From Gina, who was at the rally with her husband.
Dear friends, I confess...I was one of the many thousands of "dissenting, violent and trouble causing" (these are the terms used by the Government) participant at the Bersih 3.0 on Apr 28th. What started as an apprehensive (wasn't sure what to expect and honestly fearful) day, became a joyous one, but later, turned into a "dark and sad" ending. I wasn't planning to pen my experience, but, was compelled to do so after reading the many "half-truths" and biased reports from the mainstream media. So, here goes....my experience from "ground zero".
I joined....
After flying for about 20 hours, I arrived at KLIA at 9.30am on Apr 28th and took an un-evemtful train ride to Sentral. At the station, I got the first glimpse of the yellow Bersih T-shirts....they were all over the place. I was soon joined by the rest of our group...making a team of nine people. At this time, we were excited but fearful....none of us dare to wear Yellow, yet.
We decided to walk from Sentral, past Muzium Negara to the Masjid Negara. Along the way, we met many "Yellow" people and soon some of us were brave enough to put on our very own Yellow outfit. At the Masjid Negara, there was already a large and cheerful crowd...it has a festive feeling and everyone was saying "hello" to each other and happily taking photographs.
I saw....
Brazen by the "air of calmness", we decided to move forward towards Dataran Merdeka. The walk there was interesting as we past convoys of Policemen/women on one side of the road and streams of rally participants on the other. Still, it was all calm and peaceful, Soon, we arrived at the Royal Selangor Club and we were met with even more Policemen forming a barricade to stop anyone wanting to "occupy" Dataran.
We continue to move forward to reach the junction of Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan TAR and Jalan Parlimen. We were surprised to see the huge crowd already gathered there. Despite the large crowd, the situation was rather quiet and care-free with people milling around and sitting on the road. At this time, our fear has completely vanished and hunger (it was more the love of food) was calling. We proceeded to Masjid India and had a nasi beryani lunch at Restoran Yasin, which was doing a roaring business. The scene at the restaurant was comical....eating side by side were the protesters and the Police...and, the restaurant was offering a special "Bersih" discount (of 30 sen) which we didn't claim but instead passed it to a fellow patron.
I was overjoyed....
After lunch, we stood at the corner of the street and struck up a conversation with a Malay pakcik from Perak who was part of a 4 buses convoy to take part in Bersih 3.0. As we emerge out to Jalan TAR, close to the Coliseum, we saw the crowd was already backed up until here. We weaved our way towards Dataran, as we wanted to "see some actions". Though it was crowded, the people were polite and generally in a festive mood and everyone made way for each other. The crowd was truly a mix bag....many races, all ages, from different states, kampung and city folks....truly 1Malaysia. While sitting on the road, we struck up conversations with many pakciks/makciks/uncles/aunties/brothers/sisters (that's how we called ourselves, instead of Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, etc) and it was always centered on how happy we are meeting and melting as 1Malaysia. Right now, I was feeling overjoyed and proud to be a Malaysian. Also, I felt SAFE and HAPPY walking the street of Kuala Lumpur.
We sat down as part of "Bersih Duduk Bantah", about 50m from the barricade of razor-wire put up by the authorities. There were chants of BERSIH, BERSIH....REFORMASI, REFORMASI....BANTAH, BANTAH and up in front, a group of politicians, including Anwar Ibrahim was addressing the crowd. But, we could not hear anything as the "makeshift" PA system was hardly fit for the role. Nevertheless, we stayed on and everybody was just having a good time.
I was saddened....
Suddenly, at 3pm, there was a hush amongst the crowd and I could see smoke about 100m away. I told Gina (my wife) not to worry as we are far away and believed that the Police will not move forward as the crowd was still pretty big. I was wrong. Soon, our nose and eyes were irritated with the pungent smell of tear gas. I believe someone amongst the crowd have released the tear gas as there were no canister fired at us till then. We quickly moved to the back lane parallel to Jalan TAR towards SOGO.
Now, the scene has turned chaotic. We can hear the tear gas being fired and canisters dropping to the ground. Everyone was coughing with tears in their eyes....some were vomiting. A makcik fainted and have to be moved to the side to avoid being trampled on. This is our first experience of tear gas and it was scary and painful....the throat, eyes and skin stink with pain, the eyes tear uncontrollably, and at one point, I felt that I could not breathe. In my mind, I was thinking about the "older" folks who are faced with this same experience, It was indeed like running away from a war zone.
Despite the terrifying situation, the people were calm....there was no mob. Everyone was walking briskly to avoid any stampede. Everyone was helping each other with water, salt and sweets. A young Malay boy ran to me and asked "Uncle, are you OK?" I told him; "I'm OK but I don't think he is"...and I gave him some water to wash his eyes. A makcik came from behind and asked for some water, too. Frankly speaking, there was a lot of camaraderie and comradeship.
We managed to reach SOGO and went to the LRT station, hoping to catch a train to leave this area of siege. But, the shutter gate was locked down, We were stuck!! From the bridge, we could see the water cannons and more tear gas up the EPF building.
Knowing that we were pursued by the Police, we walked to the Maju Junction and was lucky enough to get into the Starbuck outlet which was actually "locked down", then. But the manager was kind enough to allow us in. While having our coffee, we could see the panic on the street...waves of protesters were running away, ambulances and police vehicles streamed in the opposite direction, then, a convoy of FRUs were marching forward. It was totally a mayhem....innocent people with no weapon being chased by well-armed and well trained Police/FRUs.
Just as we thought we were safe, we were rudely shaken by a Volunteer Police who came into Starbuck and shouted at some of the customers who were wearing Yellow (I was fortunate as I've just changed out of my wet Yellow T-shirt) and ordering them out from the shop and into the street. I don't know what happened to them as, by then, the Police were already arresting people in Yellow on the street.
After a while, seeing the situation on the street has calmed down, we decided to walk back to Sentral. Along the way, at the Dataran roundabout, we saw a protester being beaten up by a group of Policemen. He was punched, he fell to the ground, he was kicked and beaten by a baton. It was scary as some of the Policemen started to point at us. We quickly leave the scene and walked on. Now, we were fearful.....fearful of the Police!!
Fortunately, we did manage to reach home safe and sound. It was indeed a "roller coaster" day. It was good to be re-united with the family to share our experience to reflect on the day....with a few questions without answer.
I reflect....
1. It was a special day!! Hundreds of thousands Malaysians (I've never seen so many happy Malaysian people on the street of KL) came together, with a common purpose and intermingling happily showing us that 1Malaysia is deep in our heart. Only some politicians continue to drive us apart from a racial and religious perspective.
2. Malaysians are a happy lot and will celebrate with minimum coaxing. There were ballons, posters, singing, dancing, people in colorful costumes all having a good time on the street. Even our group was talking and laughing all the time until around 3pm.
3. All we wanted was to send a message that we want a "free and fair" election. Was that too much to ask?? Were we being dissenting and un-patriotic to doing so??
4. We were told that the Police attack happened after the barrier was broken. Why couldn't the large Police force stationed at the barricade deal with this group of people who have crossed the line??
5. Why tear gas and water cannon was used on us (there were many elderly people present) who were just sitting outside the perimeter of Dataran. We were walking away, not, towards Dataran when the full blow of the attack happen.
6. Why is there a need to "chase and punish us" all the way to Maju Junction which is more than 1/2 km away??
7. I felt safe walking the street of KL, together with all the peace-loving Malaysians. I was fearful of the Police!!
8. Now, 4 days have past. The Governmenrt has still not responded to our request for a "free and fair" election. It is as though none of 200,000+ people ever existed or took to the street.
9. None of mainstream newspaper (MSN) ever mentioned about the ordeal and challenges faced by participants. All that was reported was the Police were the victims and how rowdy and misbehaving the protesters had been. The IGP and our PM continue to say hurtful things like "Tear gas and water cannons are best for crowd dispersal and not harmful to health"....as though to justify its usage on innocent people. No MSN has mentioned about the police brutality even though there are numerous video clippings and photos showing that on the internet. Why is there no decency to "tell the truth, the whole and nothing but the truth"?
I commit....
to attend Bersih 4.0 if it's necessary
.
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