Kash’s World

Let’s get some facts right. There were at least forty thousand people at the Bersih rally on Saturday, not 4,000 as reported in the Star on Sunday and 10,000 today. Maybe the mainstream media is a bit slow at maths and will get the figures right in a week or so.

Secondly, it wasn’t a riot. A friend called me excitedly, not knowing that I was there, to tell me that he received news that a riot had taken place. No, it wasn’t a riot. Check out this link to see what happens when a riot takes place. Online dictionary, dictionary.com has these definitions of the word ‘riot’.

1. “ noisy, violent2 public disorder caused by a group or crowd of persons, as by a crowd protesting against another group, a government policy, etc., in the streets.”
2. “violent or wild disorder or confusion.”

The operative word is violence and there was none of that from the marchers. If you really want to know what a riot is, read this. It was a peaceful march and the only violence that took place did not come from the rally participants. Here’s a picture I took of one of the ‘rioters’.

 

 

 

And another one. No one told this poor guy that one should wear durable shoes when marching.

 

 

 

Sure, it did cause some traffic disruptions around the Istana and City Centre areas but that was unavoidable. I’ve faced the same jams before when government functions take place. Also, for the record, the roadblocks placed around the city and as far away as Kedah and JB appeared to have no purpose but to further rile motorists up.

Anyway, most motorists were patient and the marchers took special care to show their appreciation. This nice gentleman went from car to car and personally apologised to the people inside. I overhead him telling the driver of one car which had children on board, “I apologise for the inconvenience but this is being done so that our children has a future.”

 

 

 

Anyway almost everyone there had either a camera or cameraphone and they were snapping away like our friend here.

 

 

 

Personally, I arrived only after three because I had to come back from Ipoh. I made my way towards Central Market and by the time I arrived I saw a line of people marching towards the Klang Bus Station and someone told me they were heading to the Istana Negara.

It was a motley line of people and I was beginning to think that the rain and the police warnings had kept people away. I was wrong. The line kept growing thicker as groups coming from other directions merged and by the time we neared the Istana I was in a solid mass of people all walking determinedly in the drizzle.

 

 

The Mahameru highway in front of the Istana was a sea of yellow. Apparently, tens of thousands had reached there before us.

It didn’t matter that I was dripping wet, or that I must have walked three km by then and that I had to walk the same distance back. It was pure joy to see so many people of all races make a peaceful stand for free and fair elections.

Since the mainstream media has not carried any proper reports of the event, your best bet is to get news online. Jeff Ooi has good reports and pictures of the event. So has Elizabeth Wong. The Malaysiakini site was overwhelmed by readers on Saturday night but is up again now. Malaysia-Today was up on Saturday and Sunday but is down now. I’m not sure if that’s caused by heavy traffic or hacking. The official Bersih site could not cope with the traffic too and is now diverted too . There are videos on YouTube too but again, the site is crawling. Among international news organisations, Al Jazeera provided the best coverage because they had people on the ground.

I went for this rally because I am interested in seeing justice and fairness practiced and Bersih has some very legitimate concerns and requests. I just wanted to be counted as one of the Malaysians who wantto see transparency and equality when elections are held. I believe everyone should have free and equal access to media, one of Bersih’s requests, but that has not been the case when Malaysian elections are held. I would also like to see more equitable delineation of election boundaries too.

Anyway, the peaceful march was a success. It was the biggest I have ever seen and the organisers proved that they can keep things peaceful. The memorandum is with the palace and the Rakyat awaits a response.

 

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