freedom fighter

i was stumbling for my writing assignment, felt pressured to find some story to write about. it really is sad to be forced to do something i would otherwise love to do, making it such a arduous task, taking all fun out of it.

i was quite concerned about the migration issues that's happening in australia. the government here wanted to transfer all the refugees from iran and the like to malaysia, to ease the influx of people in their detention centers, particularly those at christmas island.

i kinda realised that the media has not really provided lots of information on this issue, until i met my interview, Gerry G. it's quite sad coz i thought that as a non-australian citizen, i probably must have missed out or got some facts wrong on the background story and hence was not too bothered, thinking that people coming on those boats were crazy, taking such risky journeys, fighting all the time at detention centers, being demanding and forceful to be accepted into the country, as how the media has painted them to be.

i was not too happy to learn about the Malaysia Solution when the story broke out. i thought it's not fair for australia to accept more malaysian citizens just coz malaysia is willing to take in the refugees that were coming to australia, to do a 1 malaysian for 5 refugees was tipping it too much.

Gerry enlightened me a lot that day. he was really kind, offering to take up the interview almost immediately on the day that i had emailed to the general email address provided. he drove me on his car to the cafe, and he talked at lengths about his story, why he had fought so much for the migrant issue.

here is a man, almost half a century old, yet his calling was roaring through almost every pore of his, to fight for peace, even if against the government, and to extend love to those that most people shun away from. and even though you may expect him to be angry and full of unreasoning that is of most protesters, he speaks of love and forgiveness, to let go because people are just born ignorant.

here is he and his car, full of stickers. i wonder how he manages to clean his car.... but it is pretty awesome to know a man who is willing to let his car to be such a carrier of his message, everywhere he goes he wishes to eradicate racism and speak for the voiceless minority.

am blessed to interview him, but struggling to do this article now. yikes.