Bersih 2.0 UK rally: No arrests, no water cannon

The police arrived, assessed the situation, concluded that they were in decent company and allowed the protesters to make their valid points and then take themselves home.

By Clare Rewcastle Brown
LONDON: The genteel nature of London’s Bersih 2.0 sympathy rally was reflected in the smart leafy surroundings of Belgrave Square, where they collected just before midday outside the Malaysian High Commission, which was firmly shut.

The polite gathering created a dignified splash of floral, Bersih 2.0 yellow T-shirts (accompanied by cheeky bananas and balloons) against the green backdrop of London’s poshest private garden, which was looking its best on a British summer afternoon.
News had just come through of the earlier outrages against friends and relatives who had set the day rolling in KL.

This created a mood determination tinged with a joy of friendship and solidarity amongst the people there.
Some 500 people, largely made up of Malaysian nationals, then walked the short mile through London’s most elegant streets to finish up outside the Malaysian tourism office in Trafalgar Square.

The police arrived, assessed the situation, concluded that they were in decent company and allowed the protesters to make their valid points and then take themselves home.

There were no arrests. There was no water cannon, no tear gas, no threats, no violence.
Why couldn’t Malaysia do the same for their own people in their own town square?

Banners bearing such ‘inflamatory’ phrases as “strengthen public institutions”, “free and fair access to media”, “end money politics”, “stop corruption” and “minimum 21 days election campaign period” were not the rabid outpourings of extremists.

If anything, they are the considered requests of intellectuals.

What was painfully apparent in Belgrave Square and in KL on July 9, was that Malaysia’s 50-year-old government has alienated its middle classes and its intellectual elite.
The reason simply being “corruption”.

What was equally glaring was that, far from being a dangerous, extremist and anti-Western group, the supporters were a mixture of Malaysia’s different social, religious and ethnic groups, all working successfully together without a trace of bigotry, racism or hostility.

These people were united by shared ideals, not divided by religion or race as BN would have people believe.

This is an excerpt from Sarawak Report of which the whe writer is the founder and editor.