Day two’s Note

Ali Shalah – the man in the hood – told a packed conference how an Israeli in civilian clothes stuck a jagged wooden stick and the barrel of a rifle into his rectum at the Abu Ghraib prison.

“I was cut inside and bled profusely. During this time, when guards walked past me, they would beat me. I had no food for 36 hours,” he said at the Expose War Crimes – Criminalise War Conference.

It was really a brave of Ali to stand on stage in front of a packed Dewan Merdeka with over 1000 people to share his horrible ordeal. Upon his release, he started the Association of Victims of American Occupation in Prisons. He opened his testimony with a video of torture in prisons. It was gruesome mix of photos of naked, scarred, bleeding and skinny bodies contrasted with grinning healthy-looking American soldiers posing with thumbs-ups. The Arabic-Persian soundtrack with haunting deep vocals, percussion and horn instruments quite successfully conveyed the sense of injustice inflicted upon this group of cultured, cosmopolitan and creative people.

But this feeling of mine is far from the ACTUAL torture and suffering that they have endured since the economic sanctions in the early 1990s and now the illegal occupation. The crude Americanisation of a country with a long history hailing back to the days of Babylon is typical of the obnoxious 'know-all' attitude of acrid American foreign policy.

The tragedy of 9/11 brought home to people everywhere the need for a forum like this as an alternative to confrontation or a clash of civilizations. It is our aim, as I remind myself as Muslim youngster to counter negative stereotypes and promote mutual understanding for both Western and Muslim societies..

Media round-ups show that there is an interest in the other side, in both Western and Muslim societies. However, this interest is often overlaid by stereotypes that determine how the others are perceived. What are missing are personal contact and a better knowledge of people from other cultures – both of which are prerequisites for mutual understanding.

Trust... I believe.... trust is required if a forum like this to be fruitful.

One prevalent stereotype finds expression in the suspicion that “the West” seeks to use the forum to justify a policy of domination that imposes Western values on the Muslim world. These concerns must be taken seriously by following through on our declarations of peace understanding and drawing greater attention to commonality, without however leaving critical issues unaddressed.

Various meetings between top politicians and thinkers have shown that there is considerable overlap in the basic ethical convictions of the two societies. The challenge is to communicate this to the people on the street, above all the younger generation.

What makes the member of the conference felt unsatisfied, when the moderator for the session of “War Crimes; from the Muslim Youth perspectives”, Ms. Juana Jaafar didn’t gave the fair opportunities to the younger generation to stand up and speak their mind as proposed by Dato’ Mukhriz. This should be the platform for youth to express their feeling, but sadly, she gave the chances to the eldest to speak up their mind by having un-parallel questions prior to the session and rhetoric yet cliché comments. It is so frustrating when having limited time to speak up our mind but being dominantly by the “marah pada dunia” eldest.

Yes it true. We (youngsters) are not given a fair chance to speak our mind. Ironically, the eldest were given big opportunities to speak up their mind on previous sessions. They should consider and count the voices of youth. They should listen from us, the leaders of tomorrow. I proposed that, next year, during the conference, the organisation should give a separate conference for youth, so-called the Junior International Conference on Peace and what-so-ever.

Then, the outcome from the Junior Conference will be included on the real Conference as a part of the call from the youngsters. I think it should be better. We don’t have to fight for the platform for us to express ourselves with the eldest.

continue on Day Three's Note