Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese singer Myriam Klink, which aired on NBN TV on February 17, 2013:
Interviewer: Today you’re saying: “I, Myriam Klink, want to become an MP.”
Myriam Klink: Right. Any Lebanese citizen without a criminal record has the right to be in a parliament.
Interviewer: That much we know.
Myriam Klink: I have a strategy of consecutive stages leading to the "Kingdom of Klinkistan." It's a gradual process. What is the Kingdom of Klinkistan? I have political ideas. I reached the point of despair with regard to Lebanon. I said: Enough is enough! Why should I give myself a headache? I will create a country to my own taste, where I make the rules myself. I feel like I'm in a place where I have no hope in Lebanon.
I was wondering what “Klinkistan” should mean. It is a nice thing. It is my family name. But aside from that, I have greater aspirations. Everybody I see has lost hope, and is fed up. I said: This is where it stops. We love Lebanon, and must not leave it to others. I may not win the elections, but at least I will get my message across. We, the common people, must do something. What have these politicians ever done for us? The Lebanese people have lost hope. Despair is killing us.
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I don't mix between my singing career and between Klinkistan and my parliamentary aspirations. Obviously, I'm not going to show up in parliament in a swimsuit. Come on, be realistic. I’m telling you, I'm not that kind of a person.
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What do you wear when you go to church? When you go to pay your condolences...
Interviewer: People wear swimsuits to the beach, not in the snow [like in your photo shoot]...
Myriam Klink: I never get cold, what can I do?
Interviewer: Are you that hot!
Myriam Klink: I’m a mountain girl...
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I want to make people come together, to make Hizbullah, the March 14 Alliance, and the March 8 Alliance closer. We should all sit down and talk about the interests of Lebanon, not about our own personal interests.
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