whole wide world can compare to the experience of the audience’s appreciative response to PGL the Musical, from where I am onstage as well as after the show, night after night. The standing ovations and thunderous applause and the rock-concert style enthusiasm during every performance and the love and appreciation from the fans who have watched the show over and over again, have made this whole adventure so worth the effort, and has been our greatest encouragement to want to do better and better and to give more, every time.

We are humbled and grateful to be recognized for our work by receiving 8 awards at the 2007 Boh Cameronian Arts Awards for Best Director, Best Original Script, Best Lighting design, Best Set Design, Best Costumes, Best Music, Best Supporting Actor, and the coveted Audience’s Choice Awards. Isn’t it wonderful that you can follow your dream and be recognized for it too? Someone pinch me, because I must be dreaming!

Merdeka and Terawih in Tasmania...

looks like i'm not that far away from Malaysia though i'm thousands of miles away in Tassie. It's wonderful-mostly, anyway.

I recently met a group of Malaysian students studying here in Tassie at the University of Tasmania. We spent our last pre-ramadan day together at a barbecue held to celebrate Merdeka on 31st August at the Hobart Mosque. What a spirited and lively bunch. I love the energy and spontaneity of youth, the adventurous spirit, the fearlessness and confidence and a love for life they seemed to have. A wonderful man named Imam Sabri and his lovely wife Tun play the role of unofficial foster parents to this bunch, and Effendi and i were fortunate enough to be invite over to join them in celebrating Merdeka at the mosque and even for an evening of Buka Puasa and Terawih at Imam Sabri's. Terawih Tasmania-style was a fun experience as it was at Sabri's home, and the cheeky young students would say to him "Imam, keep the verses short,k... do the express version tonight!" which was really sweet. "Do lots of surah Al-Ikhlas, Al-Kauthar!" (some of the shortest verses in the Quran). The Imam was quite amused and tried to accommodate the requests by the youngsters which was really nice.

Imam Sabri is quite a guy. Apart from being THE Imam of Hobart, he was also made "Hero Of Tasmania" last year, fancy that. All the people in Tasmania and they chose a Malaysian Imam to represent Tassie, i'm really impressed by the level of tolerance and openness practised here. I'm made to understand he played an integral role post-9.11 in making Australia understand that Muslims are not at all about terrorism and bombing, and that Islam really preaches peace and love. He would hold inter-faith dialogues with representatives from synagogues and the various church leaders at the university, which is always well attended. Never short of a story to tell, he would fascinate me whenever i engaged him in conversation about Islam and Darwin's theory, the Big Bang and other niggly bits that used to bug my conscience between science and religion. And Imam Sabri would have all the patience in the world to answer the same questions again and again, always calm and gentle with a perpetual smile and twinkling eyes, like a gentle father or grandfather. Nothing like the sword-wielding jihad-invoking images you see on the net. His frday prayer sermon is read out from a laptop. He talks very intelligently about Islam and his sermon is relevant to society today, never patronising, never making you feel you will go to hell no matter what, with DOSA! and NERAKA! being the keyword of every line like i've heard of other lectures... okay, not that i've attended very many of these events..

Anyway. I'm really happy to have met the MelayuTasmania group of students, mostly because i now have a solution to my Hari Raya worries! Fortunately Nehran, the president of the group, has offered to make me a few varieties of kueh raya, PHEW! i had images of me slaving over the oven trying to figure out how to fake a few kueh recipes and get away with it.

So that was Merdeka and Terawih. The only un-Merdeka thing i felt was...where were the OTHER several hundred Malaysian students, the non-Malays on Merdeka? That ain't so sweet. I would have loved to see more interracial interreligious interaction going on. We must try and get this right at school level back home, or it really sounds like trouble to me. I remember back in my school days when my "gang" used to ALWAYS comprise of Malays, Indians, Chinese and some "others" in between too, and we had lots of fun and would never dream of being without each other. Would be tragic to think times have changed, but it's not too late for the next generation to make up for it or the mother ship would be in BEEEEG BEEEEG TROBLE.

back in Tassie after a crazy 9 day trip home!

I'm back!

Made a quick trip back to KL for a 9 days and now am back in beautiful Tassie again. The weather is a lot milder now that the beautiful spring flowers are out and we've bade farewell to the winter. Why does it feel so good to be back here? Gee.. i hope i don't get so attached i can't tear myself away.

The trip home was a whole 9 days of madness as i tried to squeeze in a myriad things like meetings, photo shoots, interviews, pre-production discussions with the PGLM creative team AND doing the mommy thing. Am glad i got to set Mila and Dani up in their new school year, got to do mommy duty and got their after school activities sorted out, met their new teachers etc. Boudeng, Nora and Eja kept me occupied all day every other day with meetings after meetings. Had a very good creative direction meeting with zahim, malek and pat about the changes and enhancements we are trying to go for in PGLM3, then Eja went to town arranging a thousand interview and photo shoots for her to use whilst i'm away in Tassie. Chris A managed to get so many wonderful(can i say that of my own photos? ha ha) shots in a whole day of shoots that went on til 2am! In between, stuffed my face every other day at Buka Puasa at Borneo Rainforest. (oooh the very mention of the name makes me long for char kueh teow and my chilli crabs!). Caught up with my girlfriends Noren, Mal, Ida and Sylvia. Threw a poolside birthday bash for Mila. Attended parent-teacher evening at Alice Smith school for Dani's class. Managed to have dinner twice with my mum, sister Carol and her cutie pie daughter Erin. Thank goodness we live in the same apartment block or that might have been impossible too. So it's been a full on 9 days, KL style.

Meanwhile it's been really a messy situation with politics, Anwar Ibrahim, people being thrown in and out of detention under the ISA, people not knowing if they're coming or going anymore, and i cried a little for my beloved country in turmoil.

Now i know why it feels good to be back here in Hobart.

a hidden nirvana... discovered down under in tasmania

since a picture paints a thousand words, i'll let them do the talking and let you judge for yourself if i'm right about Tasmania being one of the most beautiful places on God's earth.

solitude and timelessness, 41 degrees south

sunset by constitution docks, on my walk home from salamanca arts centre this evening. a dusting of white on the peak of Mount Wellington in the background.



at the InFuse workshop today



busy Salamanca market from the window of the Salamanca Arts Centre



"Ladies Purse" - one of the displays at the Conservatory at the Royal Botanical Gardens

I'M BAAAAAAAACK!!!!

Been meaning to update my blog for more than a month now since I quietly left Malaysia, (slipped out of Malaysia) and couldn’t really find an impetus to write up til 20 mins ago when I sent an sms to Noren and Chedd to tell them what a wonderful experience I was encountering, something I missed so much and something I don’t even remember experiencing for a long, long time.

Anyway. The whole long story in sequence will – or may, come on a later date but for now I must gush…before the moment passes.

I have found myself agreeing to live in Tasmania, 41 degrees south of almost everyone else in the world, for 3 months. Up til 2 months ago, I could never have seen this happening, let alone plan for it and allow it to happen, but its one of those serendipitous things you can’t explain and don’t care to know why it happens I guess but I AM HERE.

My MOMENT came as I was walking home from a 2 day seminar and workshop called InFuse, organized by the Salamanca Arts Centre, and for the last 2 days, arts practitioners from all backgrounds – documentary film makers,a digital choreographer, a roboticist, a puppeteer, several introverted artistic people with “extrovert tendencies”, musicians, writers, street art performers and..myself, amongst them, have come together to discuss their work and to share ideas on hybrid, or inter-medium, or cross-disciplinary arts practice. Its been a most exciting 2 days for me and has thankfully, got my creative juices flowing, oozing and bubbling all over again. My notebook is filled with sketches on ideas for set design, new ways of presenting my past work, things I want to try next…I’m re-energized, ready to rock n roll again - it’s wonderful what I got out of it. Its absolutely vital for an artist to engage with his peers, and to interact and share in forums such as this, I feel.

That’s the short version of the long story which will or may come another time.

I left the session earlier than I had planned, and decided to walk home instead of ride in a car. There began that defining moment where I fully understood what this whole elation was about – I had just discovered the meaning of solitude, and timelessness, and never appreciated this luxury ever more than just then. I walked from the Salamanca Arts Centre past the pier with the cool Tasmanian winter wind blowing in my face, loving the fact that I was on my own, and not on any kind of schedule, walking at my own pace, taking my OWN SWEET TIME, for once. It's the most liberating feeling ever, to walk around incognito, without having to worry about my bag being snatched by a psychotic guy on a motorbike, or yelling out to my kids as they glide on their heelies on the sidewalks, and to just be with myself, soaking in the moment and just loving the time and space and loving how at that moment, nothing at all mattered. Bliss.

I have just walked straight into my apartment by the pier and headed straight for my trusty laptop to gush before the feeling passes, but now I realize there’s no real rush at all here for me – I’m living a very different life suddenly, where time doesn’t really matter, the air is the cleanest I've ever breathed, people aren't concerned about appearance and wearing brand-name clothes, conversation is far from being about who's attending what party and which awards show and wearing what, nobody is interested in being judgmental about anyone else, there are no queues at the bank or the cinema ticket counter, people are so genuinely helpful (not because they're after anything from me, for a change!) and I’m loving every moment of it.

Meantime, I’m feeling a little homesick thinking about the family and my friends that I’ve left behind, but it’s probably a good time to be away from the madness that I read about on my reuters and star sms news alerts.

Suddenly, that really feels like a world I’m relieved to be able to leave behind. Good luck to the rest of you, I'm happy in my simple new-found Utopia.