Bersihkah?

I personally think both sides overreacted. If it was meant to be a peaceful rally, treat it as so - there's no need for people to flood the streets making KL look like freakin Thailand. Siap baju kuning baju merah semua. For all I know a peaceful rally is not supposed to look like what I saw on my news feed last Saturday/Sunday. You don't bring weapons on a peaceful rally, that defeats the whole purpose. And triggers unnecessary action from the authorities.

And what's with the excessive number of police force employed as if there's a war going on, deploying water cannon and tear gas and all? You guys are not Israeli soldiers! This is not Palestine! For God's sake itu semua tak perlu, unless people began to act violently, bakar2 kereta pecah2 kedai semua like the riot in Vancouver.

And with that much people you would expect there would be sufficient medical help around in case of emergency. I don't know if it's otherwise (Bersih supporters chose not to portray the good side of the 'riot control'? Who knows?), but from what I've been observing through videos and news, that's not the case. Someone even died in the rally after receiving late medical treatment post-tear gas exposure. Please tell me if I'm wrong.

Why can't people pick a group of people large enough to get the message across, but small enough so as to avoid triggering panic-induced actions by the authorities? A few hundred is enough. Assign several police to monitor the rally, just in case. You don't have to gather police from all over Malaysia to control them, itu sangat menyusahkan semua orang termasuk polis sendiri. I didn't say that a rally/street protests/whatever you might call it is a bad way to make your voice heard - Mahatma Gandhi also employed this method, and it was successful - but if you are going to make one, at least make it properly. Properly, true to what people claim it to be - a peaceful rally.

Or was it just impossible to be done? Malaysians are too rebellious to do anything in control? Authorities are too paranoid to let people's voice be heard (especially one that involves things like 'SPR', 'pilihanraya', 'telus' and 'adil')? I know that similar rallies under the same name had been done in different countries last Saturday, but I am yet to hear reports of violence/ things getting out of control like what happened in Malaysia.

And should EVERY single movement in this country be affiliated with political parties and specific ethnicities? Maybe we are so accustomed to obsessed with fighting under the name of 'Melayu/Cina/India etc' and 'BN/PAS/DAP/Keadilan etc' that every other things we fight for must have connections with these. Bersih was supposed to be a neutral rally, away from the controls of specific political parties, be it Opposition or Government or whatever. What was supposed to be a movement for a clean election had morphed into a battle of the races, not to mention a battle between BN supporters and Pakatan Rakyat supporters. Just keep scrolling down. Malaysians, are we that narrow? Remember 13 May?

I may not be able to witness everything first hand, but I do know one thing - don't bother dreaming about Bersih 3.0 if you still don't know what's the real definition of a 'peaceful rally'. Don't bother having another Bersih rally until you have trained yourself to be more civilised. DON'T EVER attend a rally just for the sake of being rebellious. That's just stupid.

If everybody stop themselves from overreacting, Malaysia would be a much nicer place to live. This applies for both sides, the people and the government.

Alice

selamat menyambut hari kemerdekaan

Racism depends on an individual, not the race in which the individual belongs to.

Having said that, you cannot simply make generalizations and say "Kaum ____ rasis! Bigot! Etc Etc!!"

There are Malays who are racists. There are Chinese who are racists. There are Indians who are racists. There are individuals belonging to minority groups who are racists. But you cannot simply accuse every individuals in the respective groups as racists. The sayings 'kerana nila setitik, rosak susu sebelanga' may be true, but then, you cannot expect a large group of people to be squeaky clean without any 'perosak kaum' either.

Racism is intolerable. Politicizing racism is far worse.

When you live together with different people of different sorts of background / needs / behaviour / beliefs, toleration is crucial. A typical prep may be forced to live with an annoyingly emo-ish roommate with an affinity to all things weird and macabre, but they can still live peacefully (if not happily) with each other should toleration is practiced. The same principle can be applied in the context of living together in a multiracial country. This is why we have things like Perkara 14-18 and Perkara 153 in the Federal Constitution. While I may not be well versed in law, I do believe that the Federal Constitution was carefully designed to be fair and just for all citizens of Malaysia. I am not saying this because I am a Malay (although I am a Malay according to the constitution, I am only half-Malay and prefer to address myself as Malinja - Malay+Indian+Javanese XD), I am saying this as a Malaysian.

By the way, I do know that the government cannot always be right, but I think being a rebel for the sake of rebelling is just ridiculous. Not all things implemented by the government need to be protested.

Happy 53rd Independence Day. May we can make it to the 54th.

Alice