May 03, 2012
KUALA
LUMPUR, May 2 — What caught my attention first the moment I alighted
the LRT train at Pasar Seni at about 1.45pm was the generally young,
enthusiastic and innocent-looking (very large) crowd of people and all
of them sported a happy look and with a lot of hope in their mind, the
same thing I had in mine. Strangers could be seen chatting with and
smiling at each other regardless of race, language or religion with
fists raised just to show our positive spirit. We all came as one
people, as Malaysians!
The movement, Bersih, led by former Bar Council President, Datuk
Ambiga Sreenevasan, going by the estimated more than 100,000 people who
attended ‘Perhimpunan Bersih 3.0’ last Saturday, is obviously very
popular but the organisers of the rally obviously lack organisational
skills and leadership and they have wasted a great opportunity. As a
result ‘Perhimpunan Bersih 3.0’ was easily ‘hijacked’ by opposition
parties and anti-government people who had their own agenda to fulfil.
The crowd, not knowing what was happening and what they were supposed to
do, did their own thing. Many of us thinking that the rally was heading
towards an anti-climax, headed to the nearest LRT station or bus
terminal, to go home. I was walking towards Masjid Jamek LRT Station,
like many others.
A cordoned off Jalan Lekiu near the Loke Yew Building.
Earlier,
we had walked slowly towards Dataran Merdeka and I saw thousands of
people mostly dressed in Bersih 3.0 T-shirts with some dressed in green.
Along the way was a young man working tirelessly handing out free
bottles of mineral water. Everyone shouted slogans such as, ‘REFORMASI’,
‘BERSIH’, ‘WE WANT FAIR ELECTIONS’ and so on.
Upon reaching Jalan Lekiu near the Loke Yew Building, I saw a police
roadblock manned by at least 100 men. That was the closest the crowd,
including me, got to Dataran Merdeka.
I believe, all the other entrances
were similarly blocked and no one could enter Dataran Merdeka.
Seeing that, I inferred, this time, the police and the authorities
were well prepared and they had won hands down. Bersih 3.0 had no answer
for the police preparedness and I was very disappointed with Bersih 3.0
organisers for not being prepared and I believe, they just took things
for granted. First and foremost there was no communication between the
organisers and the people which I thought is something that could be
very simply organised. Just get Bersih 3.0 agents and station them at
all the entrances to Dataran Merdeka equipped with walkie-talkies and
inform them what to do next. They then can broadcast the information or
announce it to the crowd in the respective areas. That way the crowd
will know what to do rather than leaving all of them including me not
knowing at all what’s going to happen.
National laureate Pak Samad (centre) with fellow rally-goers.
I
think the organiser or organisers of Bersih 3.0 are a bunch of
amateurs. I am not just criticising Bersih 3.0 here without offering
them some workable suggestions. In any event of such a size, the very
first thing an experienced and professional organiser or organisers will
think of is ‘communication’ between them and the people. Communication
can also be a means to warn people of impending police brutality and to
advise or instruct people on the right things to do and to avoid any
confrontation with the police. The fact that the Bersih 3.0 organiser or
organisers did not have that infers that they are all ill experienced
and amateurs.
What I did not understand was, being well-prepared and in control,
the police resorted to doing some things that I consider cruel. One was
throwing several canisters of tear gas at an enclosed area like the
Masjid Jamek LRT Station when the station was full of people who just
wanted to catch the next train home and two, beating up some people who
sought refuge within the compound of Masjid India, dragging and beating
them and these are people who did not even resist arrest or were seen to
be troublemakers!
I was an army officer before and I was trained on the
handling of tear gas and we were told never to throw tear gas at
enclosed areas. Tear gas is meant to be used to disperse crowds at open
areas. In an enclosed area like the Masjid Jamek LRT Station, how would
one expect the crowd to disperse?
Because of the tear gas, I was hurt and I had to be treated. Luckily,
there were many Good Samaritans who were at the station who helped me
and after recovering, while being very thankful to those good people, I
left home feeling very disappointed, angry and frustrated.
PS There were actually many tear gas canisters thrown at Masjid Jamek
by the police and I was one of the people in the crowd who was badly
hurt.
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