As I mentioned before, the response of the finale night was not as good as before. But an interesting event happened that night. If you’ve read Mar’s RWMF story, she mentioned about leaflets she found lying about while waiting for the bus to arrive to get them home. Yes, there was a peaceful demonstration with candle light vigil on the 13th (3rd day) indeed, with placards and papers written “What Rainforest?” . There were about 60 ingenious people of Sarawak, which were led by the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association, as an attempt to highlight their complain that their ancestral rainforest lands are being cropped down to make way for logging and palm oils plantations.
The police officers and MGK9 team working together to make sure there would be no chaos during the demonstration
We got some last minute instruction from the organiser and the Police, which put us into some difficult situation. There were leaflets and CDs titled “What Rainforest? Wake Up and Smell The Palm Oil” distributed to the crowd and we were told to confiscate them as it was not a licensed rally. As it was raining, and people were rushing to join in the fun of the festival, sometimes we didn’t get to inform the person that there was a fee for them to keep the CD at the bag/item deposit counter if they would like to get them back when they were leaving the event.
They came with a camera man too
Sure enough, I happened to encounter one foreigner who demanded his CD back on his way out, and calling us thieves for taking it away from him. He was shouting from afar as he walked toward us and trying to intimidate me with his 6 foot something height by getting real close to me and shouted on top of my head demanding for his right. I may be lacking in height, but hey, I don’t get intimidated easily. I told the guy to calm down, and he decreased the volume of his voice, saying he was calm. Yeah, right! I had to search for a walkie-talkie to radio the boss to come over to the entrance. Leo came to rescue and the matter was solved 
The man really did want the CD and he ended up paying the RM5 fee for safe-keeping of the item.
To that one STB volunteer who were standing nearby tagging people with the wrist bands, my dear, it is called a radio. A one-way radio. You don’t say you walkie-talkie a person, do you? So when you were trying to get smart by giving out sarcastic remark behind my back when other people were caught in a situation like that, do make sure you know what the heck you were talking about when you open your big mouth and said it is not called a radio, but a walkie-talkie. Luckily I didn’t hear that myself or I’d bite off your head right there and then, giving you a lesson in gadgets’ names at the same time 
Lyn and Linda told me when I was re-telling the encounter to them the day after that security job means that I should not be so emotional. I could tell that Linda was annoyed, and she said “Sudahlah tu, cukuplah!” when I was telling the story to another friend when we got back to KK, kan Linda kan? LOL! So I stopped, but that Dbie asked me to continue my story! Hey, it could be the way I was telling my story like I usually does, full of emotions LOL! But then again, I admit it, I almost lost my temper then, but I managed to keep it in check except for the volume of my voice when I was looking for a radio here and there to call for help. Hehe! But I know better next time, to be prepared for situation like this next time and get my emotion detached should I get the chance to be on security duty during 12th RWMF next year. Sorry Linda, if I got on your nerve with that outburst! *malu-malu ni mengaku* Sedang buat self-improvementlah ni 
I do know that I have a very short temper, but amazingly I managed to control that fiery temper of mine throughout the 3-days events; by keeping my mouth shut! LOL!
Happy party goers covered in mud!
I now know that ensuring the safety of crowd in events like this is not an easy job. Not everybody will give you the co-operation when you are doing the security check-up procedure. What amazed me was that the locals were the ones that was so defensive over the procedure. The sarcastic remarks thrown to our face that tried our patience. The foreigners were mostly nice and very co-operative, as long as you give them a good explanation over the matter. I even got a pat on the shoulder from one elderly lady saying that we were doing a job, with all smile on her face. Thank you, lady, that was really nice of you and you made my day after all those sarcasm from the locals. As Lyn said to me, those who complained wouldn’t like it either if they were the victims of any unwanted incident. There were sharp objects being carried in, mainly by the youngers and we wouldn’t know what they would do with them once they’re drunk. It’s better to be safe than sorry later.
On the lighter side, some spoke to us in the local dialects and we had no idea what they said. We just smiled, went along with the security check and thanked them, in English! They must have thought that we are one bunch of stuck-up people for wanting to converse only in English. Little did they know that we really couldn’t understand one bit of what the words they uttered to us. There was one time that Ladybird happened to be around, and came to my rescue after hearing me getting a string of long sentences from a local. LOL! By the end of the 3rd day, I think I picked up quite a few of the easy words hehe! Oh, almost forgot, it was kind of weird and yet fun seeing Pak Lah at such a close proximity on his way out from SCV on the 1st day. The funny thing was, Linda actually said ‘bye!’ to Pak Lah (yes, the Prime Minister) and Datin Jeanne,the wife, heard that and turned to face us to wave and said bye with a big grin on her face. Only then did Pak Lah waved to us too. Linda oOo Linda, ko memang jajal!
The uniform, the tag and wristbands that made things all possible for me to experience the 11th RWMF
Thank you Mr. Leo for making this possible for us, and Ladybird for convincing me to be a volunteer along side with you! Looking forward to next year’s 12th Rainforest World Music Festival and this time I’m going to make sure that the treadmills are going to be my bestfriend months before the event for I now know what to expect then. I’m sure some of you who went to the event this year had fun, with the mud and all (refer to the muddy party goers’ photo above).. it’s the closest experience you can get bah .. LOL! Rainforest - rain and mud comes together… you shouldn’t be expecting a concrete field to party on in this event anyway
One more last post after this about the days I spent in Kuching and that’s about it!
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