Bersih 3.0 - My Tale

   In this post, I’m going to begin by telling a wee bit about Bersih’s background for those who are not aware & then I shall tell my honest story & experience down to the finest detail when I was there from 12pm to 4pm roughly to give you a clear picture on the Bersih 3.0 rally held on 28.4.2012 (Saturday). Finally I’ll add my own overall analysis of the rally.

The Background

  Bersih is an NGO that stands up for clean & fair elections in Malaysia. The idea was to have a peaceful sit in rally by sitting down at Dataran Merdeka from 2pm-4pm to protest on the unfairness of the federal government (BN) and the Election Commission. Below are the 8 demands of Bersih.

1. Clean the electoral roll
2. Reform postal voting
3. Use of indelible ink
4. A minimum campaign period of 21 days
5. Free and fair access to mainstream media
6. Strengthen public institutions
7. Stop corruption
8. Stop dirty politics

There were 6 meeting points for people to meet up & walk together to reach Dataran Merdeka by 2pm. They were:

 1.      Central Market 
 2.      Masjid Negara 
 3.    Masjid Jamek
 4.    Brickfields 
 5.   KLCC 
 6.    Jalan Sultan

The Experience

  On the eve of Bersih 3.0, after a short discussion & planning my parents & I decided to attend the rally. We felt it was high time to show our support instead of always sitting by the sidelines & just being commentators. Like many others, my family over the decades has been directly affected by the various unfair & ridiculous policies of the federal government. It was time to show that enough was enough.

  On the big day, we left home at 11.45am & reached Brickfields by 12.15pm. Along the walk, there were about 3 people walking with us (a small number I know)…but when we reached Brickfields, restaurants like Nagas & Seetharam were packed with 10s of people in yellow t-shirts, myself included. Some were in the official Bersih t-shirt & some were normal yellow t-shirts, & others in normal clothing. We had a quick meal & proceeded our walk from there to Dataran Merdeka.

  As we walked through Brickfields, we saw a group of around 30-40 people who got down from a bus in front of the Pos Laju building there. We tagged along with them & started walking. During the walk, the number of roughly 40 people slowly grew to about 200-300 people as they were coming from all corners forming a straight line with the main group walking along the pavement without disrupting traffic or disturbing anyone. We met people from various parts of the country. Some were from Ipoh, Kampar, Pahang, Langkawi, & Kelantan.

  A few policemen were around but they were just monitoring us & doing their jobs diligently. Some of them were even smiling. We smiled back & greeted each other saying ‘selamat tengahari bang’ & ‘terima kasih bang’. They did not stop or provoke us in any way. After about a good 30 minutes of walking we came to Central Market. This is where thousands of people were gathered. As far as my eyes could see I only saw yellow, lautan kuning as some said. We were here for maybe 30-45 minutes waiting for others to come. Yellow balloons were flying around. Some were wearing green protesting against Lynas. Some had signs with anti-Najib/BN/EC/Rosmah/NFC wordings. Various chants were being shouted on & off such as Hidup Bersih Hidup Rakyat, Warna Kuning Najib Pening, etc. Police were around but were just on standby. Some police cars passed & the crowd clapped for them for not abusing the crowd thus far & allowing the peace to continue.

  Finally we moved & walked on to our destination, Dataran Merdeka. Everybody walked merrily & peacefully. The crowd was of the typical happy-go-lucky Malaysians. There was no rush, no stampede, no pushing around, nothing. A plain peaceful walk it was. Finally we came to some junction which was an intersection of other roads there at Pasar Seni which was the closest point we could get to Dataran. Here barricades were placed & police were on standby. We just stood there at a standstill & eventually sat down quietly (duduk bantah). Wan Azizah passed by on a motorcycle with her bodyguards. Mat Sabu was there giving a speech on clean elections. I was standing far back.

  Later on around 3.15pm roughly I saw the smoke of tear gas. From here on the crowd slowly moved back but did not retreat totally. Within some minutes people started to spread out due to the tear gas. It was still peaceful. No shouting or anything provocative. At roughly 4pm my folks & I along with many others headed back home via taxi before things could turn wild. At the time still there were many still just hanging around.

  In the end, I say the rally was a success. We did not walk as Malays, Chinese, & Indians. We all walked as Malaysians, Malaysians with a common cause. The crowd age group from my eyes was about from 20-70 year old roughly. I saw a few old people on walking sticks, 2 people on crutches & 1 lady in a wheelchair being assisted around. I even saw a handful of Africans, whites, & middle easterners. Some looked like tourists & some were just hanging around. The crowd to my estimate at Dataran Merdeka was easily 100,000 people at minimum. The people were peaceful, well behaved & not unruly at all (at least from where I was standing).

Analysis

How many people were really there ?

I’ve seen reports from 25,000 (our mainstream media, giving the lowest figure eas expected) – 250,000 (Malaysiakini). My guess would be easily a 100k. 200k, looking at aerial shots I wouldn’t be surprised.

Was it dangerous ?

  I would say no as long as you behave yourself, not stand in front like a hero & instead stand at the back of the crowd or around the sides. Don’t shout stupid/irrelevant chants that could cause provocation (as an analogy, singing a Justin Bieber song at a Metallica concert). Provided you do that, you are safe.

  From being there I can honestly say that the people & police were all cool. Heck people were taking pictures with the cops ! I shit you not, I even saw one cop show a thumbs up to the crowd ! That alone shows the situation.

What about the breaking of the barricade ?

  Breaking the barricade was indeed a wrong move to play & that started an unwanted chain of reactions in my opinion. I did not witness it being broken anyway so I can’t comment on it. If it wasn’t for that all would have gone smoothly. Then again with a crowd of probably a 100,000 you should expect some shit to go down.

Would it have been better in a stadium ?

  BN itself was going flip flop on the rally. One minute it’s not a security threat the next minute it is. A permit for the rally itself was denied so why bother with the location. Even the stadium offer came at the last mnute reluctantly. Plus no stadium here can accommodate 200,000 people. Roads & other measures to surpass Bersih would have still been done either way. So where is the fundamental right to assembly ? Hence I think the streets were the better option. Capacity isn’t a problem. Plus it’s just for a day. At least for one day we should think for the nation instead of ourselves.

Was it all worth it & necessary ?

  I say 110% yes. The soft approach tried for decades have failed & things have only got worse. Even these rallies don’t make a huge change overnight but they certainly shake things up & cause a solid dent.

Sure some people got hurt & all but Rome was not built in a day. Soetimes we just have to fight for change. Remaining silent doesn’t move anything. Years of soft attempts have gone futile.

What about the mainstream media & who is to blame ?

  The mainstream media are all under BN control. As expected they have painted the worse picture of Bersih as possible. People hurt, crowd unruly, law broken, Opposition evil, bla la bla. The most violent pictures were published & nothing illustrating peace will be printed. Typical. 

At present there are a few theories going around on how things went awry. Among them relate to Anwar, Azmin Ali, planted people in the crowd, etc. Regardless of all that, I'd take everything with a pinch of salt knowing BN & the media. Keep in mind that BN has a history of planting people in crowds to cause havoc. Need I mention their vast experience in planting evidence ?

  As for pointing fingers, I personally blame the whole damn thing on BN. Why ?...because none of this, not a rally, not a protest, not demands for basic clean governance would have been needed if BN was not a corrupt government for decades in the first place. They should be ashamed of themselves & point their fingers to themselves. 100,000 people fed up citizens showed up in protest. Are all those people fools ? A whole lot more would have come if it wasn’t for fear instilled. Is this how a government treats its people ?....People in the government commit crimes, go unpunished, & say the people broke the law when they've broken countless more ?...Is this a democracy when even a peaceful assembly is fought against so much ?...but as always they will blame all but their own self.

Will Malaysians end up fighting each other like in some other countries ?

  Countries like Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, etc, riot so bloody often. However there people get shot, bombs go off & things are burnt. The difference here is that I feel we Malaysians are happy go lucky folks. Hardcore violence is just not in our nature. If bloodshed were to occur, I bet it would only occur the same way Najib's dad pulled it by declaring emergency at desperate times & military rule during his reign (May 13 1969)...& that’s already rumoured to happen, but denied as usual.

  On the other hand, numbers from Bersih 3.0 are way higher than 2.0. If there was a 4.0 (pray BN would be gone by then), numbers can be expected to increase again. Now itself I don’t see anyone fighting with each other on the streets. I go out I see Malays, Chinese, Indians all cool & chilling. The ones I see fighting are those affiliated with those damn politicians & not regular folks. 

  Another example, every time Perkasa or some other extreme group tries to throw a rally or protest, it’s always a flop show. Nothing really happens. Things don't shake. Even the recent anti LBGT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) thing at UPM (Universiti Putra Malaysia), posters of Ambiga & Anwar were up instead. They made a complete fool of themselves. BN have tried many times (cow head incident, racial slurs, etc) to split us & failed every single time. So based on all that, I doubt we'll ever fight each other. Malaysia boleh beb ;)