Remember this word, folks.
You may see it every Saturday or everyday, for that matter, until the next G.E. It could be on a cap, a t-shirt, a bike-sticker, a poster on a wall, a tiny flag planted in front of a police station and perhaps, a bumper sticker stuck surreptitiously on a BN politician’s limousine.
It will be the clarion call for change in this nation.
It will signify the beginning of civil society’s resolve to restore democracy, good governance and justice for all in this nation.
Initially, I wanted to use “Oops, I did it again” as a headline for this posting because I’ve done the ‘Penguin Walk’ on 26th September ’07 but it would have sounded rather like B.S. (Britney Spears lah, not bullshitting, ok) and considering 50,000 Malaysians of every race, color and creed participated, I reckoned something a little more appropriate would do justice to their effort.
The MSM tried to downplay this historic day by reporting an insignificant 4,000 took part in the peaceful assembly and I presume they got confused with the announcement from the authorities that the same number of police personnel were deployed to maintain public order. Can’t blame em, eh folks.
Roadblocks were set up several kilometers from Dataran Merdeka. Were the authorities worried that the targeted 100,000 who may turn up, might actually will? Or this was deliberately done so as to inconvenience the general populace, thereby, shifting the blame for the inevitable massive traffic jams onto the 10-Eleven walkers?
Personally, I found that the police and FRU were generally, exceedingly ‘subdued’ in their operations despite the fact that some ‘demonstrators’ were sprayed, gassed and arrested at Masjid Jamek. Besides, the cops do need to fill the ‘arrest quota’ to show their big bosses, don’t they. Still, it’s important to note that nobody got shot at which also indicated that the call for a non-intervening (or non-provocative) stance was adopted by both sides. And perhaps, it’s also true that the RMP were divided into factions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cops, hence, creating a stalemate amongst themselves, to allow the assembly to proceed towards the Istana Negara without any hindrance from the enforcement personnel. At one point, as we got nearer to the Istana, a traffic cop showed us (Ancient Mariner and I) the finger i.e. pointing towards a shorter way up the road, rather than following the Bersih assigned direction. We nodded and smiled back knowingly to him.
Last but not least, I’d like to say to ‘Justice’ who commented here, hoping that the FRU will break my homo legs, I got home safely at about 11pm, transported and escorted by three young ladies. And they asked for my phone number. So if I’m interested, the journey’s half done, ain’t it. I can’t ask for a better ending to an otherwise historical day.
P.S. To those who are interested, 10-Eleven was coined by this anonymous person here at 1.36pm
Update: Check out this guy who got B.E.L. (behind enemy lines). Some of his photos were definitely up close and personal, including a rather hilarious one with the caption “Okay, okay, I’m going”. See if you can find it here.
Meanwhile, AI, PKR’s defacto president is up to his naughty tricks yet again as posted here. Lembu punya susu, sapi pun mahu kebas ka?
Thanks to Bakaq of Malaysiakita for providing the inspiration on the updated links.
O.B.E. 
12 comments
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November 11, 2007 at 7:23 am
bakaq a.k.a. ~penarik beca
Tq, Bro!
Aku tak sangka hang pun sokong!
Please go to Malaysiakita for photos links. Scroll down to “Historic Moments” below the blue ad. Thank you.
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Bakaq, takkan lah kalu di-cabar, dia sorang melenting. Kita pun sama beb. Link hang ni tak betui lah. Aku dah buat updisi kat atas dengan link yang betui. Maklum lah, dah pi kat blog hang, dapat inspirasi sikit – shar101.
November 11, 2007 at 11:54 am
rocky's bru
Re the PKR de facto president bit, bro, about the lembu punya susu, well .. he’s a politician, man. A most consummate one. I’d be more disappointed if AI did not want to speak.
But I believe, and I’ve said it at Big Dog’s, that the people weren’t the (proverbial) lembus there on 10-Eleven. In fact, I dare say that AI, Kit, Hadi and the other politicians were there because of the crowd.
I mean, which Opposition politician won’t turn up for a big crowd like this? We are ttalking tens of thousands, man. Only the Opposition from Kelantan had to miss the fun.
November 11, 2007 at 11:29 pm
galadriel
Aiyo Shar..this is a conspiracy by u and that Kepala Lanun to Kantoi me ah?
dua kali kena. All said, I’m proud to have marched with u guys. U, Captain and Ewoon.
I agree abt the hijacking by Opposition. Look at how Bolehland govt slanted it today. But we knew better eh?
November 11, 2007 at 11:44 pm
ehehnana
Hi,
Am in agreement abt your comment on AI. That was why I was hesitant abt the rally. Some of my reservations not unwarranted. After the rally, i remember one foreign agency report’s headline called it Anwar’s rally.
Now i’m also reading that opposition parties plan to have more such rallies. I’d caution them against it, ppl do get jelak. And please, do not translate my unhappiness with govt of day as a stamp of approval for you.
Sigh. therein lies our dilemma: We have no leaders. Clowns abound
Ps
It was at screenshots that i learned who the guys in uniform and beret were. They were PAS’ Amal guys who kept the peace and acted as buffer between the marchers and cops and so keep trouble at bay. You know they even cleaned up afterwards. Hmm, Pas is proving to be very organised and efficient. And kudos to them.
Pps
A sobering thought: The petition has been received by the king. What do you think will happen next? Will the pm be called up to act on the complaints listed in the petition.
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Ehehnana. Yes, the PAS Amal guyz were a sight to behold and though I usually have reservations on PAS, credit must be given to them for 10-Eleven. The Monarchy cannot do it all by themselves. We, the citizens, must provide the justification for change. As for AI, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Watch for the next move, on the blogs, of course – shar101.
November 12, 2007 at 6:28 am
fred
Kinda agree with rocky – DSAI took the chance to speak to a captive audience who, really, weren’t there for him. I wasn’t, at least.. heh heh 🙂
It was great meeting you there on the field and in the rain – especially when we saw a lone prison truck standing by, wondering if we could catch a lift to the Istana in it!…
November 12, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Melvin
Bro Shar,
Quite amazing, everyone of us giving their own accounts of what happened at the rally. Quite happy to walk along with you guys. I didn’t know of Michelle until I realized that she was one of the columnists of Bolehland…oh god..how did I miss that!?
November 14, 2007 at 4:35 am
fabm
Thanks for your interesting account of the Bersih rally.
I am compiling a list of detail commentaries so that people who are searching for them can easily find them. I hope you don’t mind if I use a couple of quotes from your blog for this list.
The compilation of the BERSIH blogs can be found here: http://mfabm.blogspot.com
November 15, 2007 at 7:30 am
realist
you people just played to the hands of the opposition parties. who do these 40K or so demonstrators think they are representing? who? all us rakyat?? sorry to break yr bubble, but that day, you were pawns of the opposition.
sure the opposition claims that BERSIH consists of 60 plus Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and a small “insignificant” number of 5 Opposition political parties, making this a “non political ” rally. i hear that all the time from those in favour of the rally.
that statement is nothing more than political tactic made up by the opposition, a cunning and manipulative one. the obvious outcome of such rally is more ppl voting for the opposition. and you all would hv just played into their hands.
they hype the crowd with feel good statements, use the king (who was horse riding in trengganu tht day) to raise the emotions of these pawns , instructed their members (the bulk of protesters) to not waive party flags to reinforce their claim tht this is a rakyat rally not a political one, repeatedly harp on all the bad things BN has done ( which they have – yes im not a BN supporter) , with the extensive news coverage from tv3 to al jazeera, the opposition hit a home run this time. great publicity , and hopefully more angered voters and fence sitters voting for them.
yea yea , i hear u ..of 60 plus non govt org only “insignificant” 5 opposition political parties, or in percentage terms, 7% of bersih is opposition parties.
ok so tell me , so tell me why is it that 5 out of 7 delegation that went to to hand the memorandum to the King were leaders of opposition political parties?
sorry to break yr bubble, im a rakyat. u did nothing for me except made a 1/2 hr journey turn into a 3 hr journey thanks to traffic and roadblocks. enough of your ‘we did it for malaysia’ and yr ‘daulat tuanku’..you guys didnt gv an ass abt the tuanku when they were beaten to the ground by DrM. and u didnt do it for malaysia, you did it for the 5 ppl out of 7 that went to see the king… who was in trengganu horse riding.
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Realist, if you truly expect the King to receive the memorandum himself, you’re not doing justice to your nick and/or is absolutely clueless to royal protocol. And you were inconvenienced by the traffic jams (which apparently were set in place by the RMP since Friday night), a move which I’ve clearly mentioned in my post, the purpose of which is to extract the very sentiments you’re saying here. The opposition will be dealt with soon enough. Yer happy now? – shar101.
November 15, 2007 at 6:09 pm
realist
but u i have yet to get an answer …
“.of 60 plus non govt org only “insignificant” 5 opposition political parties, or in percentage terms, 7% of bersih is opposition parties.
ok so tell me , so tell me why is it that 5 out of 7 delegation that went to to hand the memorandum to the King were leaders of opposition political parties?”
and no, im no cybertrooper. dont u all know tht many malaysians r on the fence just like me?
in fact i have umno and the things they do, but the opposition aint an angel too. did u think anwar raised in the ranks in umno during his glory days by being clean??
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Realist, we’re not living in a idealistic world. Someone I know and trust will get to be on the steering committee in Bersih. I’ve already asked this person to investigate about AI’s involvement in handing over the memorandum since his name was not even on the list. In fact, this same person will only join the committee if the others (non-politicians) agree to take the lead and not allow people like AI, LKS, etc to ‘hijack’ the movement. If you have taken the trouble to read what I’ve written in OBE, even on the update on this posting where I’ve highlighted AI’s ‘shenanigans’, and comments in other blogs, you’d know that my stand is with the general citizenry and Bersih is the closest thing we have right now which is apolitical. Furthermore, if you had joined 10-Eleven, you will realize that you’re not alone. Focus on the right issues, look at the big picture and quit sitting on the fence, will ya – shar101.
November 15, 2007 at 10:37 pm
realist
“you’d know that my stand is with the general citizenry and Bersih is the closest thing we have right now which is apolitical.”
still on denial mode?
fact of the matter is, the rally came to a halt and everyone waited for him to show up. wasnt tht what had happened?
dont do your spin, alas u become like the ppl u are up against.
on the fence i will stay since the choices arent attractive.
BN is BN, the corrupted, racist party. and the opposition…is anwar ibrahim..enuff said
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Tell yer what, Realist. I’ll be at the “Rot in the judiciary” forum tonight in Federal Hotel. It’s about Salleh Abbas plus other matters. Wanna join me? I dare you to come. Say yes. Don’t deny yourself this opportunity to face reality and do something worthwhile. Step out of the virtual world and take ownership on your choices. No buts. No ifs. And certainly, no say without conviction – shar101.
P.S. How do we recognise each other, you ask? Well, Realist, you have the privilege of knowing how I look like. I don’t. Fair enough.
November 16, 2007 at 12:23 am
realist
what does this forum have to do with my stance?
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Yer being evasive, Realist. The forum tonight. Yes or no – shar101.
November 16, 2007 at 12:44 am
realist
whats yr email address?
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shar.1zero1@gmail.com