I wasn’t planning to attend the second day of Bersih 4 but decided in the late evening that I wanted to go and at the very least do the countdown to Merdeka. After dinner, my wife dropped me at Bank Negara and I cut across Jalan Raja Laut making my way to Coliseum where my friend said he would be.
The roads were already full of people mingling together in a sea of yellow. Unlike the first day, I was decked out in my yellow Bersih T-shirt and so blended in perfectly!
When I got to the meeting point, my friend was holding court, deep in discourse with some of his other friends. He was dressed in a Baju Melayu complete with songkok but sadly lacking a samping! Nonetheless he was quite a sight. Having made my presence known, I left for a walkabout as it was just past 8.30pm and there was plenty of time before the countdown.
Walking down Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, it was already obvious that there were far more people in attendance than on the first day. There were also more street vendors plying their trade. The air was filled with the sounds of whistles, air horns and shouts of “Bersih” and other greetings from complete strangers. Smells of different types of food emanated from the stalls and filled the air.
From a gap in between buildings, there was a stunning view of the KL Tower with a full moon almost next to it. A lot of people were taking photos of this scene and I joined in, too.
Further down, but still quite a way from Dataran Merdeka, a large congregation of people were seated on the road listening to speeches from a parked 4-wheel drive. Just like the first day, the speeches were interspersed with the now all familiar cries of “Hidup Rakyat, Bangkit Rakyat”, “Reformasi”, “Undur Najib” and “Hidup Bersih”.
There were speeches from various opposition leaders that basically seemed to echo what had been said the previous day. In fact, it was just a reinforcement of what has been said in the last few months, but then again we all knew the reason why we were there.
There were three interesting points though..
Firstly, the speakers emphasised that we should always think of ourselves as Malaysians and not keep falling back into identifying ourselves according to our ethnicity. That was a very important message because for far too long the powers that be have insisted on dividing us into racial groups. We are all Malaysians regardless of the colour of our skin or our religion. Let’s not ever forget that.
The next was where we, the public, were reminded that we are the electorate and that our elected representatives should serve the people. We were reminded that if we are dissatisfied we should each express this to our elected representatives for them to take the necessary action. I think it is time that all Members of Parliament remember who they work for.
Similarly it is time for the Rakyat to utilise their elected representatives and not just let them have free rein and tell us how it should be done.
Lastly was a seemingly minor point but it was something that I really liked. When the speakers were greeting and thanking the audience, they did it in all three major languages - Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil. You can argue about the need to do this but I felt it was a nice touch anyway.
Maria Chin Abdullah, the Bersih activist, also gave a speech where she thanked the public for their support. She reminded us all to please leave at 12 midnight after the rally ended. She also requested a commitment from all present not to break down the barricades at Dataran Merdeka and to please conduct ourselves with decorum. The crown gave an affirming roar to all of her requests.
Today, the response from the crowd to all the speeches and the rallying cries was far more boisterous and there was a palpable feeling of passion, determination and spirit in the air. Maybe it was because there were more people in attendance or maybe we were just more spirited today.
Jovial and convivial atmosphere
At one point a helicopter with spotlights circled overhead and the crowd hissed and booed loudly. Some smart alec yelled out that the helicopter pilot couldn’t hear us and the crowd broke out in laughter. That about summed up the jovial and convivial atmosphere at the rally.
It was already nearing 10pm and I decided I had best head back to Coliseum to regroup with my friend. Coliseum was already closing up and people were leaving so I had gotten back just in time. My friend then introduced me to two of his friends before we headed back out again. It was four of us walking together now and my friend attracted a lot of attention in his Baju Melayu.
The atmosphere was very carnival-like, with people stopping to take photos with all and sundry. The crowd had grown as well and it was slow moving as we tried to make our way to the stage near Dataran Merdeka. Just like the first day, people were super courteous. At one point, someone slipped and the number of hands that were offered in help was almost uncountable. Such a lovely sight.
By the time we reached the intersection of Jalan Tun Perak the crowd was massive. There was a mass of people stretching right down Jalan Tun Perak. At the intersection and right down to before the next intersection of Jalan Raja Laut, people were seated all over on the road but in such an orderly fashion. Jalan Raja Laut seemed packed as well.
We walked closer in and we could finally hear the activities on stage although our view was blocked by the LRT structural columns and the masses of people still standing and walking amongst those seated. Songs were being sung and one song in particular had great response from the crowd. It was basically a song bidding farewell to a rather well-known couple in Malaysia.
By this stage we realised that there was no way we could make it to the stage area as there were just too many people seated on the road. We were also blocking those seated behind us and so it was time to make a u-turn and retreat. While retreating, we were faced with others trying to come toward us so we started crying out “Undur, Undur! Semua Undur!” (Retreat, Retreat, All Retreat) which brought the seated crowd to laughter.
We finally managed to make our way to the small open air carpark at the corner of Jalan Tun Perak and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, just next to the Swiss Hotel. That area was much airier but a wall in front obstructed our view. However, the spaciousness only offered us a brief respite as the carpark started to fill up with people very quickly.
Suddenly there was a loud sound like an explosion and a few people were seen running around. We didn’t know what was happening but a few people told us that apparently someone had thrown a firecracker into the crowd and some people were feared injured. Apparently the perpetrator had been caught and had been handed over to the police. We decided to move further back down just to be cautious.
The downside to this was that the sound from the main stage became even less audible.
It was already 11.40pm and with the blaring of the airhorns and whistles and cheering, it was practically impossible to hear what was being said on stage. Since we knew we couldn’t make it any closer, we just decided to wait it out passing our time by chatting with fellow Malaysians and making new friends.
All of us kept looking at our watches and finally we could hear the countdown starting from the stage. The crowd joined in the countdown and then loud cheers and blaring of horns resounded for a good while. Apparently shouts of “Merdeka” were being yelled out at the stage but we couldn’t hear them.
Passion-filled rendition of Negara Ku
And then it happened.
The crowd suddenly started to get quieter and quieter till there was barely a hush in the air. From the stage we heard the intro of our beloved National Anthem start to play and the crowd broke out in a passion-filled and spirited rendition of Negara Ku.
For me, singing Negara Ku is always emotional. But singing it with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, was simply amazing. We were all Malaysians, gathered together and singing the National Anthem with pride and honour. It was a very uplifting and emotional moment.
Once the National Anthem was over we dispersed just as we were asked to in a very orderly fashion. My group shouted the rallying cry of “Hidup, Hidup! Hidup Rakyat” as we dispersed and the crowds near us responded.
We saw two policemen and we took the opportunity to shake their hands and thank them for their presence while at the same time wishing them Selamat Hari Merdeka. Thanks should indeed go to the police for helping to maintain order so once again thank you to all our uniformed men on duty the last two day.
So ended 34 hours of the Bersih rally. It was peaceful and it certainly showed peaceful demonstrations ARE possible! Malaysians showed this over two days of gathering on the streets and some even sleeping on the streets.
Some people may say that the rally participants “reflected a shallow mind and poor national spirit”. To me, national spirit was in full force over the last two days and especially tonight. In my mind, there can be nothing shallow about caring so much for your country that you want to make a difference.
Maybe it is time the powers-that-be started listening just a little to what the people want and realise that they are supposed to be servants of the rakyat and not the other way round.
Stand proud Malaysia and continue to stand up for your country my fellow Malaysians. Happy Merdeka once again!
