I was at the Bersih 3.0 sit-in rally on Saturday and I would like to tell everyone about my experience there. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I stood with people who wanted a change and dared to speak up about it despite knowing that we might be arrested or tear gased just by being there. I dare say that there were easily tens of thousands of people gathered at Masjid Jamek and I am truly thankful that the citizens of Malaysia there and those who were constantly following the updates on the Internet are standing up and demanding what is right.
I had breakfast at a coffee shop nearby the Klang station at about 7:20am and I knew that those who were carrying bags and wearing sports shoes are attending the rally. The ride to KL in the train was fun, despite the train being crammed to the brim with people. Not with just any people, but with people who are going to KL for the same purpose I am going to KL. And once in my life, I felt happy being in a small, enclosed metal tube moving along metal tracks, having to share my foot space with another complete stranger in yellow. Everyone was friendly to each other during that ride. We didn't complain about the lack of space. Or the inability to move our legs. Or having to lean on another as support when the train jerked. Not one complain was muttered because I bet everyone was proud to share that space with another Malaysian who loves the nation just as much. At every station, we saw policemen wandering around. There were about 15 policemen at the Angkasapuri station and that made the people go "woah" and then, laughed a little.
When we alighted the train at the Kuala Lumpur station, everyone started walking towards Pasar Seni. Again, cops were everywhere. But we didn't bother about them, since I knew that they were only doing their duty. That sight of streets empty from cars and filled with people of different races -- it was beautiful. I even looked at strangers in the eyes and smiled at them. No words were needed at all. I reached Masjid Jamek with my parents and a friend at about 10am and there were almost thousands of people there gathered. The atmosphere is indescribable. There were hundreds of people already sitting on the road. There was a group of men lying on the road, showing us that nothing can possibly make them get up from the road. There were people wearing Guy Fawkes masks. walking around with the Malaysia flag. Then, the chants began. "Hidup Rakyat". "Bersih, Bersih". "Stop Lynas". "Reformasi". Everyone screamed along and that gave me goosebumps. You can feel the energy and hear the echoes bounce off the walls. It was unbelievable. I even cried a little when everyone started singing the national anthem. There were flags from Sabah, Penang and other states but it didn't matter because everyone was there for one reason and the national anthem was the one that bonded us together. I saw a guy from Switzerland walking around and a man told him the reason everyone was there. The only thing I heard him respond (because it was so loud) was "Oh, wow". Oh, wow indeed.
Believe me when I say I'm trying my hardest to make this into a short post but I can't. It's impossible.
I was on my phone, reading Twitter updates and looking at the pictures of the crowd at the other meeting points until about 12pm when the reception on my phone started getting unstable. I couldn't go on the Internet and my phone had 'emergency calls only' on the screen most of the time. Then, my dad's friend told me that maybe the police had deployed mobile phone jamming devices to discourage the people there from twitting and posting up pictures. While we were there from 10am to 3pm, helicopters were constantly seen and heard and every time a helicopter was around, the people cheered and waved. I was genuinely proud to be among these people. The old, the young, the working class, the students, the able, the disable. Everyone was there. I was home.
The crowd really got wild after 12pm. The atmosphere was buzzing with excitement. The chants got louder and the number of people at Masjid Jamek started growing by the minute. Every time a political figure is seen there, people cheered and shook hands with him/her. The crowd was so big that they needed bodyguards to make him/her space to move in the crowd. When Ambiga arrived and addressed the crowd, she was greeted with thousands of hands, waving in the air and a deafening "woo!". I couldn't hear what she was saying since she was pretty far from my location and the speakers were not that clear but that didn't stop me from standing under the sun and waiting for the next move. Of course, she somehow made it clear (despite the loud crowd and bad soundsystem) that we are not going to proceed with the walk to the Dataran and told us that we are going to simply sit at wherever we are standing. Huge yellow and green balloons were seen crowd surfing as that was going on. Everyone tried to sit but there wasn't enough space for everyone so she told us that the rally was a success and we can all go back home. That was around 2:45pm and people were still coming. We walked back to the Kuala Lumpur station and five minutes after we left, a woman ran to the lawyers from Bar Council who were just beside us and told them that the police started shooting tear gas canisters at the crowd. The lawyers started following the woman and we continued walking. During the walk to the train station, I really thought that it won't be serious. But it did. It got worse as the minute went by. When I boarded the train, I managed to get access to the Twitter updates from my phone and the updates I read was horrible. They shot dozens of tear gas canisters into the crowd. They shot chemically laced water at the crowd. They sealed the exit points and gave the people no way of escaping.
I was angry. I was sad. I was disappointed. I was a mixture of so many different intense emotions that I was almost in tears. I'm not going to comment on who is at fault for giving a wonderful day a cruel ending. I wasn't there so I am not going to say anything else but this. I am highly positive that the crowd that I have been surrounded for five hours will not smash windows with rocks or hit policemen with cones. The crowd I was around was there for a peaceful assembly. I trust the people -- my people. I mean, I saw a young man greeting 'good morning' to an old man with only a foot. I saw a taxi driver in yellow, donning a Bersih headband, shouting "Siapa nak teksi?" and he gave a thumbs up to everyone. I saw ladies giving out yellow flowers to everyone. I just don't believe that these people provoked the police to start teargassing everyone. And for the police to act so violently? It wasn't called for. 98% of the crowd were there for a peaceful protest and they ended up getting teargassed. Why not only arrest the culprits instead of torturing everyone like that? Why not?
Despite all the blood and tears shed, I can say that if there is another peaceful assembly like this in the future, count me in. I have never been so proud to be a Malaysian. I have never felt so much patriotism in the air. I am brave enough to say that I cried along with the other Malaysians there when we sang 'Negaraku'. I am thankful that I am not alone in this.
(AND I SUSPECT SO MUCH OF THAT HAS TO DO WITH THE WAY J2 PLAY THEIR PARTS, AND THE CHEMISTRY).