I Can See Clearly Now, The Rain Has Gone

"The stark difference between the BN-led State Government and the PR government is how casual events like these are. People crowded on the stage, the stairs and all around the stage."
- Chan Lilian

I was one of the 3000-odd audience, along with my parents, at the Malam Penerangan Setahun Pemerintahan Pakatan Rakyat (literally, Night of Illumination [in commemoration of] One Year of the People's Coalition Rule) at Penang's Esplanade. We actually stumbled upon this event while on the way to a few banks, and being the "speech lovers" we were, hurriedly finished our errands and headed back to the Esplanade.

We arrived in the middle of YB Jeff Ooi's oration and stayed until the end of YB Karpal Singh's speech at 12am, 8 March 2009 -- marking one year since my first voting experience.

YB Karpal's first words were, "Saya tidak takut. Kawan-kawan di sini, saya tidak takut. (I'm not afraid. With all of you here, my friends, I'm not afraid [referring to the recent threats by the opposition towards him].)"

I took the opportunity to walk up and down the crowd, taking in the view of what I consider a very historical event. Plus, there were no police officers (at least none in uniform) nor FRUs present to "protect" the place. There was no need.

This is the beauty of Penang.

According to CM Lim Guan Eng, in two years' time, the whole of Penang will be engulfed in free wifi, and citizens above 60 will receive incentives "for making Penang's economy what it is now". This means in three years' time, my father will qualify for the incentive and be able to surf his favourite sites for free. What joy!