So I didn’t get tear gassed and I wasn’t covered with chemical laced water by the cannons fired by the FRU. However, I did follow the updates closely of my friends who took part in the rally today. Here are some of the notable pictures by Malaysians who courageously took part in this campaign. You know who you are, leave a comment if you took the original photo.
The extended Bersih 3.0 activity
One Malaysian tweeted that there’s a goodwill tree for people to leave a message on and it was said that it’s allowed to be displayed until the upcoming general election. The truth in this is unconfirmed for me.
In addition, there were Bersih 3.0 gatherings in other states like Penang and Melaka. Also, I’m pretty sure there may be much smaller groups who supported this in their own states but may not have added a photo to the #bersih hashtag via Twitter. Nonetheless, you’re still part of this movement already.
Besides that, Bersih 3.0 rallies were taking place in other parts of the world like Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland to name a few, by the Malaysians residing in those countries.
We’ve still a long way to go
It’s only fair to talk about the other side of the coin as well. Here were some of the things which happened.
The worst event of Bersih 3.0 – police car incident
I had friends say their eyes hurt due to the tear gas and some which said they were having a skin reaction to the chemical laced water. However, my dear Malaysians, this was suppose to be a peaceful rally. Whether or not you were influenced by the forces to behave otherwise, I hope you reflect on your actions for it.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ara569Nh_U0]
I was very surprised to find news that Malaysians overturned a police car. My heart gave the full benefit of the doubt that we won’t be behave as such cavemen. However, watching the first 15 seconds into the video proved me otherwise.
From such a situation, it led to a more worst scene. The police car had reportedly run into some Malaysians. Some say it resulted in a fatality. Watch closely 35 seconds into the video below.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0TnNtzIhTw]
Some Malaysians jumped right in to control the crowd frenzy happening. The priority was to help casualties of the collision. This resulted in the overturn police car as some Malaysians believed there may have been a person trapped beneath the car.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZmS2AczePY]
Based on the videos I’ve watched, there are 2 sides of the coin to be blamed. Whether it was only caused by 1, can and will only be proved when there’s proof of it. Until then, we can’t ignore the fact that we lost a fellow Malaysian here.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xh52zernUM]
This video close up revealed the beating and damage taken to the police car, which shouldn’t have happened. But it also shows our justice to beat down those who were wrong for their actions. And, it shows our compassion as Malaysians (even in a rally) that we love our own and we know when we need to protect and rescue them from harms way.
To all the Malaysians who took part in Bersih 3.0, I thank you for carving a hole of light for our future. We know when we have to stand and we know when action will be necessary.
*salute*