Malaysia: Bersih 2.0 Rally Rattles the Government
The Bersih rally which occurred on July 9, 2011, has drawn a lot of reaction from the Malaysian public.
Whatsaysyou blogged:
Bersih 2.0 should never be forgotten. Nor should it be ignored and it is time the world knows what exactly is happening in Malaysia. Secondly, we cannot deny that corruption is rampant and Malaysians deserve to be heard and known.
More than 1,400 people were arrested by the police during the rally which was organized to push for electoral reforms in Malaysia. Police used tear gas to disperse a crowd which reached up to 50,000 according to the organizers. Bersih means “clean” in the local language.
Monk felt that the police violated human rights:
Our Malaysia Police Force (PDRM and FRU) violated the core principles of international humanitarian law by attacking a hospital. They launched a few teargas canister into Tung Shin Hospital Child Birth Unit.Under Geneva Convention, no hospitals can be attacked by all warring parties. Our police force denied that they attack that hospital despite there are a lot of evidences showing that they launched attack on hospital.
Shanay thought that it showed the true Malaysian spirit in the face of adversity:
Even though most roads to KL were closed, and polis were everywhere arresting people who were in yellow color shirts or had them in their bags, somehow these supporters still managed to gather up together. They were from different races, different ages, wearing different color clothes, but together they march towards one same hope. It was truly 1 Malaysia.
Bersih 2.0 rally. From the Twitpic page of @ckfwong8.
Bersih is much more popular on Twitter, with many showing pictures taken from their mobile phones.
@zaaagh: my colleague asked: “Would you do it again?” I replied: “Hell yeah!!! A thousand time if I given a chance!”
@semnos: After the tear gas, chemicals & polis arrests, the ppl were pushed back to tung shin hospital.
@syukrishairi: The day I realised that all the neighborhoods in KL are so close to each other, made far only by six-lane roads.
@RizalRedride: What I experienced on the 9th of July is Malaysia. We are decent people, we are a people of quality. – Charis Ding. Good on ya!
@Mahaza2: After #Bersih 2.0, people talked about ‘WE’ and no more The Malays, The Chinese or The Indians. A true 1Malaysia unrecognized by the Govt
@biopolymath: Spoke to a student from China during Bersih2.0 rally in Melbourne. She felt arrests of people in yellow shirts unreasonable
There are also some videos that were posted on YouTube, among them a video showing footage of the event:
OhNewBeb also posted a video with footage of the Bersih rally in Melbourne's Federation Square:
More pictures were posted by Jamie and The Thirsty Blogger, and more videos can be found in a YouTube playlist and Anil Netto's blog. HBHo had blogged about his experience during the rally. Updates can also be found on Bersih 2.0's Twitter account.
11 comments
…get paid and more or less cover anwar’s scandal
The Malaysians have spoken, they want change and they have had enough of corruption!
What about the politician who take advantage of the situation? The one that led the mob to charge at the police force, the one that says he was rammed by the police car when he actually accidentally hit it doing a u-turn and also claimed he was going to the mosque downtown of KL, not to the rally ( riding a slow moped in order to sneak in when he owns a big car). Why cant he be brave enogh to admit that he is going to the join the rally? This is the guy that wants to lead people? At least the guy who lead the mob to confront the police has more convincing (not to say its valid) reason or ‘balls’ than this guy.
Not any supporter of anybody, Bersih has a bersih intention but has become a tool for dirty politics. Just because they ( the opposition) did not win majority does not means the previous election was totally rigged.
Opposition thinks with what they are doing will gain more support from ‘on the fence’ voters. Well it does that as much as losing support from ‘on the fence’ people like me.
“Well it does that as much as losing support from ‘on the fence’ people like me.”
Yup… Me too… And most of the ‘on the fence’ people knew what Bersih 2.0 is all about… Doing dirty work of backside politician (he should be cleaned out in the first place). Electoral reforms or whatever reforms can be done in a clean and civil manner, not through street demos.
Let’s see how these politicians perform in the coming election. Then they will know ‘sky high low…” Yak yak yak…