That's right... I said "ADIL~Fitri"

WAITING FOR HARI RAYA RAKYAT
Dean Johns | Sep 30, 08 3:54pm

Every day since the designated date of 16 September, I’ve been hoping against hope that Anwar Ibrahim’s long-promised Pakatan Rakyat power-play would finally happen in time for Hari Raya.

But apparently everything’s still on hold.


So, while sincerely wishing my Malaysian family, friends and all true Muslims everywhere a heartfelt Selamat Hari Raya Adilfitri, I have to confess that I’m feeling less festive than I’d been looking forward to.

I’m a long way from the festivities, too, way down here in Sydney instead of balik kampung at my parents-in-laws’ house in Ipoh.

But even if I could get there I figure I’d hardly feel free to celebrate, what with Raja Petra Kamarudin, the Hindraf Five and about 60 other “suspects” incarcerated under the ISA just a few kilometres up the highway.

The thought of these people caged in Kamunting like animals, denied due legal process and, as MP Teresa Kok famously put it following her own detention, being fed “dog food” would surely have caused my festive makan to stick in my throat.

[Read the rest of Dean's straight-from-the-heart essay here!]