Below is the twitter compilation for the Teh Tarik Session that was held on July 29:

isham's books 'Keganasan, Penipuan & Internet' and 'Tapai' (latest) are also available here...

the session has started...

mc namron is introducing speaker Hishamuddin Rais....

Hisham is taking the mic

Hisham will be giving his talk in two languages

Hisham talks about what humans usually talk about...

hisham: i am very concerned about this country... we hope we are going towards the direction where we r able 2 live comfortably

hisham: what's very important the is the liberation of the mind

hisham: this is because we want the ability of citizen's to think critically

hisham: the biggest crisis is the crisis of sexuality among youths...

hisham: a youngster has a very sexual desire and this desire is real...

hisham: we were all young once... including the imams and muftis...

hisham: we have to face this reality

hisham: we have to teach the youths about sexuality by way of biology...

hisham: brothers and sisters, in a semi-feudal culture we are not encouraged to liberate our minds...

hisham: we are forced to accept the status quo...

hisham: we have been conditioned to do so...

hisham: because of that we see some of the works of arts reflect this fact...

hisham: u can see the conept of 'bodek' structure...

hisham: for example... if u wear jeans and t-shirt u will be asked to sit at the back...

hisham: for me, at this stage of our development, the art forms which should be encouraged is the art of resistance...

hisham: everything from visaul arts, poems, theaters etc should be themed around 'resistance'...

hisham: this is to counter the 'bodek' culture...

hisham: this is because we are at a very unhealthy situation... this is the truth...

hisham: for example, the demolition of pudu prison...

hisham: they've also changed the name of beach in terengganu from 'pantai duyung' to 'pantai warisan'...

hisham: europeans has gone thru renaissance era so they had that stage of development...

hisham: the weakening of our minds has been going on for a long time...

hisham: it took them 30 40 years to understand the injustice of ISA

hisham: even PAS were supporting the ISA, that is until their members like Mahfuz were detained...

hisham: at this time, after the 08 general election, the malays have a crisis in making their choice...

hisham: religion and race are used to inflict fear on us...

hisham: in those days, Christianity went thru the same thing...

hisham: i've been told recently how my friend's company was sabotaged by jakim that said that the his water filter had pig bones.
 
hisham: apparently jakim had an interest in a competing mineral water company...

hisham: the time has come for us to have a culture for social change

hisham: we should be discussing about ideas, philosophy and concept and not about siti nurhaliza, awie or stuff like that...

hisham: the q & a session has begun...

hisham: mohd sykri from shah alam: i like the idea of thinking and discussing critically....

syukri: was there a civilization that was perfect that we could emulate...?

the first step was taken by the apes...

hisham: it's not important if such an ideal culture existed

hisham: what's important is to make a change right here right now...

question: religion and culture are two different things...

question: there has been an overlap btw religion and culture. is that a good thing?

hisham: to me religion and culture are one... this is because they've been assimilated...

hisham: for example, we are muslims not arabs. a lot of malays get confused about this...

hisham: we all have our own language in celebrating god...

hisham: the world is so beautiful. with its diversity. we should be celebrating this...

hisham: so with that i propose the liberation of the mind...

hisham: for me we should celebrate our differences...

hisham: my malay-ness is a common idea...

The TehTarik Session ended at 7.00pm.