MALAYSIAN ARTISTES FOR UNITY

Thursday, 15th May 2008,

A date dave avran, publicist for Covenant Artists Management ( CAM ) told me i should mark down and set aside....as about 120 personalities from the media, communications, entertainment and sports industries were coming together to send an extremely sensitive but strong message,

" Malaysian Artistes for Unity" ( MAFU)...via a song and video, i. e. music video " in an effort to promote racial unity" in our country, Malaysia,...

Pete Teo wrote the song, " here in my home", Yasmin Ahmad and Ho Yu Hang directed the music video...

....for free...no gimmick, NO HIDDEN AGENDAS, NO PROPAGANDA, no nothing..., just an honest humble desire to promote what was actually an original concept of our founding fathers,to establish a
"BANGSA MALAYSIA", a Malaysia for all Malaysians, no preferential treatment for any particular race, religion, society, colour or creed...." where every Malaysian is entitled to believe in and live in the light of the TRUTH that...

" all MEN are created equal, that they are endowed by their CREATOR with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are LIFE, LIBERTY and the pursuit of HAPPINESS..."

Somewhere along the way, in our 50 years, sadly, it may have gotten lost, but now the message is still so relevant, the wish and vision of our founding fathers...

...now, pete teo and our personalities all coming together as one...to echo the same sentiments, to stand for a cause that "we all know in our heart of hearts is so so right", but for some unknown reason, it was so, repressed, bottled up, so underground, in the subterranean wish list of our hearts, but now ready to be ejaculated and explode like " when you " shake a champagne bottle and uncork it...."

I have always believed in the adage " United we Stand, Divided we fall". I personally like to "build bridges, not walls"....a principal i try very hard to live by...

my initial impression was that " if it's anything that will bring our people together for a cause like that, "i want to be a part of..." no second thoughts, period !!!

( and i always thank Dave for that," he is always on the ball",... "his finger constantly on the pulse",... "hands right on what's on"... to get to the "news and news makers that matters"..., " to be at the right places at the right times", " finger always on the trigger" ....)

and so, when i went for the Press conference at the 23 rd floor of menara pan global, on that day, thursday, 15th may, 2pm....( the PC was scheduled for 3 pm ) as usual, dave and I were early, it's always nice to be early....

....sitting there all alone with his lap top was Jason Lo, CEO of Tune Talk.com, who i had met when he 1st came back to Malaysia from London, in 1995 or 1996 when i was working under Datuk Effendi Norwawi's Synchrosound Studios in Kompleks Kemajuan, PJ, reporting to Jason's father who was then the acting CEO, Mr.Lo. ( Jason was recording his 1st single "Evening News'...( i think....)...

and so, we said our hellos, chatted a bit and then in walks Alex Wong, Executive Vice Chairman, Group Branding of Pan Global, in his jeans, shirt but with no tie, and a jacket, you could immediately tell that Alex is down to earth, no airs about himself, we exchange cards, he offers us lunch which dave and i declined cause we already had lunch, so he offers us drinks, which we accept...

alex comes across as pleasant, warm, welcoming, (well exposed and travelled and sharply intuitive) u can tell.... and then dave tell's me, ...Alex graciously consented the venue to be used for the Press Conference, that's just one of his unflinching contributions and that's why he's there....

and then, they all start streaming in, one by one, some solo, some in duo's and trio's, ...

Harith Iskander,( quiet, unassuming, always observing, very humble, very talented, his talents are enough to do the talking for him)

photographer kc kong, ( been seeing him at some of the events we have been attending recently and you know he is good guy, u will just know it, amiable and nice....

blogger Tony Yew, of "yew tube" fame ( ex MAS crew, colleague of my wife.....another good person,......

Sandy Monteiro, senior VP, Asean, Digital, Universal Music Group ( our best hope for anything if our Malaysian Music industry, as we know it,was to get anywhere, Malaysia's most illustrious Music Industry personality),

Yasmin Ahmad( a beautiful HEART, that's why she uses her GOD given talents to reach others hearts, definitely a malaysian who deserves wider recognition, i told her that she needs a real Hollywood agent/manager !),

Ho Yu Hang,( supremely gifted & talented, very very funny and always laughing ) and

some artistes, Reshmonu, suki,maya karin, journalists and they all came, to the "malaysian ark"....of hope.....and unity....

3.45: press conference starts .....

pete teo, ever humble and always reminding the media and all present that " please don't make any statements insinuating or even remotely close to indicate that this project is a pete teo initiative"....that it is a group effort, credit has to be and will rightfully be shared by all who contributed" ...

that was very nice, humble and "just the right thing to do...( pete teo won over my support in that instant.....)

so after pete's opening remarks, he invites the key movers to the main table, Sandy Monteiro, Yasmin Ahmad, Ho Yu fang....and they all took their turns to say why they got involved in the first place, and why "the rest of us should support it too"...

that was followed by a video of "the making of "of the song and music video, followed by a message by most of the people who took part and then the floor was open to questions and as a finale, a photography session of all those who contributed and were there....

a great event.... now launched...if you want to see and know more, go to seasoned bloggers,
Tony yew's blog ( "can you see it" ) and dave avran's ( "spankin' the monkey")..., or you can go to this link:

http://www.malaysianartistesforunity.info/


...they got all the pictures, videos and i tell you , believe me, i'm not trying to be humble or whatever you want to perceive me as , but those guys write better, are seasoned and professional journalists and are definitely very much less long winded as i am and more straight to the point type of writers and bloggers....( you must excuse me, i just started to write and blog, since April 2008...)

so in conclusion...." Malaysia is a nation full of good fortune, with so much to be grateful for, and many of us are still not spared of suffering and being alienated,being treated like second class citizens, that certain privileges are only reserved for a few selected peoples... Like most countries and every generation, we too have produced enemies of human freedom, and they have attacked the very institution that Almighty GOD has created...,

that " all MEN are created equal...." and like in every generation, there will be defenders of " Freedom" and the vision of our founding fathers, past and present leaders, whose visions and dreams of a
BANGSA MALAYSIA, "ONE MALAYSIA for ALL MALAYSIANS".....can and will be realised...
if we all just came together.......as ONE.

pete teo ( even though he has vehemently mentioned and stated that he does not want to be credited for this initiative, we cannot deny that he has to be give due credit, respect and support for having started this "fire"

....and the very least, all the rest of us can do is to spread this message, through the very many mediums available to us today, most effectively, word of mouth or viral, as they termed it,....

tell it to our neighbours, families, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, children, cousins, uncles, aunties, friends, associates, colleagues to anyone and everyone,.... just talk about this....do our best to promote it.....

now, pete teo and all the people involved in this project have rallied all the artistes , but it must not just stop there, it MUST involve all strata of society, political, social, religious,...etc, every level must be involved, for this dream to become a reality,

because, MALAYSIA is all we got, for most of us at least......this is OUR COUNTRY......we the people MUST chart it's course....for DEMOCRACY ( greek for PEOPLE - RULE.....is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people...."

we can make Malaysia a better place, for all Malaysians...may almighty GOD answer the prayers of all those have been praying for, working towards, and relentlessly pursuing the dream of ...

"BANGSA MALAYSIA"'


sincerely and truthfully,

dani'el kannan