Thoughts on the ISA Vigil

This comes really late sorry, but it would be remiss of me not to write a bit about the vigil on Sunday night.
I think one of the things that struck me most was the behaviour of the police, and the mindset it revealed.
I confess I was really perplexed. A simple question: Why?
Why the need to tunjuk kuasa until like that? Why are the police so scared of a little bit of wax? Why is it such a problem to gather peacefully to state an opinion?
I can’t say I’ve come up with any convincing answers.
None anyway that would explain the need to behave like territorially paranoid gorillas.
Although I sometimes wish I did, I really don’t even see the threat we pose.

The closest thing I could see to a logical explanation is: pride?
In many ways, Sunday night was a little reunion for many of us, who used to meet every Sunday night in PJ to light candles for the exact same reason: to protest detention without trial.
The cops gave us a hard time then too.
I tried so hard to put myself in the mind of whoever was calling the shots on the police side.
What was the real cause of all that chest thumping? Did they stand to gain anything besides some warped perception of ‘face’?
Do they consider the whole of PJ so confirmed going to Pakatan that they really didn’t care how bad an impression they made on the public?
One arrest was one too many, but if other states had five or less arrests, what was it about us that necessitated 30?
Including so many who were just standing about, doing nothing much.
It really is an appetite for blood on the part of the PJ police that I don’t understand at all.
They had to process 30 people, which meant the rest of us had to wait outside the police station until 5am, which meant they had to post FRU guards by the entrance in the off chance we went apeshit and decide to storm the place :|
All that effort, all those trucks, and for what?
The alternative? Oh I don’t know, let us speak our minds for an hour, chant a few slogans, and then bugger off – everyone’s gone by 9.30pm, no extra work for anyone, and Bob’s your uncle.
Sigh. I really don’t understand it. It’s like trying to deal with infants. Or wild animals.
Anyway.
Nonetheless, it was good to see everyone again (*waves* :) And even better to see some new faces – young ones who I am very optimistic will carry the torch that leads the way to a better Malaysia.
As usual, great coverage from Merah Hitam and Ummu Asiah, there’s a lot else out there too!