The propaganda told that Bersih Rally will be May 13 and it turn out to be almost heaven if not for the brutality orchestrated by a disconnected, out of touch, dying regime of 54 years. ( May 13: riot, loss of lives, chaos, racial disharmony, Ibrahim Ali, Perkasa chief had called himself, the general, declaring war, told the Chinese to store up food for July 9 and keep away from the rally. Khairy, Umno Youth chief, called himself patriot and his few men in red also marched to show their true color).
(Heaven almost: instead it turn out to be a wonderful extra ordinary experience where we found instant Malay fellow comrades who were so kind to come to our rescue in offering bread, water and sweet in my case. What a love in demonstration.)
While I write this, I can only be grateful for them. Not able to write and thank them personally one by one because I don't even know them. This is a kindred spirit I felt that forever change my perception of my fellow Malay brothers an sisters. I think this is not an isolated experience of mine. Many of us felt it.
Perhaps, this is the beginning of a new Dawn of a better Malaysia. Please enjoy your reading below written by Sunny.
Dr Wong
Sunny Tneoh
Date: Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 3:16 PM
Subject: Cleansing:Walking for a new Malaysia
There are three possible outcomes to my participation in
Bersih 2.0. A)Nothing serious happens perhaps with some exposure to
tear gas and chemical spray. B) Get arrested with 1-2 days police
custody and possibe beatings, C) something very unfortunate happens
and my wife and children claim my life insurance.
I m a 52 y.o GP from the north.Option B) I have had
several operations in the past and experience some degree of pain so I
figured I could survive a police beatng. As for option C) I was
confident my capable wife could take care of my children with our
savings and insurance taking care of their college education. I feel
as Malaysian Chinese we are used to sacrificing for our future
generations. Many of us save and use up all our saving to give the
best education for our children. Often neglecting our retirement funds
and old age needs. As a doctor I have often seen patient forgo
chemotherapy to prolong lives just so that their children are not
saddled with large debts after their demise. Sacrifice is
notunfamiliar to us, so marching in Bersih 2.0 is a similar situation.
I don’t mind to sacrifice if it would bring a better future for my
wife and kids.
The events leading to Bersih 2.0 had caused me extreme
anguish to say the least.The arrest of people for nothing other than
wearing yellow Bersih T shirts. Detaining the very selfless and
revered Dr Jeyakumar under emergency ordinance on dubious charges. As
a Christian I was also very disturbed by concocted charges by PERKASA
and Utusan that Christians were trying to overthrow the government,
not to mention the firebombing and burning of churches in the last
year or so. What is the logical sequelae to this kind of hate
mongering? The Nazis stared with hatemongering and progressed to
genocide.Who is to know where we are heading?
Several days before the event I had come to KL for a
business conference. At the conference I was quite discouraged that
among the attendees nobody mentioned about Bersih, until one CEO asked
the minister during a forum a question which could potentially have
got him fired from the GLC where he was employed.When I talked to him
he was also supportive of Bersih. I was much encouraged that perhaps
among the hundreds there were likeminded people. A presenter had all
his powerpoint slides coloured yellow. When I shared my intention to
walk with a supplier L, at the conference , he tried but failing to
persuade me to not walk he insisted I call him should I need to be
bailed out.
On 8th July Friday night, my family and I went to buy
salt and a towel. After that we had dinner. I told them that if I was
arrested they should go back to my hometown and wait for me. I told
them one of my suppliers had promised to bail me out should I be
arrested.I could not bring myself to discuss option (C) should
something unfortunate happen to me, with my family because I did not
know how to say it. Walking back to the hotel I held my wife’s hand
very tightly.
I worried as I waited for my friend a publishing Manager P.
and his wife to check in to my hotel. We planned to walk together. He
nearly couldn’t make it because of the police roadblocks he took 4
hours to get home from work. He finally did arrive by LRT after 11pm.
After breakfast at the hotel I got my family together
and we held hands and prayed for safety. 3 of us walked to The
Pavilion and from the through Jalan Bukit Bintang to Jalan Pudu. We
saw people in small groups, media people with their camera and name
tags, lawyers dressed in black suits. They all came from places like
Penang, Kedah and Johore.I was very touched by a group of maciks in
their tudung 5 or 6 of them in their 50s and 60s wondering how they
will hold up under tear gas and chemical spray. There was already a
police presence along the road so we avoided the police and zigzagged
our way to Jalan Tun Perak.
Suddenlly I saw them! the huge crowd stretching all the
way as far as my eye can see along Jalan Tun Perak. Despite all the
intimidation all these Malaysians Malays, Chinese and Indians have
come and in such numbers. I took a photo of this large crowd and
shared on my facebook “Today I am so proud to be Malaysian.” I shook
hands with a Petronas executive from Bintulu with his wife and 2
teenage sons all dressed to march. We joined the throng and shout
Bersih! Bersih! There was a carnival atmosphere. We took picture with
Baru Bian and his native friends with a Sarawak flag. I was so pleased
among the thousands I was able to bump into and take a photo with Dr
K, a good friend, from my hometown. Later in the day we are going
share salt after being teargassed.
We followed the crowd and ended in front of Menara
Maybank by this time about 1pm there was already 20-30000 people. I
was on the road divider underneath the LRT overhead rails. One of the
participants old me that this time there was much more Chinese
participation compared to Bersih1. There was a continous chatter of
Catonese admidst the shouts of HIdup Rakyat and Hidup Bersih. There
was some commotion when a crowd was advancing down in formation from
Jalan Pudu. We were worried that it was UMNO youth and an inevitable
confrontation. As the advancing crowd got nearer we saw their yellow
shirts, people started shouting “Ji Kei Yau,ji kei yau” our own people
in Cantonese. My friends wife wisely suggested we move up the grass
slope of Menara Maybank to have a better look.
Then it struck ,when we halfway up the stairs, the
water cannon hit the crowd on the road followed by tear gas. All
around me peple started choking and coughing, when I felt chilli had
hit my eyes and going into my chest. I felt giddy and couldn’t breath
for a spell. Then people were rushing to the decorative fountain to
wash and there people were sharing salt with one another including my
friend Dr K. Even in the rush everybody was helping one another. The
young men from PAS were exemplary. I thought to myself this is really
1Malaysia. We saw police coming so we ran up to the canteen of Menara
Maybank. My friend P, told us to sit down. This was fortunate as the
police was just randomly making some arrests especially those who ran.
Perhaps the police also felt confused wondering who to arrest.
Then I it started to rain heavily, praise God it washed
away the pungent smell of the tear gas We stayed in the canteen for
lunch with many others sheltering from the rain.There were several
young Chinese girls and an older Chinese lawyer who walked with a
limp. After recovering from the teargas we decided to leave the
compound of Menara Maybank. Going down the stairs we encountered
several police who made no effort to arrest us. Perhaps they have
fulfilled their their quota of arrests for the day. Haha.
On the way we saw a man collapsed on the road side and
there were many helpers around w aiting for ambulance. Our mutual
friend Low rang to see if we are alright. He said he had reserved
RM2000 to post bail if required. We walked around and joined a large
crowd heading towards the stadium on Petaling Street. The crowd
stopped right in from of Chinese Town Hall by trucks and few scores
of police blocking to the road to the stadium. We shouted and sang
Negara Ku. At about 400pm the leaders said according to Bersih’s
understanding with the Agung we will disperse.
It was a long walk back to KLCC along Jalan Maharaja
lela as most taxis were not running and the monorail stations were
closed though the coaches were running. Halfway we stopped for drinks.
We saw more people coming back from the march. One youngish man pushed
a pram. Both he and the baby wore yellow. We sat in the coffee shop
and became instant friends with several malay men. All of them looked
like police but their tear gassed eyes help to distinguish them. We
finally hailed a cab in front of Melia Hotel after perhaps walking for
15kms that day.
I am thankful none of the scary things I thought happened
except for the tear gas. I read a pro Government official write
yesterday asking what did we get from Bersih 2.0. He asked the wrong
question ,It is not about getting. It is about GIVING. Malaysia called
we answered, we gave our time, our money , our prayers, our comfort
and possibly our lives as Baharudin Ahmad found out. We ae giving of
ourselves for a better Malaysia. On the streets of KL on 709, people
were sharing , helping one another and partaking in the fellowship of
suffering for a better Malaysia. I saw it and was part of it and will
not rade anything for this.
Malaysians stood up that day against the bullying and
threats in great numbers to say "Imtimidaton doesn’t work." I am so
proud of Malaysians. The Arab Spring should have given notice to our
government that intimidation doesn’t work especially with the social
media today but I wonder how these multimillion dollar consultants are
advising our leaders. One week after the event our government hasn’t
really figured out how to deal with the fallout of videos of police
brutality and tear gas being fired into a hospital. It is going to get
harder to deal with this kind of situations by command and control of
the media. I feel this is only the beginning of a better Malaysia.
--
It s alway sunny in my heart, God loves me
Sunny Tneoh
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