Though I had not mention about the matter earlier, it doesn’t mean I wasn’t following it’s progress. I didn’t want to talk about it because I am up north and unless, I am going to be part of it, I prefer to stay silent.
This morning, while having breakfast with hubby, just before I rush to church, I quickly flipped through the papers and am disappointed with the coverage. But what’s more disappointing is the front page news. Hellooo…different prices for petrol? Workable kah? Just blardy increase the road tax on those rich buggers’ cars lah! Simple what? Why? Wants to fool us that we got a caring bunch of folks looking out for the poor? Nak jadi hero macam Robin Hood? Not so easy lah!
Back to the march, hubby and I know about the magnitude of it. To all the 30,000 to 40,000, I salute you.
I asked hubby, “If it has been in Penang, will you go?” I know I would. Because I am that kind of person. Die die also will fight for what I believe. However, as the head of the family, I do wonder if he will do it because anything could happen. I am glad that no one was injured badly yesterday. He told me, “Of course!”
So yes, I know I got a family who is informed and know what we want. My two older sons too are updated with the current happenings and in fact, they had forwarded me the open letter from Martin Jalleh to Sultan Azlan Shah.
That said, I am very disappointed that majority of people are NOT aware of how big the march was yesterday. The silence of the media is effective somewhat. But we know what silent water means.
I say it is a bad move. People are going to talk about it through words of mouth. Things will get even more screwed when they are spread by word of mouth. If the papers have been allowed to at least feature something, maybe people won’t be that curious. Now that almost nothing was shown, no photos, no news….and things start to crop up, more and more people are going to be suspicious.
Bad move. Very, very bad move. You can silent the papers but the forces of blogs and the news from foreign media just confirmed that local papers are not trustworthy. This BERSIH march is too huge to be swept under the carpet.
I wasn’t there but I had read a few blogs from bloggers who are not attached to any political parties and I am touched with what they went through. I just cannot find the URLs now but a few of them were part of the crowd who were tear gassed and sprayed with chemical. I read what they went through and what’s most endearing is in those crowds, they don’t see the races, religions, political preferences but just one big united force who helped each other out during the chaos. I think the blogger is Kenny Law who was one of the first few who blogged.
To those who are unaware of this matter, for goodness sake, read! Start with the photos and videos on the BERSIH march from JeffOoi and I hope your views are not clouded by political matters. What I see from this is one big human race seeking justice. It is not what our local media wants us to believe.
the way the mainstream media reports the traffic jam and rally is quite… comical… they are really treating us like fools.
anyway… i am sure such rally will be happening more and more as malaysians become more and more open and vocal about current affairs. i think times have changed… and it is something that we underestimated. we lived in interesting times.
as for the petrol thingy… it is just an election feel good tool. i am sure they will probably increase the road tax of big cc cars by 1 hundred or so… it will not make a difference. those who can drive such big cars dont give a shit about it la.
Good on you, Lilian. Glad to see you’re part of the solution, not part of the problem 🙂 Love to you and your family xox
if nothing is being done or the peopel are continued to be suppressed, there will be one day not too long from now that malaysia will be ranked the same as soem backward bangala country, not too far from now, not too far from now
All text after your first post become aligned to center pula. Haha… Got code error is it?
bryan – That cilaka Youtube codes I think. I hide the post, no more liao. Cannot even load with IE just now. Tks for the site audit. LOL.
malaysian – Ya, the people has spoken.
antares – I like what you said in yr post. Reading the paper is like smoking, you know it is bad for your mental health and yet…. LOL. That’s why I usually don’t like to read to avoid spoiling my mood.
zewt – So did you get gassed or not ah? If I am there, I sure want to experience it for bloggable material sake. LOL.
Ooh…you want those mustard gas sprayed at you izit? Come, come, internet got recipe for it. Which class you want?
Saw the news on satelite channel. If not of that we also don’t know got such thing happened. Something big like this and there isn’t any report in the local newspapers, not even an small column, “lihai”! The foreign medias were covering them like crazy even as their headlines!
My parents were doing their shopping in Jln Tunku Abdul Rahman and they were shocked as all the shops closing in just seconds. Luckily those sales girls let them to continue to stay inside the shop and advised them to leave from back door. Then only they knew bout this protest. They never been into this kind of situation before, so to them, they were running to save their life. Thanks God that they were safe back to the hotel… :=)
After reading ur blog, i really salute them la.. how could they arrange for such a “perfect” protest from different places? and of course also salute them for the mess of the traffic…
Can’t agree with you more that silencing the media is now doing more harm than good. From this incident we can easily see for ourselves how one media (the foreign) exagerates while the other (the local) tries to cover up the same incident. Best is still to read blogs. Lol!
I don’t usually comment on your blog, but I felt it was appropriate to post an email I sent to the opposition leaders:
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to you as a Malaysian citizen currently studying abroad to express my gratitude to all the parties involved in the recent protests. I have followed the news of the protests demanding fair electoral procedures faithfully, and seeing the news being broadcasted in the Al-Jazeera network has not only caused me to drop a tear for the state of democracy in Malaysia, but for the brave people of Malaysia in valiantly defying the double standards set up by the Barisan National government in branding these protests as illegal. With the restrictions, the road blocks, the public transportation halting, the barricades and most of all, the constant threats in the media, I consider the figure of 40,000 an extremely high figure that exceeded all my expectations, as it only represents the number of people that had sufficient courage, and to some extent luck, to be able to take part in this glorious occasion. If such unfortunate double standards were not exhibited by our government, I daresay the number of people involved in the protests will number in hundred of thousands, if not millions. I have a feeling that the government will be reluctant to call an early election now that they have seen the extent of their incompetence being noticed by so many Malaysians.
I would also like to express my pride when I witnessed all Malaysians, irrespective of race, religion or skin colour take to the streets of Kuala Lumpur to demand and exercise our basic human rights. As I watched from the coverage of Malaysiakini, the only news source I consider to be credible these days, the people of Malaysia stand up to tyranny of the government, a significant part of me wished I had taken part what I consider a walk of freedom.
As I witnessed the events unfolding, I was shocked and horrified by the use of water canons and tear gas canisters to disperse a, from what I could gather, peaceful and nonviolent demonstration. As crowd of terrified protestors took cover in the refuge of the historical Masjid Jamek, this outrageous use of tear gas canisters, which were fired into the crowd instead of the usual protocol of firing it upwards, obviously affected hundreds of innocent bystanders. In addition to this, the use of chemicals also visibly affected many, including countless innocent victims. Just when I thought that the riot police had managed to dissuade our people from exercising their constitutional right, I was touched when the fearless protestors continued their march to the Istana Negara.
As I continued being glued to Al-Jazeera awaiting more news, I witnessed our dear Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin making a shameful presence in the international news network. The minister not only shamed me in front of my friends with his poor grasp of the English Language (how can he be the Information Minister if he has such poor understanding of the Lingua Franca?), he angered me by not only refusing apologizing for the outrageous treatment of the peaceful protestors, stopping short of claiming that they got what they deserved, but blaming the network for its news coverage. It looks like the Information Minister is uncomfortable having a news channel outside its control. Shame on him.
Thank you for organizing such a rally, and I hope you can continue giving voice to those poor oppressed souls in Malaysia.
Victor
mumsgather commented:
“From this incident we can easily see for ourselves how one media (the foreign) exagerates while the other (the local) tries to cover up the same incident.”
Dear mumsgather, I was at the junction of Batu Road and Jln Tun Perak where the police had just fired tear gas and water cannons at Malaysians walking peacefully for clean elections. People weren’t even carrying placards – only wearing yellow and shouting “Daulat Tuanku!” When the FRU began banging batons on their shields and charging the crowd, I ducked into a side alley to avoid being crushed and was able to walk quietly on my own to Dataran Merdeka where it was ghostly quiet except for a tramp eating from a styrofoam box and one scowling plainclothes inspector. Hamish MacDonald who reported the walk for Aljazeera was NOT exaggerating. He looked TRAUMATISED by getting doused with chemical water. May I suggest you cancel your subscription to The Star and the NST – and stop watching RTM and TV3. They don’t deserve our support a day longer!
Victor, I appreciate your sharing your feedback with everybody. I later heard that dozens of buses had been turned back at various entry points to KL. My guess is that there would have been an additional 13,000 walkers if those buses had come through. And if the weather had been sunny, I dare say another 20,000 would have showed up. Amazingly, the BERSIH event would have achieved its 100,000 mark and more. The heavy-handed police action only succeeded in reducing the number of participants but it certainly did not even dent our high spirits 🙂
Sorry, I forgot to include a link to a blogpost I wrote 5 days before 10-Eleven. Please click on my User ID to read the piece which summarizes why I decided to travel nearly 4 hrs by train just to be part of 10-Eleven! Thank you 🙂