Remember Remember the 10th of November

Weather: Fair
Temperature: 18 c

In the evening of 10^th of November, one great event took place in Malaysia. It was the 100,000 people rally organized by Bersih (or some even termed it as “Gelombang Kuning”). I have followed the news closely via the relevant websites and blogs.

On that day, I was working alone in the office (it was a Saturday, so only the most unfortunate was in the office). But my spirit and heart were with the people who braved the rain and multiple road blocks to be at the designated gather points in KL.

I learned that KL was almost paralyzed due to the overreaction by the police: setting up road blocks within the parameter of KL, confiscating any objects (such as umbrella, cap, hair band, wrist band) which are yellow in colour, stopping anyone who wears yellow shirt from entering KL. I even heard that the LRT trains refused to stop at some stations to prevent people from getting near Dataran Merdeka. Confucius said, “do not use cannon to kill mosquitoes”. Of course, by looking at the photos of the Bersih rally, there aren’t just 1 or 2 mosquitoes; there are close to 50,000 noisy and strong mosquitoes (well, depend on whose version you want to believe, Bersih said 50,000, the Star said 4,000).

After the knee-jerk measures taken by the police, the number of participants was successfully sliced into half. But the measures (such as water cannons and tear gas) were insufficient to prevent a strong group of people from marching to the Palace to present the petition to the King.

As usual, the main stream media focused on the different side of this rally: it caused unnecessary massive traffic jam and affected the livelihood of the traders nearby. The core of the rally was completely blacked-out. If you believe half of what the government-controlled newspapers tell you, you would believe that Santa Clause did climb down through the chimney to put Christmas gift into your smelly socks.

According to our Information Minister, the police behaved reasonably. They only used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowd after warning was given. No baton or physical force was used against the participants of the rally. Well, Mr. Minister, can you please explain the picture below. I am sure the police officer wasn’t holding a lolly-pop in his hands.

I asked myself: if I was in Malaysia at that time, would I have joined the rally? The answer is a definite: YES. Rally of this magnitude only happens once in a decade. I would be sorry to myself if I stay at home watching DVDs.

“People should not be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of their people.” – V for Vendetta.