Shin, Bak Kut Teh,Yee Aun and the UPP

In that order or is it jumbled up?LOL.Had breakfast with the flamboyant, illustrous , legendary Shin  , and the young, vibrant and very outspoken Yee Aun who I foresee one day will either be a Cabinet Minister, an Opposition Leader or a Jedi.We had bak kut teh which Shin called 'sahur' but it was at 10 so I guess we missed the time la.Later retreated to the neighbourhood friendly mamak for some milo ais.It was fun, and lookinf forward to doing it again. 

 We discussed several interesting topics, basically the formation of UPP, IKD's website and disagrees.net and how we should go about it.I believe UPP and disagrees.net should be apolitical in nature.That way we would be able to express ourselves beyond party lines and loyalties.Perhaps this would be the starting point of a newer, more vibrant form of democracy in this country.One that transcends race,religion and party.One that puts society and social justice beyond individual needs.

As for myself, I have yet to fully commit myself to a single party.Though to most of my friends I come across as being left winged and have Opposition-based tendencies, the simple truth is I have yet to feel in solidarity with any party,as in I feel their struggle strongly want to be a part of it- though I am very much grateful for what keADILan and DAP in particular stands for - values and tenets like social justice, equality and freedom and democracy.Though I do see myself being immersed in the democratic process in the not too distant future,I would at the moment be working with Shin and Yee Aun on disagrees.net and UPP.I feel their concepts (disagrees.net basically is a group blog for us to share our thoughts on issues affecting us all and UPP or Unit Pendidikan Politik is a unit dealing with the philosophy and ideology behind politics, stuff like Descartes, Thomas More, Sartre and basically politics in its purest form, untainted by corruption, will-bending, compromise and political trade-offs.UPP is funded , at least in part, I understand by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation)

I sincerely believe that by talking, and creating awareness, youth today that for reasons of their own, do not take seriously issues affecting them, will be roused from their ignorance, apathy or lack of interest towards their surrounding and take a harder look at issues that are affecting them at present, and have prospect to affect them(or their neighbours, friends, someone related to them in this intricately woven social fabric of ours) in the near future.After all, we shape the world we live in, and I for one, sure as hell would not want to live in a society that displaces me in the future.Rev Martin Niemoller's poem comes to mind

First they came for the Communists,

  and I didn't speak up,

    because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,

  and I didn't speak up,

    because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics,

  and I didn't speak up,

    because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,

  and by that time there was no one

    left to speak up for me.

 

We vote every day, with our intellect, our keyboards, our voices and our pens.That's my opinion on speaking up against something that is wrong, biased, racist etc.Be it in politics, religion, policy of governance finance, anything involving anyone who themselves are unable to voice out for any reason.So for those of you who feel like you fit the bill,feel the vocation and would like to join up, please contact Shin or even myself.The next meeting would be coming up soon (sometime two weeks from now)

And on another note, Pelf,  if you're reading, have removed the block on anonymous posts as per requested. :)

Have a beautiful second half of the week, people.

 

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