On Saturday, 24 May, any lingering doubts evaporated into the cool night air as Aliran held one of its most successful events at the Che Hoon Khor Moral Uplighting Society hall along Macalister Road in Penang. Before the start of the event, Aliran members were busy helping to sell T-shirts, books, Aliran Monthly magazines - all at �Happy Hour� prices. It is hard to describe the laughter, the joy, and the happiness on most faces that night, after all the tireless groundwork had been done. There were the ushers, hard at work, directing guests to the 75 tables seating 10 each. By 8 pm, some 700 people had filled the hall as a buzz rose in the hall - the excited exchanges of friends greeting each other, peals of laughter and the murmur of animated conversation as long-lost fellow activists and friends bumped into each other.

The event then got under way, with our emcee Boo Teik welcoming the guests to the 8-course Chinese halal dinner.

In the Beginning...

Kicking off the night�s proceedings was Subra, the Aliran treasurer and one of Aliran�s seven founder members. Subra recalled how Aliran was founded way back in 1977. At that time, the then ruling Alliance had absorbed most of the opposition parties to become the Barisan Nasional - a move that made the route for change through partisan politics more limited. Few people today realise that there was an attempt to launch reformasi in the 1970s, via the setting up of a foundation called Liga Reformasi in the mid-1970s. But the Attorney General rejected the application. �It looks like even then, Reformasi was a sensitive word in Malaysian politics,� noted Subra wryly. Another attempt was made, this time to register Aliran. The rest, as they say, is history.

Subra said the greatest challenge over the years for Aliran was to develop second-generation leaders to succeed the founding leadership of the group. To some extent, we have succeeded, as most of the current committee members only joined Aliran in the 1990s.

Waiters started trooping into the hall with the first of the eight dishes for dinner as Prema, the dinner�s tireless co-ordinator, tapped on the laptop for a multi-media presentation that filled the hall with nostalgia. To the accompaniment of sentimental songs, slides of old photo popped up onto a screen recalling some of the highlights of Aliran�s 25-year history: click - the early meetings at the homes of members, at the rented office premises, our nomadic existence from one office premises to another; click - the huge crowds that flocked to listen to Aliran-sponsored forums on the Official Secrets Act and the amendments to the Societies Act in the 1980s; click - a few of dedicated members of Aliran hitting the streets to stick up posters to publicise forthcoming forums.

Umm�wasn�t that Rama, looking lanky, like he was just out of college, sporting sideburns from the 1970s? It was fun to see how people had changed in appearance over the years.

Click - slides of Aliran�s founding president Chandra Muzaffar, his successor Ariffin Omar, and then Rama recalled the changes in leadership styles over the years; click - Operation Lallang and the gloom surrounding those years. Click, click, click - the years rolled by in a flash, blurring into the present, as the diners and current Aliran members fondly recalled the legacy of Aliran�s pioneers - those who first started the movement and then kept it going all these years despite daunting odds.

President's Address

Rama then took to the podium to deliver the president�s speech. He listed the highlights of Aliran�s history and some of the formidable obstacles including the attempt to deregister Aliran in the early 1980s, the refusal to grant a permit to publish the Aliran Monthly in the National Language and the frequent changes in the printers. At one stage, we had to change printing firms eight times in less than two years.

Rama urged the audience to continue to support Aliran�s work and noted that it was through the support and generosity of many Malaysians over the years that the group has been able to continue its work.

The emcee then read messages from Tian Chua and Hisham, who were then still being detained in Kamunting. They reminded Malaysians not to take whatever little freedom they had for granted as this too could be taken away. They urged Malaysians to continue with the struggle to abolish repressive laws in the country.

Johan and best friends Rosa (Johan�s daughter) and Andrea then added a soulful note to the night. Against pin-drop silence, they performed a song that Johan had composed - �Di Tepi Air Tigris� (By the Waters of the Tigris), an anti-war song - to an appreciative audience. Strumming on his guitar, Johan followed that with a solo number �Pukul Tiga Pagi�, another composition of his about the curse of repressive laws. The crowd loved it, applauding their efforts heartily.

Aliran Monthly Mission Impossible

Another arresting multimedia presentation then followed - this time focussing on how the Monthly was published. Backed by the dramatic theme song from �Mission Impossible�, the slides introduced the office staff and took the audience through each stage of the production process from the Editorial meeting, to �Quality Control� to the despatch of the magazine.

Few among the audience were aware of the work involved in the despatch process for sending out the subscriber copies alone: getting the postal sacks from the post office, unloading the printed Aliran magazines from the lorry, pasting stamps onto the envelope jackets, slotting the magazines into the jackets, popping the jackets into the sacks, loading the bulky sacks into an exco member�s four-wheel drive, which then transported the sacks to the post office.

The highlights of Aliran Monthly over the years were displayed: The Vijandran Tapes, Rahim Tamby Chik's controversy, the sacking of the Lord President, Anwar and the unleashing of Reformasi...

Someone commented that he had never seen the production process in the light of �Mission Impossible�, but then again, the real miracle is that this has gone on for the last 23 years. This is largely due to the sterling voluntary efforts of a band of dedicated Malaysians over the years.

World Premiere

Then the 13-member strong Aliran Singers clambered onto the stage for their World Premiere performance (!) much to the delight of the crowd. They performed spoofs of three pop hits (see lyrics on pages 19-21): the first, �Yesterday� lamented the drop in readership of Aliran Monthly but optimistically insisted that Aliran was here to stay; the second, �Every Move you Make� mocked Big�s Brothers� perpetual surveillance; and the last was �Read Aliran� an out-and-out "commercial" promoting the Aliran Monthly.

The �hidden talents� and creativity of the Aliran exco members and their children enthralled the audience. Perhaps it was more the sight of the usually serious exco members letting their hair down and obviously enjoying themselves on stage that set the night alight.

Finally, the Instant Caf� performers, the real pros, brought the curtain down with their trademark biting satire and razor sharp wit of prevailing political attitudes. These included attempts by Jo Kukathas to lodge a police report with a reluctant cop (Kopi Tiam's Rashid Salleh).

Then came a film producer (Rashid) from Hong Kong trying to submit a film proposal to a government official's personal assistant, who in turn did her level best to frustrate him with all kinds of bureaucratic obstacles.

Finally, Jo stole the show with her imitation of a deputy minister gibbering on about Malaysia's world record-breaking attempts punctuated by periodic chants of �Malaysia Boleh� while raising a clenched fist. At one point, the interviewer (Rashid) asked the "deputy minister" about allegations that Malaysia practised double standards.

Not the least flustered, "he" (Jo) replied without batting an eyelid, "That's because our standards are very high," and then muttered something about now aiming for "triple standards."

All in, it was an invigorating evening that left everyone feeling encouraged by the show of solidarity and inspired to continue the struggle for justice and peace. A couple of those who couldn�t make it that evening said that they would pray that the evening would turn out well. Perhaps that explains why there was an overwhelming sense of joy and merriment over an evening that appeared blessed from the start.

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