The run up to the recent Deepavali festivities on 17th Oct was quite a week. It was also Umno's General Assembly that kicked off on Oct 14th before ending on the 16th. Was called up by HQ at Menara Star to assist in the coverage.
There is always the initial hesitation to be away from home for almost a week of work in an highly charged environment at Putra World Trade Centre in the heart of the nation's capital. Though it was a non election assembly, the gathering this time was significant as it involved significant changes to the party's constitution. A promise of change that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib had to make good.
Well, although jaded from work, the experience is one that I will cherish. It is not merely an occasion of the who's who is Malaysian and Umno politics to gather, rub shoulders with and catch up on with one another. It is also a time where comradeship is forged among the journalistic fraternity and an official reunion of old friendships.
On the whole, the assembly went on smoothly in a very united and friendly atmosphere. There were also the somewhat upmarket version of a city pasar-malam with the hundreds of tents and stalls set up offering a myriad of goods. The delegates and their supporters were out in numbers and for a brief moment PWTC became the focus of the year's most glitzy political affair akin to the Oscars.
I suppose having the opportunity of being a part of the gathering and witnessing history in the making outweighed whatever tiredness as a result of work.
So there you go...my week of work in the Big Town and a run up to Deepavali.
To None I Ill But To All I Wish Peace And Love.
