This entry is long overdue. The event, Perdana Global Peace Public Forum was held on the twenty second of June 2006 in PWTC. Still, I’d just like to talk a bit about the event.
It all happened 2 or 3 days before the event. This friend of mine, 100 had just returned from Illinois. He called me up and we arranged to attend the forum together.
From the name of the forum itself it is quite evident that this is a Tun Dr M’s initiative, considering that the word ‘perdana’ is almost his trademark or copyright.
Five speakers was invited to give talks. There were Dennis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck, both ex-UN asst. secretary general. And there were Dr Helen Caldicott, an expert in nuclear weapons and it’s related diseases; Dr Michel Chossudovsky, a professor of economics in Canada; and Prof Francis Boyle, a law professor in Illinois.
I’ll continue the part after the lunch break with part two of the
The two former UN officials spoke about Americans invading Iraq as illegal in international law terms. The Americans had invaded Iraq despite the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq e.g. nuclear bombs, biological bombs etc. Now, America is spreading the false news that Iran has the capability to launch nuclear bombs in 3-4 months time. Both of them warned that Iran would likely be the next target of this war.
They also highlighted the atrocity of US and British soldier towards the civilians and citizens. Such as the Haditha incident that was exposed a month ago. The Haditha incident was about the US troops patrolling in the town of Haditha when a landmine exploded and killed one of the soldiers. The rest of the soldiers simply went into a few nearby houses and started shooting the innocent families in the houses. Only a young girl out of the three families (houses) survived by pretending to be dead.
There were Q&A sessions after each speaker had finished his presentation. Two form 5 kids were sitting next to us. They observed that all these people going up to the microphone were just to hog the airtime, hoping to appear on TV. I couldn’t agree more. All these idiots, instead of asking intelligent questions, they kept on and on and on with their shallow opinions and ancestors’ stories. Stupid suggestions like dissolving the UN and start again, getting rid of the 5 permanent security council members and what not, and even Guru Nanak, the founder fo Sikh religion was mentioned.
Oh, there was also this uncles who sat next to me. He started chatting with me. 100 simply couldn’t tahan him. He asked… I mean ‘interrogated’ me as we talked. I barely know him for more than 5 minutes and he had questions, that I felt uncomfortable answering, thrown at my face. He also asked 100 to take a picture of him with Tun Dr M during the lunch break with 100’s camera. Then he started telling me how he doesn’t like photographers chasing him around with cameras. Huh? WTF?!
Back to the forum. After Q&A, it was lunch. FREE [read this, you stupid sonofabitch DCHL! I repeat FREE] lunch, sponsored by TDM. The otak-otak was superb! [Now, MLM companies, learn this from our ex-PM. FREE lunch or FREE seminar or FREE anything at all, then I might consider to believe you.]
Those on my table launched their mini forum with all kinds of conspiracy theory. E.g. US whacked up Iraq and soon maybe Iran to protect Israel; US economy is based on war, no war no money; Bush has a stake in this Carlyle Group that invests in weapon companies and … They do have a point. US is in Iraq partly because of all those unsaid reasons. But some of their arguments are a bit misinformed, according to 100.
I’ll continue the session after the lunch break with part two of the entry…
