Malaysia Kini 5th Annivernsary Dinner

It was a rather big gathering for the, what I'd call, the `alternative' circle of KL. Editor-in-chief of Malaysia Kini, Stephen Gan was visibly pleased with the crowd who braved the risk of getting raided by police to attend the dinner.

The who is who in the `alternative' media and social groups were there. MGG Pillai - Father of internet journalism, Dina Zaman - GongKapas Times, Hishamuddin Rais, Kam Raslan, BBC journalists, DAP members, SUARAM fellas...I should have sneaked the registration list home.

Even the SB was there, according to Patrick.

I had the priviledge of getting a seat at the cool Word Up table, that was behind the table that was marked `1' where the famous duo was seated -- Jo Kukathas and Patrick-The-Voice-Of-Malaysia-Teoh. They came on as the dinner's entertainment after two fairly long but not-boring speeches from Stephen and Prem. I don't remember laughing so much even at their regular Instant Cafe Theatre performances, the two are simply, phenomenal.

About 70 tables were sold, about 700 people paid to attend this dinner. Less than 30% of these put up their hands when asked by Patrick whether they are subscribers of Mkini...

I didn't put up my hand, I'm so ashamed of myself, I should sign up tomorrow morning, first thing in the morning.

Detoured to Adam Farouk's gig @ Tun Shin's La Bodega after that. The same people I saw from the dinner turned up also, in fact, they were the same folks I saw at Zahim's play (Notes on Love, Life and Painting & The Smell of Language) the night before. KL is so small. KL is small but you still take longer than it should to get to your destination.

Should we be grateful for the comings of new malls, discos, new towers and sophisticated facilities in the hotels? Patrick raised an interesting point in his performance. He said the word `grateful' is ever-so popular in Malaysia, he recapped how his father used to point at his nose and went:

"You should be grateful for the education I'm paying for you, sending you to overseas to study, university and colleges..."

"You should be grateful for what I've done for you, feed you, cloth you, care for you..."

"You should be grateful..."

He looked at his father and said: "But you are supposed to do all these, you are my father!"

He then said we folks get the same from government, headlines read 'The public should be grateful for the social and economical development that the government is working so hard on' and the likes of that.

"We should be grateful for..? They mean to say that we should be grateful for the traffic jam, the power failure and the tolls we have to pay everyday going to work??" he asked.

I will leave it to you to think about this.