March 30, 2019
I will be going to Rantau for a full day of campaigning for Dr Streram tomorrow. My forward team has been working there for almost a week doing the HQ campaign planning.
I had a half day event at Universiti Malaya this morning. This is part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign in support of human rights for Palestine and to pressure Israel to adhere to international laws. The BDS movement is a global non violent campaign that calls for the boycott of goods and services that support the illegal occupation of West Bank and Gaza.
I gave a short speech at the forum for panelists and then answered a few questions from the crowd. The event kicked off at 9 am with a speech from human rights expert, Saul Takahishi (he worked as a senior United Nations representative in Palestine for 5 years). I joined a panelist of two UM professors; Prof Nazari and Prof Roslan. Mr. Muslim, a Palestinian activist also joined us.
I was invited by Prof Nazari to give my policy views on trade and boycott. Having been a high school student in the mid 1980s, I witnessed the end of apartheid from the boycott of South African businesses. So I truly believe a non violent approach of economic boycott can yield better results than conflict.
I started learning about the Arab – Israeli conflicts from the peace and conflict study group in high school. My high school had a bunch of international scholars and we were idealistic and really wanted to change the world! Attending today’s event brought back memories of my young adulthood. It is good to be reminded that this world is full of injustices, and we all must do our bit to help.