The Ongoing Plight of the Palestinians : A Dialogue with Heather Stroud & Dr. Ang Swee Chai & Book Launch
Level 1, 88 Jalan Perdana, Taman Tasek Perdana Kuala Lumpur
PROGRAMME 9.00 am
Registration
10.00 am
Arrival of YABhg Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali
10.05 am
Welcome remarks by Dr Zulaiha Ismail , PGPF Trustee
10.10 am
Address by Ms Heather Stroud
10.30 am
Address by Dr. Ang Swee Chai
10.50 am
Dialogue Session
11.40 am
Video Presentation Book Launch by YABhg Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali
12.00 noon
End of Program
'Abraham's Children' Author : Heather Stroud Publisher : The Other Press Fida, travelling on the underground the morning of 7th July 2005 is caught up in the London bombings. As she struggles between life and death a voice urges her toward life. Scarred from her injuries and with no clear sense as to why she is drawn to Palestine she sets out on a journey to the West Bank. During her attempt to come to terms with her psychological pain Fida's flashbacks mirror the ongoing trauma suffered by the Palestinians. Her deepening relationship with a Palestinian family provides her with a stable environment to make new discoveries that lead her to meaningful insights and a profound spiritual connection with the father she has never known. As she journeys with her Palestinian friends through shared losses and celebrations she comes to appreciate and incorporate for herself the tremendous steadfastness and resilience of a nation in the face of ongoing occupation. This is not only a novel about tragedy, discovery and love, it is also a story that delves in the Palestinian Israeli conflict. Moving between England, West Bank and Gaza the unfolding events, while fictional, reveal an authentic reality that is based on actual events.
'An artist uses lies to reveal the truth. A politician uses lies to mask the truth.' George Orwell.
Heather Stroud is a writer and human rights activist. Her first novel, 'The Ghost Locust', was written while working in the Vietnamese asylum-seeker detention centres of Hong Kong as an editor for Freedom Magazine ( Tap Chi To Do) and as spokesperson for Refugee Concern Hong Kong. The novel depicts the tragedies of the American war in VietNam and the ensuing saga of the Vietnamese people as they took to boats seeking refuge from conflict at home. While researching and writing her second novel 'Abraham's Children' she has travelled widely in Palestine ( both West Bank and Gaza) having participated in the 2009/10 Viva Palestina Convoy to Gaza. She is a member of the 'One Democratic State' group in the UK.
Dr. Ang Swee Chai was born in Penang, grew up and studied in Singapore, and since 1977, has been residing in Britain. It was in 1982, enroute to Beirut, that she met her first Palestinian, and her immediate reaction was one of fear, for as a Christian fundamentalist, she had been a supporter of Israel and thought all Palestinians to be terrorists. In fact she didn’t even know Palestinian refugees existed. And yet, two years later, together with her husband and friends, she formed Medical Aid for Palestinians, a charitable organization providing medical aid to Palestinians under occupation and exile.