DISQUS

maysnow · 2 years ago

Dear Su Ann, I'm sooo happy that you went to this rally!! I'm so proud of everyone who went, and thank you so much for blogging about it and creating awareness =) It's really the time for us to stand up and do what we must!

On the other hand, did you read this?

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?
file=/2007/11/11/nation/20071111203543&sec=nation

Haha incite racial disharmony? We weren't even rallying anything related to that... And now 4000 people has become 10,000? That's still 30,000 short.. And how has this particular demonstration ruined our country? At this point they're still denying everything and pointing fingers at everything else..sigh..

Anyway, I'm with you pinkpau! Democracy for Malaysia!!! =)

Michael · 2 years ago

sad i'm not in the country...i'll be rushing to there to join!!! this is the first step of voicing wat Malaysian really wants...starting line to real democracy and patriotism...was really proud of you, and all the others that joined this!!! i see hope for Malaysia alas...

sss · 2 years ago

Am in the other end of the world, so CNN's my daily bread:P

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/10/mal...

Was significant enough to make it to CNN's World News headlines for 2 days now, and THAT, is a big deal...AND at least they got the numbers right..30000 - 40000, shame on him who said 4000, and the media for covering it up.

Good write up, and glas you were there:)

sweat · 2 years ago

my bulu is naik-ed the whole time i'm reading this post and all the other posts from the other blogs. i'm so proud of u babe, and everyone else T__T

Danielle · 2 years ago

i'm very proud of u..

even though u're not my lil sis.. even though i'm not home to witness all of that.. n even though i'm not 1 for politics - especially not in malaysia.. u've made a difference, n i commend that..

thanks for sharing the intricate details of the event..

tze · 2 years ago

i am in tears after reading this post. i am so freaking proud of you, and of everyone who attended the rally, and i wish i was there.

vainjupiter · 2 years ago

well done, pau. I am so proud of you.
this is something so heartening for a malaysian abroad to know abt.
Even though i live in another country for a decade now, but i am still a malaysian. i just wish i were there with all the people and witness this i called the proudest moment of the poeple of msia who know the true meaning of democracy.

Dan-yel · 2 years ago

Hey Su Ann,

Finally! I have been looking forward to your account of the day. So much for the promise that we made that we would blog about it on the night itself, heh? Just kidding. Anyway I'm very proud of you that you'll go out of the comfort of your home to join us in aching our feet and doing our share of blunders along the way.

Hope, you and your friends, and the rest of us will keep up the momentum.

10-Eleven, Daulat Tuanku!

ccc · 2 years ago

**sniff** **sniff** im so touched by your story...Pinkpau rocks!

Michelle · 2 years ago

Your report made NST sound like they are talking a crap load of bullocks. Haha

They said only 10000 people. I mean, if there's blogs like yours, who would believe what they say?

thegeekinpink · 2 years ago

hey babe, hope you don't mind. I linked you up in a post. :) and bravo!

mike · 2 years ago

girl, keep up the noise, you are doing the right thing to the country and rakyat. I am totally proud of you!

lishun · 2 years ago

i just hope that the rally managed to achieve whatever objective it was meant to achieve. it may have made cnn headlines and the "democratic" western world may be clapping its hands, but has it made an impact on the malaysians that will be voting soon?

HK · 2 years ago

Brilliant.

On my part I'd say.. Malaysian bloggers rocks my socks!! I've never felt so much love for my country before on the morning of the 10th when I woke up over here. Straightaway did what I could do to my best, don a yellow T-shirt for the whole day and blogged about the gathering. Wished I was there.

HK · 2 years ago

btw I forgot this

Daulat Tuanku.

winn · 2 years ago

i like the way you've expressed it here..*tears* :0)

sheon · 2 years ago

May God Bless all of those who stood up against the tyranny of the malaysian regime!!!!!

May i reiterate, I trully regret not being able to join the rally on the 10th!! For i was only able to leave Gurun/Kedah at 3pm that very day! But my spirit was truly with the crowd.....

Daulat Tuanku!! Daulat Tuanku!! Daulat Tuanku!! Return the power to the people!!!!!!!!


p/s: pinkpau, go watch how our Mis-Information Minister Maidin reacted (behaved) being interviewed by Al Jazeera!!! He sure was pathetic!!!!

kennysia · 2 years ago

Oi! Darn you protesters who 'do not want peace and stability'! Why you nothing nothing oso want to 'drag King into politics one'! Cause traffic jams only! One shop keeper used to earn RM700 on Saturdays, but because of the protest he earns only RM170!

How you exprain!111 How!?

su min · 2 years ago

my eyes were brimming with tears after reading this. so proud of everyone who went. screw the local media giving distorted impression of what actually happened by only showing the run away crowd after being fired with tear gas and water cannons. and it's somewhat disappointing to hear this from pak lah - "kami tak mau tengok such large protest march held in our country......"

btw, i can't stand his son-in-law.

pinkshirtz · 2 years ago

bwahah ... kenny ... i think that day the shop keepers earn even more from selling umbrellas at the lrt ...

And kudos to you pink pau ... i always wonder whether our generation will live to see the brand new democratic malaysia ... you showed me that we can. X)

Laksarian · 2 years ago

I think I saw you there, I was also with the Pasar Seni group.

Grace · 2 years ago

Hi Su Ann, may i say how proud i am of you and our fellow Malaysians who took part in the rally? I actually have tears in my eyes when i read all these blogs on Bersih yesterday. And today, while i'm reading your blog, i have tears in my eyes again.

There is hope after all :) and we're not alone.

jovann · 2 years ago

thank you su ann!

Albert Ng · 2 years ago

My guess is, they refused to let it go down as a peaceful rally lest other people be encouraged to join future peaceful rallies. The 4,000 should be in Masjid Jamek alone.

entwined · 2 years ago

power to the people! :) may this herald a new dawn for Malaysian! :)

Amy · 2 years ago

Thank you, Su Ann. People like you make Malaysia a better place to live in.

Jun · 2 years ago

3 cheers for u su ann!! tho i must say tht i'm reli ashamed of wat the police have done, and how the government is reacting to all these reports and blog posts about the event. the racial card is ALWAYS being dealt, geez!

alea · 2 years ago

i nearly got teary eyed when i read your's and other blogger's post that went to the rally. am proud of you and my dad who went too. =)

Kenalicious · 2 years ago

You are amazing. You are really an inspiration to me. And to all who were at the rally, salute. Your post stirred something in me.

Doreen · 2 years ago

Inspiring indeed :) thank you!

ashley · 2 years ago

have been ur silent reader 4 while, i'm reading dis from ireland (where i'm stduying), haven't been updated bout my home country's news 4 while, thx 4 dis post, am damn proud of malaysians now!

zewt · 2 years ago

and this is a HUGE step out of the blind fear that Malaysians have been groomed to live in ever since May 13.

I could not have said it better. You gave me no choice but to link you again.

Yappy · 2 years ago

This is amazing! You're great... Thank you su ann! :)

zewt · 2 years ago

will be linking later tonight...

Gin · 2 years ago

fugz says they got nothing to do with the police. THE FR unit i mean and that the police were actually very nice to the ppl *o*

val · 2 years ago

i`m so proud to be a malaysian :)

zewt · 2 years ago

linked... also took a pic.

Anonymous · 2 years ago

because of the rally, people died in ambulance caught in jams. is it worth it?

caryn · 2 years ago

i'm touched. and i'm awfully ashamed to say that i was katak enough under my own tempurung to only know about it one day before. anyway, even though i might not have felt wat you felt when you saw those people crossing that bridge, but at least your words gave us hints, and maybe a thousandth of that terharu-ness too.

jian · 2 years ago

thumbs up!!! :)

joe · 2 years ago

you have just become one of my heros. I'm definitely proud of you... keep up the good work and keep making noise.
we are all behind you!!

OneLikMing · 2 years ago

im proud of u !!! for your age yet u are so patroctic!!
too bad i cant be there tat day.....
But i keep updated myself about it !! and i m so touched after i read all the news and articles from u guys
well. done.. for once... there is no malay, india or chinese ... there is onli malaysian~~~~

puvanan · 2 years ago

Now I see the flicker of hope and success in this country. Salute my 40,000 fellow Malaysians who walked their talk for peace, justice and good governance! Bravo!

Alynna · 2 years ago

Congratulations on walking the walk. :) I am very convinced now that I am not the only one who believes in a brighter future for Malaysia, and that my faith is not blind. I will continue to refuse to listen to those who tell me to let go of this dear country. Wish I could've been there; it must've been beautiful.

khianvoon · 2 years ago

Greetings from Manchester.

Thank you so much for this blog entry and congrats on walking the walk. There is no hope on relying the mainstream media for any coverage on this.

I believe there are many overseas students who,like me, are touched by this noble act. All in all, job well done.who

Daulat Tuanku.

JonJon · 2 years ago

Hi Pinky :D

Gratz on being there :). Just letting you know tho:

"well, the only violence that occurred yesterday came from the cops - firing tear gas, water cannons and beating several [b]protestants[/b] including reporters - and that was without warning or provocation."

Protestants are a seperate branch of Christianity from Catholics; those who do not accept the authority of the Pope. Needless to say, they are quite different from your ordinary 'protestors'. ;)

I r evul spelling Nazi!

songjun · 2 years ago

lol what is the actual agenda of this walk actually?

its really good that the rakyat is brave and stood up for what they believe in and was allowed to walk.

However.. back in anwar's expulsion, there was a demonstration too remember? Only that wasn't well executed and we had a more heavy handed leader at the time :) Pet project of anwar?

anyway. Enlighten me, cos im quite ignorant in this, are the results of the last elections that 'rigged' ? I have read opposition chatter about phantom voting or breaking up constituencies to dilute votes.. but vote rigging and unfair elections is pretty..um.. vague.

Sorry for the skepticism, but some 'politically' connected friends back here were like... "huh? why are they demonstrating for.. not like elections was reported to be corrupted or what". so yea.. pardon my ignorance and my cynism and my pro government stance :P

I know our problem is heavy corruption and minor suppression of opinion, which i think is what everyone should have marched for.

Personally i think some people are just riled up for the sake of being anarchistic. I still see idiots who blame the government for fuel rises and about inflation and such, and berating 'mega projects' in the country. Idiots should learn a bit about economics first. I think we should teach economics in like.. primary school. -.-

Legitimate concerns such as the heavy corruption of our judiciary, and the rubbish we call our 'independant' pressshould be addressed first. Should have marched on about how pussy like our media is haha and how sammi vellu should go to jail for robbing our country of so much money -.- Oh and i think the 4000 number was meant to mean the masjid jamek section.

songjun · 2 years ago

eh but glad that everything went smooth tho. I think if this was under mahathirs time... i think there would have been some nasty things happening.

yun · 2 years ago

I'm very proud of the rally of the rakyat.If i were in semenanjung, i'll surely join you guys. This is a one time big event.But i hope they wont be any other rally soon,let's keep low profile for a while. This is not an opposition rally, hate it when anwar ibrahim said there should be more rally bla bla bla. politicians are almost the same. when they are in power, they lupa diri and arrogant.only when they're no longer in power baru nak bersama rakyat.

Johari · 2 years ago

To all the haters, screw you while your lazy ass do nothing for the rest of us.

It's the government that caused the jams by having the roadblocks. Don't twist it around.

If they really wanted to prevent inconveniences, they would have granted a permit per the people's wishes and provided a safe route and alternative routes, like for Merdeka or those 10km running competitions.

mr jp · 2 years ago

Kudos for attending the rally ! Wish I was there, but I'm here in Brisbane.

I hope for a better future, and the right to demonstrate is a step in the right direction.

chris · 2 years ago

stole a pic and linked. now asking for permission. i know you won't mind =P toodles!

jamy : seaykopitiam.com · 2 years ago

Bravo girl,
Kudos all the way from Florida, USA.
Jamy Tan

singaporen · 2 years ago

elections in malaysia has been unfair all this while? how so?

Antares · 2 years ago

Mmmmmmuuuuuuuuaaaaah!!!! That's all I can say after reading your report on the 10 Nov march for a clean start to a new dawn in Malaysia :-)

Jeff from LA · 2 years ago

I'm very proud of you Pink Pau. I'm glad you're fighting for the future of your country. Your hard work and the work of those like you will be remembered by generations of Malaysians to come!

StockTube · 2 years ago

good on you su ann ... if only the rest of the people your age knows what the gathering was all about ... keep it going ...

cheers ...

asstha · 2 years ago

i'm so proud of u n everyone who made it to the rally... i unfortunately couldn't attend it but my spirits was with u all (found out abt it from zewt's blog) as i dun believe wat the papers write and only read blogs nowadays... kudos to u and all who were there.

i actually received a sms fr my fren telling me not to go to kl cos of the rally thingy but i was smiling wen i saw it... at least this time around it wasn't just all talk and no action... :)

power to the people and to all... hats off to u mate.

mohdzawi · 2 years ago

pijkpau,
Have a heart and use biffer font. An old man like me cant read such small fonts. Is there a way I can enlarge the font size myself?

pinkpau · 2 years ago

maysnow : sigh our govt has a lot to learn when it comes to crisis management. always so defensive.

michael : aww wish you had been there too

sss : yes, shame on the media >:( i'm so angry at them

sweat : i'm proud that you wore yellow all the way over there at moho!

danielle : dont thank me.. :) i was just a little speck in the whole rally. we all have a part to play and it's only responsible that we do so.

tze : but babe you dont have sport shoes!

vainjupiter : and i'm very glad you havent lost your malaysian spirit :) too many people go abroad and gladly dispose of their malaysian identity. malaysia cant change if all our best brains and hearts do that =(

dan-yel : haha ya but better late than never :P i'm proud of you too. i'm proud of us!! *hugs

ccc : and 39,999~ other people rock too!

michelle : memang nst talk bollocks

thegeekinpink : thanks for the link :) read your post and i only wish more young voters would be like you! the apathy is just so frustrating sometimes

mike : oh i will :P

lishun : as long as it shakes the govt and EC up enough for them to know we cant be bullied or lied to, that's good enough for me :) one step at a time

hk : the malaysian societies of many unis in UK had their own yellow demo too! did yours?

winn : thanks :))

sheon : yeah i watched it. couldnt stop rolling my eyes and chortling -_-

kennysia : sigh yalar some more so bad for the economy u know! got some people missed Chicago the musical cos of the jam u know! musical > democracy !!!

su min : a lot of people cant stand said son in law :P

pinkshirtz : i hope so too :) i wanna see reform in this country in my lifetime as well. cant let my kids have all the fun, now can i !

laksarian : issit! why never say hi!

grace : thank you :) i am equally moved by your empathy for all the marchers.

jovann : you are welcome my love!

albert ng : that's what they say lah when they're caught at a dead end. "oh we meant masjid jamek". pls lah. what kinda reporting is that if you only report a figure at ONE TINY SECTION of the ENTIRE rally -_- pathetic journalism.

entwined : hidup rakyat! :D

amy : i am but a very small part of a bigger machinery .. :)

jun : eh no racial cards dealt this time, if im not wrong

alea : your dad went! that's so awesome :D

kenalicious : well i'm glad to be of some effect then!

doreen : you;re very welcome! :)

ashley : haiyo must read news okay!

zewt : hahaha thanks for the link zewt.

yappy : eh i'm only a very small part of the whole thing :) dont thank me.

gin : i think fugz meant the unit amal ppl. FRU is part of the police

val : me too. sometimes. :)

anonymous : who told you that? and who called for the road blocks in the first place? who neglected to give early notice for road closure and neglected to make proper re-routing for closed rotes?

caryn : it's not about being katak.. it's about the MOST IMPORTANT medium of information dissemination in msia not giving this rally any airtime besides the authorities' side of the story. it's not a surprise a lot of people didnt know about this rally.

jian : two thumbs up!

joe : haha i can make a lot of noise wan :P

onelikming : that is totally true, what you said about 'there were no malays chinese or indians' that day. the rally was the PERFECT example of your statement :)

puvanan : let's hope it all goes towards something!

alynna : oh it was.. :)

khianvoon : it pains me to know that there are so many ardent malaysians who would have gladly joined us in this walk, but cant because they're all abroad. sigh.

jonjon : actually, it's funny you brought this up :P when i typed 'protestors' in my post, spellcheck said that word doesnt exist! so i figured maybe protestants was the right word to use, cos even when i didnt capitalize it, it showed as a proper word. haha spelling nazi indeed :P

songjun : aiyo songjun! explicit agenda of walk : to pass to the king a memorandum for clean and fair elections. implicit agenda : to tell the govt they cant kick us around and leave us in the dark, and to show that we know what the hell is going on. 'pet project of anwar' or not, the aims of this rally apply to all malaysians who want a better malaysia and a just democracy. it is completely undemocratic to ban public gatherings simply because it is not in the regime's best interests. assembly and speech are basic human rights but our law doesnt allow for that, and that is what we are protesting in our march as well. and yes elections are massively rigged okay. look at the lunas by-elections for example where BN was caught bringing in busloads of phantom voters to lunas. ijok by-election where people aged over 103 and kids below voting age can vote. breaking up constituencies is another thing as well.. for BN strongholds the registered voter pool is so much smaller than other constituencies. is that fair? postal voting as well is exploited to the very max.. najib won his MP seat in 1999 by a margin of 1200 votes. some 2000 of his total votes were postal votes. how can you and your kononnya politically connected friends not know all this. and i hope by mega projects, you dont mean PKFZ and the like because those projects are disgusting pocket-lining projects that fail 101% in planning and execution. come on lah 4.1billion to BAIL out a govt project that failed is just way too much. all this talk about withdrawing petrol subsidy cos not enough money.. why not just stop bailing out projects that tak jadi. sami vellu is not the only one robbing our country of its money.

yun : hahahaha i love your last sentence. that is actually damn accurate for a lot of our politicians.

johari : EXACTLY!!

mr jp : it is :) malaysia needs to change.

chris : wtf must watermark all my pics liao! my bandwidth is dying!

jamy : thank you :)

singaporean : unfair division of constituencies, phantom voters ie dead people who can still vote, multiple voting, postal voting. the works :) refer to my reply to songjun a few comments up from yours.

antares : muahhhhhs back!

jeff from la : but we wont be in the history books anytime soon :P

stocktube : will do :) thank you!

asstha : yeah i got a lot of such calls and texts too from ppl who didnt know i was attending the rally. very silly. this is what our govt banks on.. mass fear and insecurity.

mohdzawi : hahahahaha i'm so sorry :P a few people have brought this up before, but no i'm afraid you cant increase the size of your font. try copy+pasting into microsoft word and reading from there?

Kevin Chan · 2 years ago

I'm proud of you pinkpau! Great post, just heard of the rally from your blog. Really saddening that our pm is making our country sound really screwed up in the international arena, and i really dont know what to say anymore about our ministers. Is there hope left in malaysia to make me come back anymore? I dont know anymore.

tulipspeaks · 2 years ago

i'm really v proud of this 18-year old!!


ammu.

lovie · 2 years ago

I'm so proud of you. I heard about all this from reading tons and tons of blog. You're so brave. I guess our government really need to wake up and stop dreaming. We're living in fear now. Sigh.

meetski · 2 years ago

song jun needs to go read up on how the EC redraws the constituencies to suit BN voting, needs to go find out how phantom voters do exist, needs to find out how voters are misplaced into vauge voting areas on purpose.

my friend's mom who is a teacher says that fraud happens every election. it's very easy to happen. but nobody says anything. cos their next paycheck comes from BN.

People who don't understand democracy like songjun, ie, in their comfort zones cannot understand that protesting, making your voice heard is the foundation of a democracy. whether your are the minority or the majority. letting your voice be heard is what a democracy is about.

meetski · 2 years ago

and ofcourse the elections aren't reported to be corrupted. who controls the media?

we don't even know the state of our polluted air cos the govt doesn't want bad publicity.

Adrian · 2 years ago

good for you and the other 39999 people :D

I wish i could be there myself

entwined · 2 years ago

mohdzawi: there is a way to increase pinkpau's blog's font size, if you're using opera. go to view > zoom > select percentage. firefox and IE has the increase font size/zoom function, but sometimes they don't work for certain sites. hope this helps! :)

habri · 2 years ago

I’m so proud of you. I heard about you from Nazrul. I was among the hardest hit group, pity me..hehe. I hope you can create awareness about this thing among your friends and your circles. Judging from my experiences, we can transform those who are apolitical into someone who 'peduli' as long as we can keep our objectivity and rationality. IMHO, most of the young peoples hate politics because they don't like their 'politically aware' friends who couldn't control their emotions. So we must change this and lead by example, try to mingle and be nice with everyone. Keep politics out of topic at first. Read more and update ourselves everyday. I have done this when i'm still studying and Thank God, i managed to changed a lot of my friends into 'Manusia Yang Peduli', and not partisan. I believe with such a nice and good character, you can do more for our young peoples. Hidup Rakyat! Hidup Pinkpau!

Kevin · 2 years ago

Have visited your blog once awhile before this and never commented. But this time, how could I not? =)

Brilliantly written. Sums it all up what's really happening there at ground zero. Your readers must be feeling what's it like to be right there with you.

Proud of ya girl...there's hope after all in the younger generation...not that I'm that old hehe...but still, well done.

songjun · 2 years ago

meetski : lol i dont understand democracy? LOL. you my dear, are an idiot then. The general elections, i am quite certain, is pretty fair in my opinion. What happens in BY-Elections however is a different story. AS i mentioned, i understand and know about the Phantom voter and constituency dilution issues.

Anyway, I dont know enough about malaysian politics, biased or unbiased to know whether its fair or not because we have two extremes. On one hand we have the party members who of course will claim its fair etc etc.. and we have the opposition who will say its unfair. I dont really trust suhakam either nor our lovely press.

What I DO know is, the agenda to want more CLEAN GENERAL elections is a rather non-agenda. The by elections, corruption, fear mongering, non informative campaign period warning are. Another point to raise is ; why the king.

You can see clearly politics in play. We have to get the consent of the king because... tada... majority of malays especially rural ones still view their king as the de facto leader of the country.

We should be demanding the memoranda as a RAKYAT. Not aquiese to another 'head'.

Good points raised in JonLeeMK's infernal ramblings post. Go refer.

And regarding smart tunnel, you may still think its a waste of money, which should have gone into maybe 'soft infrastructure' like education and social welfare projects. However, soft infrastructure is a tricky area. What we invest in it we cant see solid form, and returns are also very tricky.

Pumping money into physical mega projects generate work (albeit lots of corruption too) and spending and spur economy. The return is also better as the road is a physical asset.

Yes i agree we're very corrupted.. and our projects all involve corruption.

Yet my opinion on agenda of walk? Form a STRONG and INDEPENDANT Anti Corruption Agency. And reform our crap judicial system. That is the very core of our problem. Fix that , the ACA can act on things like corruption (which is a root cause of election fraud) more effectively.

Not ask for free and fair elections and ask from the king. And wow.. using the demonstration to 'scare' BN into calling elections now and etc etc so underpines how POLITICAL this rally has been used.

The right to protest is valid, and i commend that this rally was done and carried out in a very proffessional manner with no hooligans or anything. Even when the incident at masjid jamek occurred, no violence spilled out. I would guess it was an attempt of the FRU to instigate a riot which would spread. But thank God for good leadership and level heads this time around.

pinkpau : sorry la, i not up-to-date la. Was very shocked and worried when i read about ur sms post hahaha. See i care for u so much. Better belanja me ice cream. Very surprised and proud that the rally went down well. I was afraid the FRU might start their shenanigans lol. Was very annoyed that i couldnt find any news on it till much later too lol!

kez · 2 years ago

i got an email fr BERSIH (duno where they got my email) 2 weeks ago. i so wanted to join u la, su ann.. glad that a fren of mine joined the walk..
my frens here called this a riot.. i dun think so.. it's just a walk for justice..

Laksarian · 2 years ago

issit! why never say hi!

Shy lah, I saw your 2 taiko standing so close to you like they would bantai anyone who might be trying to put the moves on you. And then I'm also not 100% sure its you also since I am not a frequent visitor of your blog. Maybe in the next rally I will say hi.

sheon · 2 years ago

pinkpau: next rally.....hopefully i can manage to rush back to join your little 'group' and stand tall against the tyrants! i make a good bodyguard too! hahahaha

habri · 2 years ago

songjun
Another point to raise is ; why the king.

You know why the king. Did you know that Abdul Rashid, SPR chairman himself challenged the Bersih delegation to raise this matter to the Agong because the members of the commission are appointed by His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong after consultation with the Conference of Rulers,

BERSIH was formed in July 2005 and since then they had many talks with SPR regarding the 4 immediate demands. The problem is the chairman just listen and it seems he don't want to correct the system and he even dared to challenged them to go direct to the Agong. So they just did so. You see, who else left? None right? Only Agong is the last choice, they are hoping that Agong can do something to pressure SPR or the government. 'Perhimpunan and perarakan' indeed is their last choice and the fact is not many peoples know about Bersih before eventhough they had conduct many activities before. Why only now some peoples condemning them without even knowing the whole context and chronology of the events.

The situation is like chicken or egg, who should we blame first? government or SPR itself? I believe they (SPR) can do something but they kept blaming government and tell us that that can't do anything. If the continues like this, we have no choice but to take to street again. Remember this is the last choice and please tell us what is the best way to address this?

In appointing the members, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong “shall have regard to the importance of securing an Election Comission which enjoys public confidence.

Kevin · 2 years ago

I actually went to track day wearing a bright yellow jacket hahaha

johnleemk · 2 years ago

To clarify, there are only three political actions the Agong may take without following the advice of the PM/Cabinet: choosing a new Prime Minister, accepting or rejecting the Prime Minister's request to dissolve Parliament, and calling a meeting of the Conference of Rulers concerned solely with the rights and privileges of the rulers.

All other political actions, including the appointment of election commissioners, are subject to the advice of the PM/Cabinet. It's in the Constitution.

I think the rally was a great idea, and wish I could have gone. However, I would have much preferred it if we marched on Parliament or the courts - two institutions which would have the actual power to effect change if they only asserted themselves. These institutions are cowed by the executive, but if the rakyat show that they want change, then we will put our elected representatives and our judiciary in a tight spot and force them to choose which master they will serve - the executive, or the people.

habri · 2 years ago

Johnlee,

ya, correct. thanks for clarify on this. Actually among other things, they are hoping that Agong will rejecting the Prime Minister’s request to dissolve Parliament if there is no changes made.So at least the Agong and rulers are aware of the issues that Bersih try to point out.

anyway, my friend Faisal will be on air in Al-Jazeera tomorrow 10.30PM, Friday 1.30PM, Saturday 3.30PM and Sunday 5.30PM to tell the audience what is Bersih all about.

fern · 2 years ago

i'm so proud of youuuuuu ^_^

and all the other malaysians who went there and kicked ass! woohoo!!!

sheon · 2 years ago

malaysian parliament is a farce. say if the rally headed there, i am sure there will be a circus load of ministers demanding the participants' heads!!!

Our Cabinet is basically a court of jesters. Our MPs are fools. Our Police are corrupt. Our Opposition MPs are totally outnumbered in the parliament. The election is rigged. ISA is a constant threat. The judiciary is a puppet show. The Election Commission is biased. The ACA is toothless. Local councils are swindlers.

And most importantly...our Dear PM is a village fool.

Who else to turn to? who else to go to?

Despite having His Majesties powers curtailed by our Dear Ex-PM Mahathir (*cough CORRUPT), He still remains as our ONLY hope.

songjun · 2 years ago

lol id say the king is THE most toothless lol. We're giving him face.

I still say its a political move, and that our opposition themslf are weak and i have no confidence in them leading the country.

The police is corrupt but not corrupt till mafia style gangs literally RUN the country. They still get the job done albeit only when it comes to certain things, which are usually politically motivated. I still doubt that the elections are rigged, there is no voter intimidation, and only by elections are usually tampered with. ISA is now mostly available in most countries in the world, and my DAP MP is not a swindler. She is one of the best MPs i have ever seen.

And our PM is not a village fool, he;s doing the best he can with whats been thrust onto him. Yes our judiciary is a puppet show and our ACA basically toothless. and that is problem. Fix accountability, and the rot is turned.

Mahathir may have enjoyed some kickbacks, but please RESPECT him for what he has done for our country. WIth out him and with BUNGLING idiots with backward thinking minds who STILL think mega projects were and are a waste of money should appreciate without him and his mega projects, Malaysia would still be an unknown piece of land.

Thats the thing, we have our thought process so bungled up that we ask help from the monarch, who is probably THE most next to useless person in the country and have children or cousins further corrupting the country by flaunting their status around. Talk to business ppl in the know and u will see how arrogant some of these ROYALTIES are, especially the Johor king.

Want to exercise the right to protest? protest as the Rakyat. We ARE democracy. We do not acquiese to other powers other then the power of the people.

IMO tho, i think im quite a believer in autocracy LOL. The singaporean kind. Maybe we should come up with a new political system. The private sector kind. If we had put Lim Goh Tong as the PM, i wonder how things would have been haha

Jun · 2 years ago

ah i was referring to the fact that the gov was trying to blame the whole rally for being "disruptive to racial harmony". like, since when did it even have a racial agenda? *d'oh!* and if anything, i think it has brought the diff races closer, judging by the zest of the crowd and their common goal, dun u think so? :)

fabm · 2 years ago

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

sboon · 2 years ago

you are truly an inspiration =) keep up the spirit and keep spreading them! And oh. Will you be doing legal studies by any chance in the States? You have potentials ;) Cheers...

george · 2 years ago

photographs have quaintly.net labels now! :O

sheon · 2 years ago

songjun: thanks for your views on my comment. however, i respectfully disagree with most of your points. except for the johor sultan part (there's no doubt on that..hahahahaa)

our king(s) have always been seen as a mere puppet to the system, no thanks to their reluctance (or so i think) to exercise one very very powerful eerr...'option', that is..the power to sack a prime minister and elect one. just like why all the superpowers NEED to have nuclear weapons, but not for a first strike option, but as a deterrent for others contemplating on a strike.

police are corrupt. hey..didnt we see a senior cop being arrested for being rm27million too rich? tip of the iceberg i'd say. i know for a fact how night joints operate, brothels, clubs, etc. who are on their payroll....explain a hip&happening brothel operating just beside a police beat base. AND, not to mention that police are suppose to be politically independent!

elections are rigged...rigged...RIGGED!!! postal votes, cash-for-vote, dead voters, phantom voters, questionable distribution of electoral name list (do you call it that?)...... my frens were offered rm200 each as a token for voting them, on top of their return flight tix being paid for. and i dun have to waste time relaying stories on how voters were being questionably distributed.

'ISA' in other countries are being used as a national security. our ISA is being used as a political weapon instead.

by saying 'all MPs are swindlers'.....my sincere apologies, i meant 'most BN MPs'..... i know for a FACT, which MPs are corrupt, as my fren HAD to put them on his payroll to get certain things done (yes....the givers are almost as guilty as the takers, i agree). and we have the infamous 'close one eye' MP, we have our clowns Jerai, Jasin, you-dun-like-malaysia-you-leave-malaysia MP, etc....... to name a few.

Our PM not a village fool? well, take couple of hours off your schedule, and visit www.m2day.org

Tun...gosh, is he a classic. i am in the construction line, some things i know if i disclose, will get me sacked. some not-so-open secrets about most mega projects in our country. some you-scratch-my-back-i-scratch-yours thingy..... and we have the judiciary-crisis with the sacking of tun abbas, and we have the anwar case, ops lalang, ...the list goes on and on. yes, he put us on the world map, he brought massive prgress to the country, but, are these excuses to being incredibly corrupt?

sheon · 2 years ago

got space for 1 more? hehe...ok....


one day, IF the coalition of DAP, PAS, KeADILan formed a government by monopolising the parliament, i would also be on the opposition side!

you see, the thing is not to have ONE party ruling the country. i've said this again and again..(maybe not here)...what a truly democratic government need is CHECK AND BALANCE. no matter who controls the parliament, there MUST be an (almost) equally strong opposition questioning the government!

if the PM makes a proposal to allocate a particular sum on a certain project, there must be an opposing side which queries onwhy/how/when. and thus effectively scrutinises how taxpayers' money are spent.

if the ruling party tables a draft policy in the parliament, democracy NEEDS an opposing voice to debate on the policy. now look, BN controls 92% (i wont even argue on how they are over-represented) of the MP seats, fair debate?

for a bill to be passed as law, you need 2/3 of the MPs voting for it. go figure. in other words, what BN say is law. if one day, IF...BN tables a draft, that every citizen MUST pay 90% income tax, there is absolutely nobody in the parliament who can prevent that from being LAW!! isnt that just beautiful.

shiver · 2 years ago

you the woman. you go girl!
next round, ill be there!
strong allegiance. malaysian in singapore

Shazeea Banu · 2 years ago

Lovely post, especially the part about your favourite moments. I was at Masjid Jamek and wrote my favourite moments too.

http://shazeea3bt.blogspot.com/2007/11/bersih-r...

james y · 2 years ago

respect mahathir?
where is malaysia on the map anyway. what are we known for other than looking stupid on the world map?
corruption ranking?
space flight participant?
spending ridiculous amounts of money on white elephants like putrajaya, the MSC, Proton, KLCC, while so many simple things that need addressing like poverty and education go ignored. why? to draw your attention. to fool you into thinking we're actually great. what is malaysia good for really?
other than kuala lumpur, which isn't much to talk about, where else in malaysia can you consider it really developed? even then i wouldn't want to live in most of klang valley. would you?

if you really did understand democracy, then give me a single example how barisan national's policies are at all democratic?
for someone who admitted he knows not much about malaysian politics, he then goes goes on to harp on we should do things when he doesn't realise, barisan's iron fist over everything doesn't allow things to change even if done by the book if it risks them losing power.

why is it that the opposition voted states remain in poverty? or most of the rest of malaysia for that matter.

isn't a govt supposed to take care of all it's subject regardless of voting preference?

Bersih is an example of the rakyat doing things the right way.
It is enshrined in our laws that we first go thru judicial review.(which was ignored)
and then the agong has the power ACCORDING to our constitution to dissolve parliament, etcetc, the election commission, powers to intervene. And so we go thru the proper next step.

How can you say the opposition is not able to run the country? you haven't given them a chance. Iit's like saying you should never go to england to study because you're used to being spoon fed and brainwashed by the malaysian education system.

you have no idea how much richer the rich are becoming under this govt and their cronies. you talk about market forces, prices going up etc, if prices go up, so should wages, proportionately, but this govt constantly gives into the corporate pressure (or should i say bribes)to stop min wage laws, to keep wages low, a fresh grad's pay is still as low as 15 years ago.while prices go up. where is all the money going to?

you talk about fixing accountability. there is no such thing as accountability under barisan national. thats why they enacted the Official Secrets Act and the ISA to throw anyone who lets out any information they don't want people to know in jail. just like singapore. the way you talk, i think you love absolute power.
hmmmm..........

it's a classic example of being slouched in your comfort zone. things are fine for you. so why bother.

mahathir · 2 years ago

Did I really do well?
Well i managed to control all the media in malaysia. to let them only know what i want them to think. especially you song jun.

i managed to become ridiculously rich. i think my wealth was estimated by Forbes to be around 20Billion ringgit.

my sons are rich as heck as well.

all my former friends in umno and mca and samy are also so rich you'll cry when you really realise what the extent of our bank balances are.

you all think i did well because i built a few big buidlings and so called golden triangles. well foreign investors still stay away from malaysia. why?
incompetence, red tape, bribery, racism. malays just haven't grown under bn at all. we're still the same after 50 years of spoon feeding and brainwashing.

who do you think uses the race card everytime to put down the chinese and indians? Us of course!

even though our govt has become mroe racist and corrupted, you still believe we'll do a better job than anyone else.

my plan has worked, and will still work for many more years.

I learn from the best. ask my pal Lee Kuan Yew.

mahathir · 2 years ago

oh. and of course democracy has to do with politics.

aren't you voting for a POLITICAL PARTY AND CAUSE?

and i think malaysians suck at economics.

market forces = supply and demand. the best stay, the weak go out.

barisan = incompetant and oppressive. yet we still stay. and get rich.

ha ha.

mahathir · 2 years ago

and that stupid king. who else do you think has made the rakyat despise the king?

he theoratically has the power to control the govt due to our constitutional monarchy.

of course we're gonna try and put him down in your eyes.

songjun · 2 years ago

lol

sheon ill get back to u later. got kurang ajar ppl here first to deal with.

James y : let me ask you, without the first step to industrialisation, would we even have the resources to address our 'core' problems.. ie as u said.. education and poverty? If we were still an agricultural based country, with our small land mass and poor distribution networks, and subject to weather conditions and natural phenomena, where would our income come from when countries like indonesia mobilise their agricultural power?

Fine you speak about BN's iron fist. Why not speak about the junta in Vietnam, the Autocratic Democracy in Singapore and the Communist Capitalist China. They have iron fists too, but their economies are doing so well. Point in case, look at Singapore. Do u think they're a very democratic country? Have you seen how WORSE off are opposition controlled territories in Singapore? Yes, i know our development is very centric and not spread out. But mention Malaysia and ppl overseas go.. OH! U guys have the twin towers right? or Oh yeaa one of the F1 tracks! With BN, at least we have the perceived notion of democracy. Did i ever say that BN did was right or that our country is the best country in the world? No. In fact, i have always believed that true democracy is not going to work anywhere in the world (except maybe in switzerland) because the majority of the population is stupid and vote on semantics. you may be intelligent enough to argue about economics and etc and go to someone's blog, but the regular joe on the street who worries about paying the bills wont know, and would probably just vote on what is said to him, or what is generally felt. Regular joe still thinks that Petrol Prices is the fault of the government. Not understanding that if left to market conditions, our petrol prices will shoot up without the heavy subsidies. Heck he probably thinks all petrol around the world is subsidised, or probably didnt even know it was subsidised.

You want to know why we've not performed economically? Its because of our culture. Culture that we've bred within ourselves. Chinese not wanting to integrate, malays not wanting to give up their 'rights', and indians basically always being left out of the political debate.

Democracies have been proven to be slow, beauracratic and impeding. Fine, freedom is the right of everyone. And i do not doubt that. And i also appreciate that we HAVE democracy (or in your opinion some sense of it) Yet, in Malaysia, I live in relatively no fear of being forced to vote for the BN. If they want to bribe me, they could, but at the end of the day, whose integrity is being tested? If u GET bribed, then we're back to square one. Cheating in the elections is however a big problem in our By Elections. General elections we get re-drawn constituencies and have our protests not heard and quelled. So shouldnt we instead demand for accountability? I didnt say demand it from BN, although it should be, but we should have a strong ACA and independant objective observers first. This would fix the problem in the long run. And yes, if our leaders do not do a good job, we should have the right to protest or act through unions or bodies. But what happens if ppl realise that they can rally at every single semantic? How wonderful France is right now with them always striking or rioting for some reason or other, and how useful it is when ur mail or train personnel go on strike all the time.

Running to the king whose powers are.. what? Tell me what can the king do. Probably the reason why Bersih was giving it to the king was because apparently the EC challenged them to raise it to the king. So thought process = "Hey yea.. ill go up on that". Fine, you showed them who's boss. But whats it going to achieve? You do realise that the king has no absolute power in this country, because whatever that goes to the king is roundtabled again back in parliament and will by pass the king's orders anyway. 'Mahathir' says that he has the power due to us being a constituional monarch. See the irony in that? Here we are harping about the freedom of being a citizen and the power we have as the rakyat, and then oh look! Someone else has the highest power of all and can control the government. Bravo on intelligence.

And yes, the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. That is the fact of life and the result of NATURAL selection. At least still in Malaysia, IF i worked hard enough and had some street sense, i can still achieve a level of comfort that a lot of countries in the world can not achieve. Yes, you might say that we're highly evolved and can think whats right and whats wrong. You might say im a bastard for thinking that natural selection is right. At the end of the day, its eat or be eaten. Life is not just about oh lets make everyone happy. Its about surviving. So whats ur idea on how we should help the poor? Implement inefficient socialist policies? National Health care and free education? Give solutions, not just rant.

As a survival of a species, let me ask you this. Should we continue to allow people to live out their lives up to 80 - 110 years, keeping them jacked up on medicine and such when our human immunity system has suffered a decline. Why do you think we have so many SUPER strains of viruses and bacteria now. What should we have done to the dodo if it continued to still be stupid enough to nest on the ground and not be wary of predators? Protect it, build parks around their nesting grounds and post armed bodyguards to dodo's and shoot to kill any predators preying on them? Its what we are doing to our weak. Yes, its fucking bastardic. BUt it makes sense in a whole right.

Regarding minimum wages, try drawing out a supply and demand curve with the effect of minimum wages as legislation, and u will find that the economic and social outcome will re-balance it self anyway regardless of legislation, as market forces (undistorted) usually balance them out. However, due to our high rates of corruption, there is a lot of 'leakages' to where money is being used.

'Mahathir' : childish of you. Anyway, show me any political leader around the world that did not reap from their status. In my view, probably most western ones seemed to not to, but many of them were already rich when entering politics, or had very tight corruption control. I spoke to an Indian (India Indian) MBA student the other day who worked in malaysia. He actually said that he would rather work in Malaysia because it had less red tape, less corruption and more oppurtunities. Fucking shocking isnt it. I was shocked too. Maybe you have some ideas that will fix things. Instead of just harping on whats been done (like most people), come up with a solution. (other then u running to the king.)

mahathir · 2 years ago

and we are. we are protesting. we are walking. we are voicing our concerns. rather than just giving in.

mahathir · 2 years ago

a democracy means a person is able to make an informed decision about what to choose, who to vote for. that person has all the information he needs to be able to choose properly who he wants to vote for.

bn controls all the media outlets in malaysia. opposition views are only thru internet which is minimal.

we brainwash you ever since you start primary school till the day you die. of course you're gonna vote for me.

why do you think the country has even descended into such a state, such a culture where corruption and laziness is rife.
which racist wealth plundering govt allowed this to happen?
why is singapore albeit so 'clean' and yet worse than bn a much better place to live?

after 50 years of bn rule you still stay it's the better choice?

you keep talking about comparing us to others and whats not. instead of talking about others, make your own country a better place. then talk about others. you say give solutions. yes we're better off than others. but that doesn't mean we should stop there. live in mediocrity if you want. we've already tried doing things the proper ways. thru official channels. nothing works. the govt controls everything too tightly. and refuses to budge.

we had 50 years of independence? independence from the white master only to change hands into the brown master. we're still not independent if you ask me.

how did malaysia get it's independence? we marched against the british. how did india get it's independence? they marched against the colonialists. how did the african americans get their rights? they marched. how did the allies win ww2? they marched and fought.

we marched. and we will again.

habri · 2 years ago

songjun,

i like some of your argument, maybe we can 'mamaking' together to discuss more on the issues that surrounding us.

Mahathir,

i agree, talk is easy,what we need is the action plan or maybe road map to achieve it

nazeef · 2 years ago

dear su ann,

trying to keep it short here...hehe~...u must got a lot of mails n comments to read...btw,a friend of mine link me to ure page n i was seriously amazed...during the perhimpunan,i was taking my final paper at uitm perak and my mom told me bout the congregation by sms...on the next day,ive learnt bout the incident...and sumhow i knew the media was lying....and thanks a lot to u, and other vids (and blogs), ive realised the real truth...nice to know that our generation also values the true meaning of life,peace, and togetherness between diff culture,races and backgrounds....keep up the good works and words~...

rj · 2 years ago

Malaysiakini's letters section today. It's...
>
> An Open Letter to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
> by Beth Yahp
>
> Dear Prime Minister,
>
> Sept 26 saw 2,000 lawyers at the 'Walk for Justice' to defend the good name
> and protest the sliding standards of their profession. "When lawyers march,"
> said Ambiga Sreenevasan, president of the Bar Council, "something must be
> wrong."
>
> Last Saturday (Nov 10), 40,000 people from all walks of life and ages walked
> through rain-drenched Kuala Lumpur, skirting roadblocks, locked LRT
> stations, FRU batons, tear gas and water cannons, as well as weeks of
> misinformation and propaganda spread through the mainstream media and hacked
> alternative media. They marched to show their disappointment in the current
> electoral system and their hopes for reform.
>
> Malaysian citizens travelled for hours through the night from all over the
> country to play cat-and-mouse in Kuala Lumpur with an intimidating array of
> security forces whose role was clearly not to secure our safety.
>
> I saw men, armed only with shouted slogans, beaten with batons and shields
> and thrown to the ground. I saw an old woman in a wheelchair halted by a
> barricade of troops, wielding a deafening siren at her ears. I saw a child
> clinging to his mother's shoulders being crushed back and back. He looked
> terrified and rightly so.
>
> This was at Jalan Pasar, not Masjid Jamek where in spite of what IGP Musa
> Hassan described as police "restraint" (Sunday Star, Nov 11), unarmed
> marchers including journalists were beaten, tear-gassed and bombarded by
> chemical-laced water cannons. At Jalan Pasar, we faced two rows of riot
> police smashing batons against their shields. I saw and photographed people
> dropping to the ground around me.
> ...
>
> This should be the journalist's privilege; to be allowed to witness and
> report the uncensored fruits of that act of witnessing. But in this country,
> journalists and their editors are not even afforded this or any other kind
> of professional privileges and protection in order to carry out their jobs
> according to the journalists' Code of Ethics. That is, among other things,
> to pursue factual accuracy and report objectively, without fear or favour.
>
> Instead, journalism in Malaysia seems to be ruled by a Code of Fear and
> Favour. Here, our mainstream journalists and editors are directly or
> indirectly on the state's payroll and are therefore accountable to the
> state. Those who aren't are kept on a tight leash of precarious licences and
> legislation designed to pit self-censorship against financial ruin. Which
> the bosses will prioritise is a no-brainer.
>
> It seems to me that our media professionals do their best to navigate these
> treacherous waters, getting by in terms of professional pride through little
> acts of bravery, defiance and subterfuge. The travesty of it is that, in a
> true democracy, they shouldn't have to.
>
> Our journalists and editors should not have to find themselves in the
> pitiful position of being cowed mouthpieces of the state, obediently failing
> to report once a news blackout is ordered or "reporting" factual
> inaccuracies of an astounding magnitude.
>
> Like most of your state controlled media, Prime Minister Abdullah, Sunday
> Star reported only the IGP's version of Saturday's events. Journalism 101
> requires a range of eyewitnesses to describe an event objectively. And yet
> only your ministers were allowed air-time; only aggrieved shopkeepers were
> interviewed and photos of traffic jams published to support our deputy PM's
> lament that the march only served to disrupt traffic, create loss of
> business and "mar the general perception others have of our society."
>
> The police were depicted as being "forced" to use their batons, boots,
> shields, helmets, trucks, water cannons and helicopters against unarmed men,
> women and children (New Sunday Times, Nov 11).
>
> This reconstruction of reality is one that I and 40,000 other marchers do
> not recognise. In spite of what we saw and experienced, we are told that we
> were only 4,000 in number and that 245 of us were detained as opposed to the
> 24 I later saw released at IPK (police contingent headquarters) in Kuala
> Lumpur. It was later reported in the NST (Nov 12) that the majority of
> detentions were pre-emptive, taking place outside Kuala Lumpur the day
> before. The reasons for arrest included being in possession of yellow
> T-shirts and bandanas.
>
> Yes, there were massive traffic jams in KL that day and yes, I saw
> shopkeepers hurriedly pull down their shutters but only when the FRU and
> police amassed in battle formations at Central Market. However, logic tells
> us that the traffic jams were caused by numerous police roadblocks and other
> hindrances to public transport as much as by our march which was marshalled
> and orderly.
>
> We were constantly told to keep to the pavements, not to throw rubbish, not
> to disrupt public property and even not to trample on plants along our way.
> Many people stuck in jams wound down their windows as we passed, smiling and
> shaking our hands. Others looked annoyed, of course.
>
> I am sitting at my local late night kopitiam as I write this. It is filled
> with college students chatting and watching football with their teh tarik
> and cigarettes. I can see how successful your media machinery is, Prime
> Minister, from what they say. They use the word "riots" to talk about the
> march, when even a police spokesman described the event as, for the most
> part, peaceful (RTM2 news, Nov 10).
>
> This is no surprise given the propaganda clips that have been running as a
> part of news bulletins on RTM1 and RTM2 for the past few months,
> intercutting flag-burning with demonstrators getting their heads bashed.
> These, as any advertising professional will confirm, effectively equates
> demonstrations of any sort with escalating acts of violence on both sides.
> "Ini bukan budaya kita" are the stern words of warning.
>
> On TraxxFM, I have heard an oddly outstanding song about democracy being
> played frequently, a lullaby, sung in a soothing paternal voice, about how
> taking democracy to the streets leads to a loss of self-respect and violence
> which is not our way. This song is in stark contrast to the ones TraxxFM's
> hip and humourous DJs usually play.
>
> This psychological embedding seems odd, Prime Minister, in the year that we
> celebrate our 50 years of independence which was won by our forefathers who
> took their struggle for freedom, equality and justice to the streets, media
> and the discussion tables. They did so peacefully then, as we did so last
> Saturday.
>
> Prime Minister Abdullah, one of the reasons we marchers; men, women,
> children, and even incapacitated old folks, braved confrontation in the
> streets of Kuala Lumpur last Saturday was to call for "equal access to the
> media" as part of Bersih's push for electoral reforms. Other proposed
> changes include the use of indelible ink, clean electoral rolls and the
> abolition of untraceable postal votes.
>
> I did not wear yellow on the march because even though I'm a sympathiser
> with the struggle for electoral reform, I am also a witness to both sides of
> the story. I wore my yellow ribbon of "press freedom" proudly, even though I
> am not a journalist. I am still wearing it now with the poignant realisation
> that I can only write this letter, without fear or favour, precisely because
> I am not a mainstream Malaysian journalist. Of course, whether any of your
> editors will publish it or not is entirely a different matter.
>
> That little scrap of ribbon, like the seemingly frail ribbon of marchers
> patiently weaving their way from all over the city to the Yang di-Pertuan
> Agong's palace last Saturday, is symbolic of something far larger and far
> more important than our aching legs, bruises or shivers caused by sitting
> uncomplainingly in the rain while the Bersih leaders delivered our
> memorandum to the King.
>
> It symbolises what you have repeatedly encouraged us to celebrate and
> embrace: our "Merdeka Spirit" that causes the rakyat to come out in spite of
> fear and intimidation, to show their grave concern when the state of things
> seems very wrong indeed.
>
> Despite ongoing attempts at historical revisionism, this is decidedly a part
> of our Malaysian culture. (Please refer to this website for reproductions of
> reportage from our own newspapers, The Straits Times, 1947: 'Mass Meeting
> Votes Against Elections'; and The Malaya Tribune, 1946: 'Malays and Rulers
> Demonstrate Against Union Plans'.)
>
> With all due respect, Prime Minister, your admonition on the eve of the
> march, "Saya pantang dicabar", is a rather odd thing for the leader of a
> democratic nation to say, given that the basic rule of democracy is the
> right of all citizens to challenge and to defend. Everyone is entitled to
> this right, whether in their living rooms or in Parliament.
>
> Challenges and debates also constantly take place in the media whose
> fundamental role is to provide factual information and objective viewpoints
> by journalists and editors, as well as to allow equal access to publication
> and broadcast by proponents from either side of any argument. Only in this
> way can we, ordinary citizens, partake in democracy. Only then can we weigh
> up differing statements and opinions against accountable facts. We may be
> allowed to vote, yes, but how can we choose effectively without freedom of
> media access and information?
>
> When this integral pillar of any democratic system is obstructed and
> belittled as it is in Malaysia, we cannot claim to live in a democracy. Our
> mainstream media then becomes merely a tool of the state used to hoodwink,
> brainwash and intimidate the people it should rightly be serving. Instead,
> we, the people, are spoon-fed, led and expected to go quietly like sheep to
> any foregone conclusion.
>
> If we beg to differ, offer alternative information and viewpoints or even
> protest, we are called beruk (monkey). I rather think it preferable to be a
> monkey - curious, inventive and mischievous - than a sheep trotting meekly
> to my pen or to the slaughterhouse, nose pointed to the ground.
>
> Prime Minister, we are indeed not Pakistan or Myanmar, as your Information
> Minister Zainuddin Maidin blustered on Al Jazeera (Nov 10), accusing them of
> presenting a contrary view to what has appeared on our Malaysian news and of
> only talking to the opposition, not government representatives - even as
> they were interviewing him.
>
> This is a case of the pot calling the kettle black since almost no
> opposition figures are allowed to speak in our mainstream media although
> their images are used in conjunction with images of street violence, for
> example, to influence viewers' opinions about them.
>
> "Malaysia… is a democratic country," Zainuddin fumed. But based on your
> state's handling of the rakyat's peaceful march last Saturday, Prime
> Minister, and your own media coverage prior to and about the actual event,
> it is hard to entirely agree.
>
> Unfortunately for Malaysia, this is the perception that will be further
> broadcast internationally by journalists and editors who are, fortunately,
> less muzzled than their mainstream Malaysian colleagues.
>
> Therefore, Prime Minister Abdullah, I sincerely urge you and your
> government, as our democratically elected leaders, to 'Walk the talk' and
> unmuzzle our journalists, editors and broadcasters. I entreat you to fully
> and fairly endorse and practice democracy in our country. That is, democracy
> for everyone, not just a powerful few.
>
> The writer is author of prize-winning novel, 'The Crocodile Fury', which has
> been translated and published in several languages.
>
> ********************************************
>
> In the meantime, the people at BERSIH have urged all of us to
> wear any YELLOW item of apparel, every Saturday.
> That's do-able, don't you think?

jimmy · 2 years ago

http://www.michaelbackman.com/

jimmy · 2 years ago

sigh, tun dr. mahathir has already given us a warning sign about our current pm. He wasn't worried about his project's or wealth goin being pocketed by AAB and gang, he was concerned as an ex-prime minister of this country.

guess most of us are just blinded and brainwashed by the local media sometimes.

habri · 2 years ago

anyone want a Bersih t-shirt? if you are interested please do not hesitate to contact me, available in S, M, L, XL & XXL sizes....only RM15

Colin Charles · 2 years ago

Congratulations on going to the rally. I'm so happy that more and more Malaysians are going, waking up, feeling alive

Azlan · 1 year ago

now.. the people has spoken...!
this rally was really an indication tht political tsunami will come...
and indeed it came last sat 8 mar!