PENGALAMAN KAKAK YB MUKHRIZ BERSAMA BERSIH

So I went.
I have to say that the night before I had many many misgivings, especially
after reading about the army doing exercises with the FRU. Could the
government seriously be contemplating shooting their own people? Who knows?
My stomach was in knots thinking about the many young people I knew who were
intent on going, including my daughter. Would I be able to forgive myself if
something happened to them?
After seeking advice from various friends, I finally decided that I could
not stay safely at home while my daughter, friends and colleagues faced
possible danger. I had to walk with them. Besides even if I stayed home, I
would have spent all my time worrying. So I had to go.
A friend who lived in the city offered to be my protector and together we
devised a plan on what to do. Hubby was supportive and gave some advice on
how to stay safe. My neighbours also wanted to come along. So fairly
earlyish, my friend drove over to get me with no problem and we headed back
into the city. Despite the roadblocks in some areas, we encountered no
problems. In fact driving into KL was so pleasant because the roads were so
clear. The police directed traffic where they had to and were generally
cooperative (except for one we saw arguing with a man trying to get into his
own condo). We got to a roadblock in the KLCC area and my friend explained
that he lived in the area and they let us through, four people in a car
dressed as if we were going hiking!
From my friend’s apartment block, we walked to Times Square and parked
ourselves at the Starbucks for a coffee while we waited. A cursory look
around the outlet and mall revealed that many people were doing the same
thing. Meanwhile a whole van of police was stationed outside the mall but
after a while they all went off.
We kept in touch with various friends around the city to find out where they
were and what the situation was. At about 12.30 we started to walk up Jalan
Hang Tuah towards the stadium area. We were not in big groups, just people
out on a weekend stroll. We thought we would encounter police in front of
the big police headquarters in front of Pudu Jail but there was nothing.
When we got to the corner of Jalan Hang Jebat, we saw some police
motorcycles and only a couple of cops. Lots of people were just sitting on
the curbside under the eye of the cops. It was pretty clear what all these
people were there for.
We walked along Jalan Hang Jebat in front of Stadium Negara towards the OCM
and found many other friends waiting there. Apparently at one point the cops
had given chase even though there was no reason to and caught some people
and hauled them off. But from then on we could sit and wait by the curb
without anyone disturbing us.
Jalan Hang Jebat and the small road that led up to Stadium Merdeka stayed
pretty quiet. Members of the Bar Council (who had to suffer wearing their
suits in the heat just so that we could spot them easily) walked around
observing what was happening. At one point one woman in a suit sat herself
at the intersection to take notes.
We all debated whether to stay there or move down to Petaling Street but we
were afraid that we wouldn’t be let back up again. Then it started to rain.
My friend and I sought shelter under some hoarding along with young people.
Just then I got a message that we were to go to KL Sentral. After confirming
this with a friend at Sentral, my friends and I started to walk down Hang
Jebat just as a large group of people started walking up. The rain was
pouring at that point and I didn’t know quite what to do, whether to tell
people they should turn round or not.
Seeking shelter for a while under a shop five-foot way, I talked to various
other friends and eventually decided to head back to the stadium area where
I found my daughter and lots of other friends there. The main group earlier
had gone up to Stadium Merdeka, did some chanting in front of the FRU and
then headed down again. But many people hung about just to observe
everything and soak in the atmosphere. One group of young people had yellow
ribbons on sticks and started a little dance. Others were buying ice cream
from a bicycle vendor who came by. There was a real carnival atmosphere.
I have to say that I never felt safer than when I was in the crowd. People
recognized me and said hello. Some wanted to take photos. It didn’t feel any
different from any other Saturday out. And to be perfectly fair, the cops
and FRU in my area showed admirable restraint. They saw that people were not
doing anything more than chanting and nobody was harming anyone so they just
stood there and left everyone to do their thing. We came across a whole FRU
unit blocking a lane next to the Chinese temple at the roundabout at the
bottom of Jalan Maharajalela, waved at them and they waved. Cool cops!
Of course not everyone had the same experience. Here’s an account from a
colleague who was in a different street:
Unfortunately my experience wasn’t so benign. I was part of the marchers
(along with A and others) who were effectively kettled by the police in
Jalan Pudu. FRU units to the front and back of us prevented us from leaving,
and we were trapped by the walls of a construction site opposite Tung Shin
Hospital after the FRUs pushed us back. It was probably the worst of the
hotspots because of that: when the police started firing round after round
of tear gas at us, we had nowhere to run to. I think they were determined to
make an example out of us, because they bloody well tear-gassed and sprayed
us with water cannons when they had no reason to do so.
We were all tear-gassed at least three, four times. An NGO staffer was hit
by a canister. V told me that she saw people jumping off the second floor of
the Puduraya bus terminal because the police had released tear gas too close
to the terminal and the wind carried the fumes into the enclosed building.
When the marchers ran for shelter in Tung Shin Hospital, the police fired
tear gas and water cannons INTO the hospital grounds. Later the police lured
us into re-assembling on the road on the pretext of negotiating a peaceful
dispersal. They arrested the MP (Sivarasa) who was doing the negotiating,
then — after ordering us to sit down so (as we realised later) we would be
sitting ducks — they fired more tear gas and water cannons at us. A, myself
and our companions eventually managed to find a way out from the trap via
the Santo Antonius church and (irony of ironies) the car park of the Hang
Tuah police station (near the monorail station). There were so many very
brave people yesterday.
I now know that smearing toothpaste under the eyes to reduce irritation
caused by tear gas actually works (thanks, A)! I’m still itchy and short of
breath from all that tear gas, which is a bit annoying. But really, mostly
what I remember of the rally was how moving it was: the solidarity among the
protesters, how people looked out for one another. Whenever I was
tear-gassed there was a stranger running along at my side and offering me
and my friends salt to counteract the effects. When the police sprayed
chemical-laced water cannons into the crowd and the people affected cried
out for water to wash the stuff away, others turned and ran back toward the
cannons with bottles of water to help. People helped others climb up a hill
towards the hospital to escape (some guy helped me up the steep slope).
Someone always stepped up to make sure that a panicked run doesn’t turn into
a stampede, including an elderly woman who took it upon herself to guide the
marchers to safety. She’s a first-time marcher to boot! Actually there were
lots of first-time marchers, and more young middle-class urbanites than I’ve
ever seen at any other rallies including the 2007 Bersih rally. At one point
people started picking up the tear gas canisters and throwing them back at
the police, or kicking the canisters safely away from the marchers and
bystanders. I heard via the #bersihstories Twitter hashtag when the police
fired tear gas into Tung Shin, there were people who grabbed the canisters
and wrapped them in their own towels, then threw the canisters into the
drain so there wouldn’t be so much fumes.
And another one, about people’s goodness:
My group has a lovely little story to tell as well, of how we escaped from
the Tung Shin hospital area after one of the tear gas attacks. We took a
little alley uphill between the shophouses, and there was a block of flats
there. One of the residents told us to go through the building to get out
through the back! We climbed upstairs and then along the opposite corridor a
woman shouted and pointed, “That way, go that way, there is an exit out the
back!” and we scuttled along our corridor, down the back stairs and found
ourselves safe outside on Changkat Tung Shin or something like that.
Rakyat all contributing in their own ways!
There are many stories and photos, both good and bad, of the whole event.
But to me what was most important was that Malaysians proved two things:
one, they can assemble together on a common cause peacefully and two,
therefore showed that they are a mature people. The fact is that there were
all kinds of people there, young and old, all races and religions and all
classes and creeds. I bumped into many young people, the children of my
friends, who had come to see what it was all about and decide for themselves
what to think about the issue.
Whatever one thinks about the issue that Bersih is espousing, we should all
be proud of our fellow Malaysians who did not, despite dire predictions by
some, behave like hooligans and destroy property and hurt one another. There
were people hurt and one death but people who had participated in the rally
did not cause them. The restaurants and shops around the area were doing
roaring business as people got thirsty and hungry.
There are also some people claiming that the world now has a bad impression
of Malaysia because the foreign media (and the local media for that matter)
reported only about the teargassing and water-cannoning. I think people are
confusing the government with the people. Yes, the world now has a bad
impression of the Malaysian government because it has handled this whole
issue so badly. They don’t have the same impression of the Malaysians who
stood up for their rights and their cause.
And by the way, I can’t believe some of the mean things being said about the
man who died after being teargassed! My goodness, every time I read totally
uncompassionate things like that, I know that I’m on the right side
http://mimpi-senja.blogspot.com/2011/07/bersih-20-marina-mahathir-mencerita