Hopefully our friends out there are safe..

I'm sure a lot of us have friends or family members there in Egypt. Here's some of the news mostly related to Malaysian students there (some are in Malay language).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12331520

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/1/nation/20110201181948&sec=nation

http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/MalaysianstudentsinEgyptsafe/Article/ 

http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/500studentsevacuatedtoMalaysiaHouse/Article/

http://jomphp.com/serius-krisis-sebenar-darurat-di-mesir-sebarkan-kepada-semua.html

http://krisismesirnasibrakyatkita.blogspot.com/


http://krisismesirnasibrakyatkita.blogspot.com/2011/01/update-0140am-3112011-isnin-gmt-8.html

Long story short, the situation there is getting worse. Imagine yourself in a different country as a student, overwhelmed by the risk of being shot at by stray bullets so suddenly (but no news of that have been heard so far) or people busting into your apartment while you're expecting holiday. The internet there is still down and the phone lines are off too. I did receive word from a father of a friend of mine who's in Egypt saying that he successfully contacted his son (my friend) once and all was still well at the time.

Just in case you're not familiar yet with the news, the problem is that the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, has been in office for over 30 years and he has been accused of a corrupt leadership. So, he has been asked to leave the post for a new President to be elected. The Egyptians have been rallying around conducting protests and even the police and guards can't control them, forcing the army to take action. Tanks have been mobilized and soldiers have been deployed. It is also said that by Wednesday (2/2/2011), they are going to make a mega protest that might even brake up into a civil war. Meanwhile, news also has it that about 5000 convicts have broke out of prison. Thus, it would be harder for people to even differentiate between the protesters and the evil doers. Nevertheless, even some of the would-be protesters might be taking advantage of the havoc to do nasty things.

Hopefully the Malaysian government can successfully carry out its plans to save our students (they say they're going to either bring them back to Malaysia if possible, or send them to neighboring countries by land) and let's pray for their safety. Besides that, be thankful that you (if this applies to you) have the liberty to study and relax peacefully. Finally, we hope that Egypt we become peaceful again. Ultimately, hope everyone is safe..