Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Goodbye, Blog House!

The house at 66, Lorong Setiabistari 2, Bukit Damansara was my idea of a headquarters for the National Alliance of Bloggers (All-Blogs). We signed a two-year lease in mid-2007 and turned it into a place where bloggers could work from or wind down at the end of the day. The exco of the All-Blogs held their meetings in the living room of the house, organised a couple of talks by visiting bloggers, and discussed ways to engage a government that was then hostile towards blogs. We wanted a change in the national leadership and we talked a lot about the coming 12th General Election. The Bangsa Malaysia initiatve was launched here, Marina Mahathir held the multifaith doa selamat for Dr M also at this place, and citizens huddled together to follow the progress of their political parties on the night of the General Election from there. Pro-Opposition bloggers would mingle freely with pro-Government bloggers and they would call one another "brader" every time they met, right up to the last big event - the get-together to mark 100 days since the GE, a party where several people's reps from PR and one from BN, and their supporters, turned up.

Last night, I handed back the keys of the house to a representative of the landlord and brought down the "Blog House" signage at the entrance.

Where will the All Blogs go after this?

Maybe nowhere, but the people who made up the Alliance have moved on: interim vice president Jeff Ooi has gone on to become a Member of Parliament for Jelutong, (DAP) exco member Elizabeth Wong is serving the people as an Adun for Bukit Lanjan, Selangor (PKR), and pro-tem secretary Nuraina A. Samad has gone back to the Umno-owned NST as its managing editor. Some of the exco members have vanished from blogosphere and from my life while a few, including Tony Yew and Li Tsin (who has stopped blogging), still keep in touch.

Perhaps it is time for a closure to a chapter ....

37 comments:

  1. Hi Rocky

    Some move up the ladder, some move on whilst some goes MIA's but the blogh house should stay. It is a symbol of the first taste of freedom of expression that change Malaysian political landscape.

    With those moving up the ladder around, I did not see any difficulty to retain the blog house and runs activities from there.

    It is just my idea eventhough some move to the "govt" camp whilst some goes to the "opposition" camp, their goal is still the same - for a better, more transparent and accountable govt of the day.

    My suggestion is simple - just call for exco meeting and go from there. What say you?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10:51 am

    Rocky
    You forgot to mention of the challenges faced?

    Like the number of times you and a few others had to go up the peace hill and pay courtesy calls to the enforcement authorities?

    We all do not know much of what transpired, but for sure we know that perspectives of some bloggers changed after that. Like Parpukari and yourself.

    This closing down story, appears to be just the finishing touch to the efforts of the forces to break up the 'mighty' bloggers fraternity.

    And cleverly executed by a blogger himself!

    Ah...the way the powers get things done their way!!

    One can never see them directly involved - but for sure they are good at being hidden but well in command of such moves.

    ANOTHER MALAYSIAN

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:01 am

    well, it is what we call opportunity. may all of you can contribute better for the malaysian people.

    zamri

    ReplyDelete
  4. We should not fear change.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous11:16 am

    Is it just me or is the All Blogs all about ousting Dollah (and/or his idea of running the country)?

    Maybe it's just me

    -Naj

    ReplyDelete
  6. I maybe not a big names as you guys are, but for you bro Rocky, I will alwaays be there, let's find a new bloghouse!

    Patah tumbuh hilang berganti!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous11:19 am

    Rocky,

    CLIPS FROM SHREAK PART 2.

    Donkey: Are we there yet?

    Shreak: Nooooooo....


    Prof Awe kecik.

    ReplyDelete
  8. salam bro rocky

    harap bro jangan tutup blog rocky's bru.

    bro akan dianggap zalim oleh pembaca kerana pada satu ketika bro pro opposition tapi bila bro kembali ke govt, bro nak slow down the move..

    dulu eric cantona meletakkan but dia sewaktu kemuncak dan pada usia muda, dan younger generation hanya melihat kehebatannya dalam youtube sahaja.

    harap bro tidak berlaku sedemikian.penulisan bro punyai pengaruh, sila cuci kembali keyakinan rakyat kepada kerajaan.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous11:59 am

    Rock,

    Long...long time not see u. Joint me happy happy at "Tukar Tiub" house...KAH KAH KAH KAH

    I'M VERY VERY HATE "GEROMBOLAN SETAN PUKIMAK"...kah kah kah kah

    hope they all mampos in the next PRU-13...KAH KAH KAH KAH

    Salam...
    [TERER]

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous12:34 pm

    Ah Lock,

    Wa tak boleh tahan mau tengok itu blogger Khir Toyo mau sue sama itu Ng, pasal itu bunglow punya hal. Wa ingat DAP punya olang saja panadai sue olang, sikalang UMNO punya olang pun main sue juga,,ma,,,

    Ah Tong
    DAP Die Hard
    Jinjang

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous12:36 pm

    bro Rock,
    If you need a new premise call pascuale the estate agent in Bangsar.Im sure he can help.

    dino.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous12:43 pm

    Life will still go on.

    Perhaps some 'new kids on the blog' might want to take over?

    Most of you fellas have already received what you wanted, so let's get on with life and look for something else.

    A GOOD MAN DOES NOTHING.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous1:10 pm

    You political bloggers must belong to a very privileged elite to be able to afford a place in such a prestigious and exclusive area way out of reach of the rural folk and urban poor.

    I visited my late gardner's family in his flat in Block 3 Pantai Dalam yesterday and only one lift was working and it had not been working for along time now.

    Try climbing 20 stories bradder.

    Nobody blogs about that.

    Also what has blogging done to prevent the residents of Kg Buah Pala in Penang from being forcibly evicted.

    Charles F Moreira

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous4:06 pm

    u guys are leaving????? Yippeee kaiiiyeeeeee !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    -the calculator

    ReplyDelete
  15. Bro RB.
    Gua ada idea utk refresh n tinggikan martabat para bloggers di Malaysia.Mudah aje.Projek Bangunan naza 50 tingkat tu baru nak mula elok lah kalau kita tempah satu bilik di puncak bangunan tu.Jumpa lah sm nasaruddin.Dia mmg friendly.Hehehe.Kalau dapat mmg tinggi segala2nya di tingkat 50 tuh.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous5:59 pm

    "It is a symbol of the first taste of freedom of expression that change Malaysian political landscape."

    First taste of freedom of expression?

    Hmmm! How about the print magazine Aliran which was born when most people would think that word "Internet" was an inter-convent netball tournament.

    Let's also not forget the rumour mill which spoke the truth which the lie sheets (mainstream media) denied.

    Also have you not heard about coffee shop politics where people spoke about things which the powers that be did not want them to speak about.

    That's the thing with you bloggers who think you are some exclusive new kids on the block, thanks to new-found freedom of expression online, gratis the Government of Malaysia which pledged not to censor the Internet to attract people to invest in MSC Malaysia.

    I guess the IT media is partly to blame for glorifying blogging till it's larger than life and people in this small, exclusive, elite community end up eating their own dog food.

    BTW: I've not seen anything to date about Kg Buah Pala in Jeff's blog at www.jeffooi.com (nor on Rocky Bru), apart from some tweets about the issue.

    What! The plight of some cattle rearers not "sexy" enough to blog about, while you sip expensive lattes in sterile chain cafes with globally uniform decor, where the staff sing out the orders in psuedo American accents.

    Charles F. Moreira

    ReplyDelete
  17. Rocky,

    I feel for the Bloghouse as much as you did. I remembered rearranging the furnitures.

    Then we had this do. My daughter Aishah was asked by you to read a poem by Usman Awang. Later that night, I recited another Usman Awang poem.

    Come our first Ramdhan there, we had a buka puasa. We had a sembahyang maghrib and later we had doa selamat for the ailing Fourth Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. I prayed next to you and Captain Yusof the Ancient Mariner.

    The same Ramadhan, we organised some collection of raw food and supplies for orphanages.

    Then another buka puasa, I temankan Nuraina sembahayang maghrib at the conference room upstairs. Remember what you said to her?

    I will cherish that moment.


    Then at the 100 days post GE party, you introduced me to Engku Imran and his lovely wife, Ezza Fazira.

    God willing, we will have another Bloghouse again.

    It was a good two years.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Writing a blog has always been and will always be a personal matter. Which is why having a Union for it was actually somewhat redundant as eventually people will start to break apart according to their preferences.

    That being said,
    it was nice meeting people there at that LG sponsored open house. They served nice satay and I was saying to myself perhaps to bring a friend or two next time.

    But then again,
    life goes on.

    We can always have gatherings now don't we?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Its inevitable.

    After their first thrill with freedom of speech and PR victorious GE12, many of us lose sight with objectivity.

    They stop to agree to disagree and start doing endless spinning to justify only their point of view.

    They start to impose their point of view on others.

    They refuse to mix and socialise with those not inline with their philospohy and belief. Dissenting view is labeled and condemned.

    They start to enclose themsleves with only the like minded.

    The freedom of speech did not bring Malaysians closer but more partisan.

    That is sad.

    But I made more friends in all the divides of activism and partisanship.

    RPK claim I consider him as enemy which I do not. Maybe we differ now, but we never know the future. There is no permanent enemy. In fact, why should we be enemies. We only differ.

    Continue to engage and the time will come whereabout mutual interest will bring us all together again.

    Hope there is still MRT and NPC to keep that camarederie going.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I met Nurul Izzah and Mukhriz for the first time at the bloghouse.

    oh, and i stuffed in twice more than BigDog that night.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous10:03 pm

    Now, dont tell me ur stopping to blog because you are now head of the old paper you left?

    NSTMAN

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous10:47 pm

    Rocky,
    Did you purposely leave out the big news of the mansion of your indirect boss Toyo?

    It is just how easy people turn coat.

    Johnny

    ReplyDelete
  23. peminatrocky2:45 am

    rocky

    jangan la hanya sebab korang dah mencapai cita-cita tinggi korang, jadi MP, jadi Orang besar surat kabar.. maka semua ideal dalam blogger united semua tu korang abandon kan...

    apa sikap perjuangan macam ni? Dulu pejuang kemerdekaan kita semua masuk keluar penjara tau...

    ReplyDelete
  24. Been there, seen it, done it, so now moving on!!!

    ReplyDelete
  25. goodbye...

    And oh...did someone say most of us got what we wanted?

    Hmmm...yes...true. Got what I wanted years ago!

    ReplyDelete
  26. bigdog,

    hahaaaa.....rocky remarked "nak solat pun takut hantu!!!!"

    thanks for teman-ing me! Bloghouse tu memang berhantu! :-D

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous9:18 am

    Bagus selepas ini ramai la umat ISlam yg tetap akan jadi bodoh bahasa inggeris terutamanya di pendalaman..

    Dan bagus kerana bahasa tamil dan cina juga telah di martabatkan..

    persoalan disini.kenapa pihak yg menagung-agung kan bahasa malaysia tidak mendesak supaya semua sekolah tak kira kebangsaan atau jenis kebangsaan mengajar bahasa melayu,kerana ini akan memmertabatkan bahasa melayu kepada semua rakyat malaysia.

    Kalau setakat nak ajar bahasa malaysia kepada rakyat melayu sahaja baik tak payah..

    Bagi pendapat saya,org-org yg menentang PPSMI adalah org yg tidak memandang jauh kehadapan dan mementingkan diri sendiri.. cuba tanya Pak Samad Said dan kawan-kawan nya apakah yg telah mereka lakukan untuk memartabatkan bahasa malaysia dalam teknologi dan sains?? Jawapannya tiada!!

    PPSMI bukan utk memertabatkan bahasa,ia adalah utk penguasaan ilmu sains dan teknologi.. Dan dalam bahasa inggeris sekali pun bukan bertujuaan utk mempelajari tatabahasa atau lenggok bahasa tetapi utk memahami proses dan fakta.


    Sungguh sedih sekali org yg kononnya berilmu rupanya cetek pemikiran mereka.

    wassalam

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous12:48 pm

    rockybru:

    Closure of Blog House does not equate to closing of All-Blogs; the National Alliance of Bloggers goes beyond physical structures and any individual personality -- be it Rocky, Jeff Ooi, Eli Wong etc...(including Desi hear!), we are all dispensable! It's the Malaysian bloggers themselevs, esp the Socio-POlitical ones who are the most vocal, hence most high-profile? -- who have to determine what lies ahead. GoOD speed, fellow BUMmers -- YL, Desi

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous6:13 pm

    Dear en.rocky,

    maaf comment saya disini tidak menyentuh post 'rumah blog' en.rocky. saya seorang pembaca setia ruang blog en. rocky, walaupun saya hanya layman dalam dunia penulisan dan media. saya merasakan penulisan en.rocky terhadap sesuatu isu yg melibatkan pemerintahan najib sekrang tidak sehebat semasa zaman pak lah. banyak isu-isu besar yang patut diberi perhatian seperti GLC, biasiswa nasional dan librisasi hak bumi hanya sekadar melaporkan, tidak seperti dahulu en.rocky banyak menyatakan pendapat dan pendirian en.rocky terhadap sesuatu isu yang melibatkan pemerintah dimana saya rasakan ianya sebagai sebahagian dari suara rakyat. diharapkan kedudukan en.rocky sekarang sebagai pegamal dan pemerintah media milik kerajaan tidak menghadkan en.rocky menyatakan pendapat en.rocky yang selalunya selari degan kebanyakan pemikiran rakyat. saya tidak pasti samada en.rocky memperjuangkan kebebasan media atau tidak, apa yang saya tulis dini hanya sekadar pendapat saya seorang layman. seperti sedia maklum kita tahu ruang blog en.rocky sangat berpengaruh terhadap isu-isu semasa,Harap Maaf.

    dollahpencen

    ReplyDelete
  30. kita mesti teruskan hidup, perjuangan all blogs akan diteruskan sampai bila-bila

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous2:33 pm

    2moro is Najib 100 days in office.Most Malaysians will agreed that he should get 3 Oscar for being:Best Producer,Best Director and Best Actor.
    Why???Look at what he have been done prior to assume office and in last 100 days:Coup de-tat Perak Gov,go around town to show off,1Malaysia(my foot),3rd bridge(for what???),abolish Eng (no problem to him and his ball bearers cos they send their children oversea ma).
    Anyway,we will send UMNO and all his Ball Bearers to hell in next GE.

    ReplyDelete
  32. When you reach for the sky don't look down...and I know that those who have reached the sky will never come down...leaving behind the rest on bumpy roads....that's destiny....we will grow some how....bye for now!!!

    ReplyDelete
  33. I hear Khir Toyo's house is up for rent..

    ReplyDelete
  34. Still around...rocks.

    Speaking of blog house, perhaps those kind fellas who donated furniture, fittings and kept the fridge stocked with beer shud be thanked for their generosity?

    Mr Charles Moreira,

    p'haps the above para shud tell u that us All-Blog folks were living on other ppl's generosity.

    During its short sojourn at Setiabistari, I mas made to understand, the whole Medan Damansara area was that much safer cos there were always some friendly cops and Shaw Brother patrolling the area. So yeah, blog house contributed something to the neighbourhood.

    And it was a basic house. nothing remotely fancy as the high-walled mystery in Shah Alam that I shall not mansion.

    :P

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous7:24 am

    bro rocky,

    wats new on a new bloghouse...tak kan diam jer...cari la tempat lain

    ReplyDelete
  36. Anonymous8:02 pm

    Salam Bro! 'closure' probly not!
    not being directly seen but directly involved for the freedom of expression.

    pasir gudang

    ReplyDelete
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