Read Aizuddin Danian’s entry titled Blogs in the NST about his interview and discovered that the issue regarding my wheelchair was highlighted. That article touched on Project Petaling Street and mentioned the name of filmmaker Yasmin Ahmad and three more well-known socio-political bloggers – Aisheman, TV Smith and Mack Zulkifli.
Oddly, or expectedly, Jeff Ooi’s name was left out entirely. He was not even credited for being the person instrumental in prompting fellow bloggers to write to Malaysia Airlines regarding the mishandling of the wheelchair and the shoddy treatment at the Lost and Found Office. The following is the one paragraph mention of my case:
| One recent example was spinal cord injury victim Peter Tan (himself a blogger), whose wheelchair was damaged when he flew from Penang to Kuala Lumpur. Through an extensive network of links within the blogging fraternity, the case prompted surfers to flood the airline company with pleas for action. |
Nevertheless, Jeff being awarded the Freedom Blogs for Asia is testimony of his influence. He has taken up the task of informing the interested public on pertinent socio-political issues where the mainstream media fails or refuses to report. He takes the lonely path where others fear to tread. This is a man of courage. This is the man who invokes respect, whether one agrees with his views or not. This is one man we need more of.
Here I would personally like to thank Kimberly Low, Ashok Kandiah, Lucia Lai and all who have sent letters or emails or made calls to Malaysia Airlines, and of course to Jeff Ooi again who made all these happened. I believe that had expedited the process. This is the collective power of blogs at work. This is how we should all use our blogs – contributing to the betterment of our fellow humans.
It’s really heartening to see the human spirit and compassion still alive – sometimes even among people we hardly know, but of whom each person’s heart is sincere 🙂
hi peter, You better prepare yourself for a bandwidth overload on monday… hehe
There have been lots of good signs of blogging evolving in Malaysia though I can only tell from over here in Melbourne byu reading whatever articles I can from the newspapers online. 🙂
But am still happy that Malaysia is once again doing its best to move forward and noticing these things. Just hope that we won’t have such dumb founded things like blogs influecing political votes later. -.-” simply ridiculous.
anyway, glad to hear that finally the many local blogs are able to pack a punch in expressing disappreciation of certain things. 🙂
Jinny,
That is the beauty of it all – strangers helping each other. There is hope yet.
eyeris,
The last time something like that happened, I had to request for extra bandwith to cope with it. We shall see… 😀
dannyFoo,
Blogging, if used responsibly, can do a world of good. Like all things good and useful, it can be manipulated to do otherwise. We have to be vigilant of such abuses and not let it proliferate and spoil it for everyone else.
it’s good to note that nowadays more people are aware of the power of blogging esp. the interaction between bloggers. countless times now we notice report on blogging or bloggers in the media.
the blogging community has come of age and bloggers are now reaching out to help each other. we share the common love of blogging. we share our stories, our grumblings (on govt. policies!), our personal life, our predictment and all that. we then can relate to each other, thus the call (indirectly too) for advise and help comes naturally to us.
peter, i’m glad to be one among the many who helped out (sending emails to MAS). thank you for showing your appreciation to us, though it is not necessary.
hey pete no prob! looking forward to see u next thursday. mwahs
lucia,
Every little bit helped. Thanks again. See you on Thursday.
kimberlycun,
mwahs. :D. Are you sure you will not oversleep again this coming Thursday?
Happy to see blogging is being highlighted in a better light.
Heartening to see the union in the blogosphere.
BawangMerah,
There is a lot of good a blog can do. It is only fitting that we are portrayed as such and not let a few spoil the name of the whole community.
mrkiasi,
Where we can help, we should, especially with the wide reach of our blogs. It is a good thing despite the different things we blog about we come together when assistance is needed.