What do we want? Free and fair elections! When do we want it? Now, now, now!


 Although out of sync in the chant, we made up in our conviction at Martin Place in Sydney yesterday, on a cool Saturday afternoon.


 <img align="left" alt="Sydney Bersih 3.0" height="161" src="http://mk-cdn.mkini.net/468/17484baebc04aa545c5beb3854b06bab.jpg" width="240"/>
 Bersih T-shirts and yellow ribbons were selling fast from cardboard boxes. Members of the Green Left Association, in solidarity with the sit-in, wore yellow.


 The Socialist Alliance placards in yellow and red rose above the crowd to capture the point of the protest: &lsquo;Solidarity is strength. Power to the people.'


 The Green Left Weekly ran a full back page story headlined &lsquo;Malaysians rise up for real democracy.'


 And rise up we did.


 &lsquo;Bersih! Bersih! Bersih!' as John Khoo, the emcee and one of the founders of Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia in Australia bellowed into the mike.


 &lsquo;Bersih! Bersih! Bersih!' we chanted back as one.


 We kept to the protocols - most sat on the floor and on the steps - mindful of the peaceful sit-in but resolute.


 The Australian police? None were seen. We were just another group of foreign looking crowd protesting government corruption and social injustices back in the motherland.


 Like anyone living in Australia, we are free to speak out in the public square as long as none are vilified by race, gender, sexuality or religion.


 After explaining the rules of the Duduk Bantah ([no profanities, no government bashing - except for the electoral commission), the organizers awkwardly attempted to set the mood. Cue music, then came the familiar prelude.


 <img align="right" alt="NONE" height="150" src="http://mk-cdn.mkini.net/468/27dae8e017a45363a7c25469ae8c65d6.jpg" width="226"/>
 The crowd of about 600, mainly Malaysian students on parents' scholarships, stood up from where they sat. &lsquo;Negaraku, tanah tumpahnya darahku, ... Rakyat hidup, bersatu dan maju ...'


 I was surprised I still knew the lyrics after all these decades.


 Brief speeches by a local Greens Party MP who recently visited Malaysia to support the Stop Lynas movement; an Australian Labor Party MP from the NSW Legislative Council; an Australian political scientist who had taught in Malaysia; Malaysian-born Australians; and Bersih organisers reminded the crowd - majority were university students - that Malaysia's future lies in their hands.


 Indeed, it does, as we sang:


 &lsquo;This land is your land


 This land is my land


 From Kota Bahru to Penang Island


 From Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan coastline


 This land was made for you and me."


 And "when the saints come marching in; when Ambiga comes marching in, oh Lord I want to be in that number", all will be well. Which I hope will be in my lifetime.


 
 Sing-long and stretches
 


 The Bersih protest took on a sing-along and a stretch exercise after an hour of sitting cross-legged on the steps, listening to familiar speeches, while a group of teenage Aussie skateboarders went about their stunts on the other end of Martin Place, oblivious to what goes on beyond the shores of Australia.


 <img align="left" alt="NONE" height="300" src="http://mk-cdn.mkini.net/459/df23bbe214fbfa8c086ac57c20f5800f.jpg" width="200"/>
 A few blocks down at the Pitt Street pedestrian mall, a group in red, black and yellow were protesting against police brutality following an
 <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-24/protesters-condemn-police-shooting/3970072]" target="_blank">
 
 incident
 
 </a>
 last weekend when two Aboriginal youths were shot driving a stolen car when they tried to shake off a police pursuit.


 Indeed, today was a normal weekend in a Sydney pedestrian mall and Martin Square.


 Protesters, buskers, weekend shoppers, young gay and straight couples out on dates, families, and a few homeless beggars - they just let each other be. This is the land of fair-dinkums and fair-go's.


 Two hours of Bersih sit-in ended as quickly as it started - without much of a fuss.


 Walking back to our car in the cool of the Sydney evening, my family and I wondered how our fellow Malaysians were coping with their resolute defiance of the government and face-off with the police in the afternoon KL heat.

<img align="left" alt="NONE" src="http://mk-cdn.mkini.net/468/c0a87cd47f797388a8be28b7cf4adf1d.jpg"/>
 About 600 mainly M'sian students demonstrate for free and fair elections in a peaceful and fuss-free atmosphere.


 &nbsp;

Bersih on a cool Saturday in Sydney

~RM12

ABOUT

DIGITAL NETWORK

TERMS OF USE

GENERAL LINE

SUBSCRIPTION / TECH SUPPORT

EDITORIAL

LOCATION

RSS FEEDS