From The Pusat Rakyat Loyar Burok

Here’s a whole bunch of pictures from events at the Pusat Rakyat Loyar Burok at Bangsar Utama!

11th December 2012: Lives on the Left: A History of the Malayan-Singaporean Left with Dr. Poh Soo Kai (founder of Barisan Sosialis/ political prisoner for 17 years).

But first, an introduction by Boon Kia Meng.

His English is many levels above even the English-educated of today. He spoke of Singaporean history – something I’d admit that I don’t know much about, about Operation Coldstore, the Singaporean Internal Security Act, how Barisan Sosialis formed out of PAP, and how the British gave independence to the party who would be friendly to them and allow them to continue trading (as after World War 2, the British had heavy financial losses and relied on the resources in British Malaya).

He also spoke of how Lim Kit Siang was a reporter, something I’d not been able to Google (though I might someday look for his memoirs.)

Then there was that interesting bit about how back then, Singapore was very much considered part of Malaya, and that a remerger was always considered. To today’s generation however this would be unthinkable, in how different we’ve become!

Fast-forward to 25th January 2013: Lives on the Left: The History & Experience of the Malaysian Left, with Dr. Syed Husin Ali (intellectual-activist/former ISA detainee/currently Senator for Selangor State).

Again, hosted by Boon Kia Meng, who did an excellent documentary about rising housing prices called M-C-M’: Utopia Milik Siapa?.

Some of the interesting snippets I got out of this, was that Tun Dr. Ismail (then the Home Minister) had Burhanuddin al-Helmy arrested (and Taman Tun Dr. Ismail fittingly has a road named Jalan Burhanuddin Helmi!) He was arrested under the Internal Security Act when Ghazali Shafiee was the Home Minister. He was also once the President of Parti Rakyat Malaysia (formed out of Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya, Angkatan Pemuda Insaf and Angkatan Wanita Sedar).

He also mentioned something about new parties attracting new members, and that we had a lot of sponsored capitalists who don’t understand the game. Very enlightening talk!

23rd February 2013: Hari Darwin 2013. Foong Jin and me take a ~~selfie~~ no wait, I don’t think that word had been invented yet. So we were just good ol’ camwhoring.

Pepper Lim emcees the event.

Cool T-shirt!

Post-event activity was a bunch of people jamming to The Beatles.

11th May 2013: #UndiMsiaChats 42: Whither The Future Of Democracy In Malaysia.

This UndiMsia chat was with Member Of Parliament for Lembah Pantai, Nurul Izzah Anwar, who was coincidentally the MP for the very venue this talk was in!

But first, emcee Hoe Jian You speaks of… aliens.

Nurul Izzah is a very affable personality, and the crowd found her very cool. Then again, I guess that’s what happens when the MP is young and humble!