It wasn’t easy turning up for this rally, especially with family disapproving. I didn’t want the fears of an earlier generation, nor the apathy of the current one, to affect my decision. It wasn’t an easy one, and I had nightmares of being arrested, tear gassed or beaten to a pulp. The threats coming from the government didn’t help, either, but for an occasion like this it was do or die. Time to stop talking and start walking, right?
I’ll admit I had weak knees.
I’ll also admit I was pissed off that brothers and sisters in KL – people I hardly knew at all – were willing to walk into the lion’s den, probably alone. That can’t be right, now can it?
The bus ride to KL wasn’t uneventful. I left Johor Bahru about 8.30am. When we hit the Tangkak rest area, traffic slowed due to a roadblock. It appeared like a simple roadblock to dissuade speeding motorists, but given the significance of the day, I was thinking several thoughts at once, hoping to God that the fact I wasn’t wearing yellow would see me through. There were no boarding of buses, though, so it might have been my own paranoia.
I got a hint of the massive traffic lock-down in KL upon approaching the toll exit, northbound. It was about 12.30pm by this time, and I started to wonder if I’d make it in time at all for the rally. At the back of my mind I wondered if the government thought they’d be rid of this gathering by delaying everyone. Heh.
Massive traffic jam; it’ll be almost 1 hour before I reach Puduraya.
It was a flashing billboard that gave me the first hint of trouble:
Tutup, uh huh.
I have loads of family in KL but none were told I’d be going down. Being alone in potentially hostile situation isn’t usually recommended. Thank god for SK, though, who got me in touch with Tony and a bunch of other bloggers including Mich, Sharon and Shar.
I arrived at Puduraya bus-station at about 2.15pm, by which time it was raining. I was soaked by the time I managed to contact Tony, and then it was a short walk to the Central Market.
It couldn’t rain harder than this.
Fuzz trucks spotted while walking to Central Market.
Brief preliminaries later and I found myself at the foot of a bridge, policemen everywhere and the fuzz in riot gear. Fuzz on both sides, with riot gear, keeping two groups separate. What the hell?
The fuzz.. spotted!
Guarding a frickin’ bridge. What, duh!
Battons, shields, Darth Vader helmets. Yup, the FRU riot squad.
More of us join the party!
More on video (pardon the poor quality):
These fellas were holding a goddamn bridge. What for?! Brilliant, eh? By the time the FRU and the prison trucks had shuffled off, we decided to head for the Istana. If the police planned on stopping us, they were doing a stupid, ridiculous job of it. We practically ignored their presence and headed in the opposite direction, walking and walking in the rain.
We walk in unison, heading to the Istana!
Solidarity.
The people will not be denied.
It was then that I realized just how big the group was, how potentially numerous we were. I was walking beside fellow members of the rakyat in a common cause. I hadn’t eaten anything since dinner the night before, but I felt elated, energized by their determination to show up the government and Badawi.
Badawi pantang dicabar?
Oh, please. Rakyat pantang dicabar!!
One other thing: our volunteers in red shirts - they did a BRILLIANT job of managing the crowd and working our strategies to ferry us safely from point to point. Disciplined, efficient and professional!
You’ll excuse me if I don’t know road names. I’m from JB after all. But I understand that we gathered at a section of the road leading to the Istana. The fuzz were there, of course, and in strength. Woefully inadequate, though, because just check out the crowd:
Four thousand? Count again.
We wait in the rain. Fuzz trucks block the way to the Palace.
Helicopters keep a watch on proceedings. If they were from TV3, TV1 or whatever, why bother wasting film, you idiots? You aren’t going to air it anyway!
And we waited for our reps while the fuzz gave warning after warning to “bersurai†i.e. to disperse. Not yet, my friend, not yet.
We left when we were good and ready, and how we left! A three-lane road leading away from the Istana, flooded with yellow-shirts and supporters while traffic on the other side stood still. All of us, all there as far as the eye could see.
We were not 4,000. We were not even 10,000. We were more.
We leave. We stop traffic. The Police roadblocked everything. They brought KL to a stand still. We made KL sit up and pay attention.
As far as the eye can see.
Happy people!
And yet more join us as we leave!
It was glorious. It was historic. I was proud we had stood up to Big Brother.
We reached Holy Rosary church nearby – more walking again – and I was with Haris Ibrahim, Tony and Ching Huat (sp?) when we received news of protestors being tear-gassed, water-cannoned and arrested. We decided to head down to Dang Wangi police station to see to the arrested few, till we were told that lawyers led by Malik Imtiaz and others were already en route.
We headed back, the day finally coming to a close. It was a day to remember.
Daulat Tuanku! Hidup Rakyat!
My prayers for those still detained, and I hope everyone who faced the blunt end of police “action†are safe. In case anyone thought the rally was free from violence, those watching the scenes at Masjid Jamek on Al-Jazeera yesterday will know it’s not true. Check out this recording:
There’s more to write, especially the discussion I had with Haris Ibrahim, Tony and Ching Huat in Purple Cane (a tea house that served beer! Good on them!) and the short meeting of bloggers at Chilli’s.. but I’ll leave that for later :).
In the meantime, more links on the rally from those who were there:-
Tony’s blog
Haris’ blog, and here.
Nat’s entry
Elizabeth Wong’s entry
The first part of Lulu’s report
Josh’s excellent report on events
the_earth’s great entry during and before the rally.
Bob’s report here.
Jeff Ooi’s report here.
Alice’s report on what she witnessed over here.
Ewoon says “double up yours!” to ZAM, here.
Galadriel sees yellow, here!
Shar101’s great 10-Eleven entry here. Hmmm.. ‘10-Eleven’.. very catchy!
Also, check out Malaysiakini’s minute-by-minute account of the rally over here. (Subscription required.)
Will update as more entries come rolling in.
(Double posted on PPS - sorry!)
Comments (17)
Now, it’s everyone’s responsibility to tell your people the right thing to do.
It’s also time to fight the lies that the government and the mainstream media have been spreading.
4,000 protestors? Definitely not, as pics all over the internet will attest. The government seems determine to focus on the group at Masjid Jamek, all the while ignoring the tens of thousands who managed to make their way close to the Istana.
245 arrested? Haris Ibrahim has the real figure, apparently 34 or so (see his entry via the link above), and all released.
Today’s NST and theStar reports have made me hate - yes, hate - the mainstream media that much more. A racist rally? A look at the pictures will tell you the whole story. Does Najib believe they can spin this rally as a racist one? And what was that about getting UMNO to hold a “bigger rally”?
They can only think along partisan lines, and they’ll only insist on painting the rally as a partisan rally. Well, fuck them. We were there, we know better.
We must fight this FUD and spin!!
glad to note that you were able to be there, fred. yes it sure feel good to be among the thousands of people marching demanding for reforms.
i am in penang and that day happened to attend a seminar so can’t attend. do you know what? at the opening prayer of our session (on 10 nov), we said a prayer for the rally!
It was just beautiful, Lucia. It was like walking with strangers who are friends in a common cause. I arrived at Puduraya thinking about what I’d do if I was gassed or whacked, but after being with the people there, I just didn’t care about that anymore. We were there, and they can’t hide that we were there.
The massive slowdowns on the internet Jeff Ooi is reporting is just more evidence that the people are turning to alternative media for the truth of what happened on the ground. They can try to spin doctor everything away but at least 40,000 to 50,000 people will never forget what they witnessed that day.
The government has already lost this round, and if people just bother to look for the truth, I think they’ll realize that all of us who are fed up with the government have gained the moral high ground.
Proud to have ‘walked’ with you, bro. Great blog. Keep it up.
Got more opportunity soon, I think hahaha… DSAI is suggesting yet another rally, this time to bring in 200,000 people! If that happens I’ll be down again, especially now that there are more blog kakis in KL!
Hidup awas! (Live dangerously? is that how you say that? haha)
Incredible dude!!! And all i did was only to play with my action figures….
I mean…all I could do was to play with my action figures…
This must have been an interesting year for the two of us :D (btw, don’t forget to return me that mail!)
Yeah, but dude, your one-man-action-figure show drove the pundits absolutely NUTS!! hahahaha..! One good protest deserves another! And you hung out with Cheryl Fox!
(crap, what have we become?)
Yo Fred,
Good to have met you. You do know that Haris’s Bangsa Malaysia thingy will be in your vicinity soon.
The Fuzz (haven’t heard this in ages, man) did not faze us.
Gee, I hope the next ‘walk’ is a little drier. It rained at the Penguin, 10-Eleven was no diff.
Cheers.
Hey Fred,
We met each other at Bangsar the other day with Rocky and Haris. Sorry, but we didn’t have much time talking to each other. But I didn’t know that you’re one of those post writers that got picked up by Bolehland.
Should have talked the other day…sheesh.
But I have a bit of reservation of Anwar doing another round of rally. The concern is that the police may figure the next time of how they got hoodwinked by people.
“It wasn’t an easy one, and I had nightmares of being arrested, tear gassed or beaten to a pulp. The threats coming from the government didn’t help, either, but for an occasion like this it was do or die.”
- I think we shared a similar nightmare ‘rerun’.
“I didn’t want the fears of an earlier generation, nor the apathy of the current one, to affect my decision. ” - this is exactly what will set us all apart!
@shar: look forward to it, bro - I’d definitely love to meet up again under less rainy circumstances haha! The rain was a blessing, though - if anything, it bought me a trip to Petaling Street ;) hope to meet up again soon!
@melvin: I was a little blur that night, what with all the walking (I’m not exactly built for walking…) and the rush for my bus back to JB. I wish I stayed longer (or booked a hotel). In any case, now that I’ve had some time to think about it, and after reading Galadriel’s post on the matter, I’m also wondering if there should be another rally.
What would be the purpose? I guess the point would be to keep the momentum going, but I’m wondering at what cost - BERSIH was a non-partisan initiative. DSAI’s suggestion may start people actually believing that it isn’t.
@josh: I guess those of us not at Masjid Jamek were lucky… next time could be our turn, though.
Thanks for your interesting account and photos of the Bersih rally.
I am compiling a list of detail commentaries so that people who are searching for them can easily find them. I hope you don’t mind if I use a couple of quotes from your blog for this list.
The compilation of the BERSIH blogs can be found here: http://mfabm.blogspot.com
Cool :) - fred
Now I see the flicker of hope and success in this country. Bravo to my fellow 40000 M’sians who walked for peace, justice and good governance.
you people just played to the hands of the opposition parties. who do these 40K or so demonstrators think they are representing? who? all us rakyat?? sorry to break yr bubble, but that day, you were pawns of the opposition.
sure the opposition claims that BERSIH consists of 60 plus Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and a small “insignificant” number of 5 Opposition political parties, making this a “non political ” rally. i hear that all the time from those in favour of the rally.
that statement is nothing more than political tactic made up by the opposition, a cunning and manipulative one. the obvious outcome of such rally is more ppl voting for the opposition. and you all would hv just played into their hands.
they hype the crowd with feel good statements, use the king (who was horse riding in trengganu tht day) to raise the emotions of these pawns , instructed their members (the bulk of protesters) to not waive party flags to reinforce their claim tht this is a rakyat rally not a political one, repeatedly harp on all the bad things BN has done ( which they have - yes im not a BN supporter) , with the extensive news coverage from tv3 to al jazeera, the opposition hit a home run this time. great publicity , and hopefully more angered voters and fence sitters voting for them.
yea yea , i hear u ..of 60 plus non govt org only “insignificant” 5 opposition political parties, or in percentage terms, 7% of bersih is opposition parties.
ok so tell me , so tell me why is it that 5 out of 7 delegation that went to to hand the memorandum to the King were leaders of opposition political parties?
sorry to break yr bubble, im a rakyat. u did nothing for me except made a 1/2 hr journey turn into a 3 hr journey thanks to traffic and roadblocks. enough of your ‘we did it for malaysia’ and yr ‘daulat tuanku’..you guys didnt gv an ass abt the tuanku when they were beaten to the ground by DrM. and u didnt do it for malaysia, you did it for the 5 ppl out of 7 that went to see the king… who was in trengganu horse riding.
@realist: Well, that’s one way of looking at it. Another way is even simpler, by answering these few questions:-
1. Do you believe that elections are free and fair in Malaysia?
2. If you do believe elections are free and fair, what is your response to evidence gathered during the Ijok and Machap elections of vote rigging, vote buying and phantom voters?
3. If you don’t believe elections are free and fair in Malaysia, how does one ensure that it is?
4. Should we, like Nazri suggests, seek change through the ballot box? But that’s just asking me to change things through elections, which I already think are unfair: aren’t you asking me to appeal to the very thing I’m protesting against? What is your solution, then?
Those are just simple questions. The point is, elections isn’t a partisan issue. It’s a civil liberties issue. I have a right as a citizen to demand free and fair elections.
The opposition have their own agenda. No one denies this. But the opposition also have critical mass. And forcing change requires this critical mass - especially when all avenues of change have been blocked. Everything from broadcast media to rallies or responses from civil society and the opposition have been silenced.
What then is your solution? I’d like to hear it and invite you to present one.
As for the delegation that presented the memorandum to the King’s functionary, drawing conclusions with one side of the story is usually folly. Khairy Jamaluddin asks the same question in a taped debate between Malik Imtiaz, Nazri and himself for the Al-Jazeera 101East program.
You could look it up.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks (3)
[...] Xpyre - A traveller from Johor [...]
[...] Go here and read about this brother’s take on 10-Eleven. Despite family disapproval, Fred took it [...]
[...] Xpyre - A traveller from Johor [...]