The people have spoken

So, the people have spoken.Yesterday PM Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that he doesn’t like being challenged.

Today, at least 40,000 Malaysians from all races and walks of life braved heavy rain, road blocks and police intimidation to demand free and fair elections.

We gathered early. My colleagues from Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s office: Rahimi, Din Merican and a few others went to have breakfast at about 10.00 am. Rahimi confided he could hardly sleep, in full anticipation for today’s event.

We then took the LRT towards Central Market, and loitered there for a bit. It was way too early, but we anticipated a lot of hassle getting into the city later. Din Merican, whom we call Pak Din, was upbeat as usual – despite being 68 years old. We noticed heavy presence of policemen, as well as a few people with yellow t-shirts hidden underneath their jackets. We decided to settle ourselves in McDonalds near CM to see how things develop while Pak Din read the PM’s speech line by line as he planned his rebuttal.

By noon we could see PAS’ Unit Amal and other marshals for the assembly congregating at Central Market to be briefed and organised. Later, we saw them negotiating with the police, and they were either asked to disperse or to go to Masjid Negara. Either way, they went to Masjid Negara and we decided to follow suit. It was while crossing over to Masjid Negara from Dayabumi that we realised the size of the crowd!

But people were still in ordinary clothes, not much yellow. I was a bit worried that Pak Din would be tired from the walk, but he turned out to be as fit as a fiddle. As I entered the mosque, I saw Munirah and Irwan. It felt good to see friends amidst the crowd. The mosque was packed to the brim, like it would be during Friday Prayers. The spectacular sight was however after the prayers, when the crowd emerged all clad in yellow!

Soon, however, police personnel closed down the gates, preventing people from entering or leaving. The crowd however remained in good spirits and posed for pictures when journalists and photographers arrived. At about 2.00 PM the gate was opened and the crowd poured in from outside. Just then, the dark ominous skies suddenly opened up and came down on everyone, sending people scampering for shelter and temporarily halting the gathering.

This was when I bumped into a guy who came by train all the way from Anak Bukit, Kedah, where Allahyarham Ustaz Fadzil Noor was an assemblyman. “The problem with the rain is that when you take the train it’s extremely cold!”

The rain eventually calmed down, and we were told to gather at the other side of Masjid Negara, facing the old train station, where I was joined by Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, Sivarasa Rasiah and Latheefa Koya. Soon, the DAP entourage led by Opposition leader YB Lim Kit Siang and YB Lim Guan Eng arrived. The 10,000 gathered there were ready to march to Istana Negara. FRU and policemen lined up along the wall opposite us, looking intimidating and ready to pounce, but the crowd calmly walked around them undisturbed. Kudos to them for holding back, although it was a different story with their colleagues who were at Masjid Jamek.

As we approached Istana Negara, we hit a bit of traffic. Most motorists were friendly and honked in support while the marshals did their best to manage the large crowd. What lifted our spirits further was seeing a huge stream of yellow coming down Jalan Syed Putra merging into our group. All I could see was a sea of yellow up to the gate of the Istana. Beyond that, a line of FRU personnel and water cannons stood in our way. People sat down as several Opposition leaders and Bersih committee members spoke: Badrul Hisham Shaharin, Keadilan Supreme Council Member; Tian Chua, Keadilan Information Chief; Muhammad Sabu of PAS and Bersih; and Salahuddin Ayub, PAS Youth Chief. Soon, it was announced that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has arrived, and he spoke together with Ustaz Abdul Hadi Awang, PAS President. We later found out that the boss arrived on a motorbike to avoid the roadblocks and traffic.

We were then informed that the Bersih entourage had managed to hand in the memorandum for free and fair elections to the secretary of the Agung, and that we were to disperse. I met a few Keadilan friends and even Tony Pua of DAP, whom I haven’t seen in a long time. Soon we were back at Masjid Negara as Sivarasa spoke. Ustaz Badrul Amin of Keadilan read a short prayer as we dispersed.

Rahimi, Tasya and I had a short meal at McDonalds Central Market again, and this time we bumped into a group of Keadilan Ampang Youth members – mostly consisting of youths from the demolished Kg. Berembang. They were in good spirits from the march, and had time to try new pick-up lines on the waitresses! We planned to make our way back via LRT, but the ticket machine at Central Market had broken down and there was a long queue – largely yellow – and we decided to take a cab instead. But none of the cabs were available so we thought it would be good to walk towards KL Sentral and see if we could get a cab there, to no avail. So we hopped onto a bus instead to Asia Jaya. When we got off, there were still people with Bersih t-shirts taking the bus and LRT.

It was still drizzling, my camera lens was covered with mist and water had seeped through my phone, rendering it completely useless. I had to use Rahimi’s phone to send a text to Imaan and make a call to my mum to reassure them that I’m safe and sound. But I was in high spirits, knowing that I was among the 40,000 Malaysians who gathered in KL on 10 November to make a stand calling for free and fair elections. No matter how the mainstream media spins it, remember, remember, the 10th of November.

Photos are here.

Other accounts:

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
Nathaniel Tan
Maddruid

Also spare a thought to those hit by tear gas and the 20 or so arrested. 5 remain in detention as of 9 pm:

1. Taib Abdullah
2. Ishak B. Othman
3. Mohd. Shafie Ismail
4. Mohd. Nazrin Nasir
5. Abisalam