In times of trouble, we are colour blind

The Bersih rally brought out the true Malaysian spirit. All the races were helping each other despite the tear gas and water cannons .

COMMENT

By Yuganeshwaran Muthumaniam

I am a Malaysian Indian and always proud to be one. The purpose of this short piece is to share my experience on participating in the July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally.

A recap first. I have traveled abroad a number of times, particularly to India. The Indians were very interested to know on how I managed to attain such fluency in Tamil language despite being a Malaysian (I speak normal Malaysian Tamil).

That would be the moment when I would tell them what it felt to be a Malaysian, as well as being a Malaysian India. Most of the Indians from India admired the Malaysian government for keeping the country in such a tranquil manner.

But the Bersih 2.0 has changed all this. Before I relate my Bersih 2.0 experience, a bit about myself. I am an ordinary Malaysian and if I call myself an activist, it is because I am active in outdoor activities. And I take an interest in the politics of our nation.

I missed the first Bersih rally in November 2007 and this time I told myself that no matter what happens, I will be at the Bersih 2.0.

I bought a Bersih t-shirt online. It was delivered to my office by courier. My boss saw the t-shirt and tried to persuade me not to wear the yellow t-shirt. Not to worry my boss too much, I told him it was for my collection only.

On the Friday morning before the rally I received an invitation (via SMS) to attend a special prayer in a church on harmony and peace for the nation. I decided to go and thought I will get an answer to go or not to go for the rally.

I met a top MP and a Selangor assembly exco at the mass. She was impressed with my yellow appearance (yes, I was wearing the t-shirt!) and she told me that she would be looking forward to seeing me in the rally tomorrow.

‘The FRUs are here’

On Saturday, I was supposed to go home after work to pack some of my things for the rally. Unfortunately I couldn’t go home due to the time constraint.

My friends (as I managed to persuade a few) were waiting for me at the KTM station. Since I was late by half an hour, they made their move first, promising that we would catch each other near KL Sentral.

My friends then texted me to join them at Pasar Seni. The train dropped us at the Masjid Jamek station, prior to an announcement saying the train won’t be passing by the Pasar Seni station.

If I’m not mistaken, we were the last batch of passengers as we heard that the station was temporarily closed after we left.

After we left the train station, we were at a complete loss as to where to head next. We just wandered around. I managed to call one of my friends and he asked me to go near the Pudu Raya bus station.

Just then, we reached the Menara Maybank, I spotted thousands of people there. And we joined them.
It was almost 1.30 pm when a Malay guy was shouting at the crowd, ‘’The FRUs are here, stand by everyone!!’’

We stood our ground. We were united together. Malay, Indian and Chinese all standing close to each other for our rights.

A Malay man was distributing salt to everyone, I managed to get some. Out of the blue, without any warning, the FRU attacked us by spraying chemical water. This was followed by tear gas.

The first canister fell some distance from where I was standing. The second landed right in front of me.
Within five seconds, my eyes were filled with tears, I was coughing badly. Everyone was running for their lives. It felt as though we were in a foreign country, where teargas and water cannon were a common occurence.

The crowd was running towards Jalan Pudu. I couldn’t even breathe for a few seconds; a Chinese friend passed me a wet towel to wipe my face. I was feeling totally dehydrated and was thirsting for some water. An Indian uncle shared his bottle of water with me.

This was not only happening to me, but to everyone there. We helped each other despite our skin colour because we were Malaysians. Yes, Malaysians. Not Malays or Chinese or Indians but Malaysians.

Taking the right decision

Soon , the rains came and the water helped wash away the chemicals. Our spirit was not dampened though, and we sang ‘Negaraku’.

A few Malay friends and I made our way near the Tung Shin Hospital and took a break there.

The police were there again. And the crowd scattered. My Malay friends and I went through the bushes and finally came out near a Hindu temple near Pudu.

Then we walked back to Pudu Raya. Our attempt was foiled as we ended up right behind the FRU.
Since we could not join the crowd, we decided to walk down Petaling Street to go to Stadium Merdeka.

When we reached Jalan Sultan, a Malay man was running towards us, warning not to go further as the police were arresting everyone.

We separated at that point and thanks to him, we escaped from being arrested.

By now it was 4pm, I decided to go home.

The Pasar Seni station was closed so I walked to KL Sentral. Finally I managed to reach home safely.
What have I learnt from the rally? After the effects of the tear gas had worn off I realised how close -minded the government was by hurting and arresting innocent people.

That our biased media was not telling us the truth. But soon, the truth will come out and every right minded Malaysian citizen will have to make a decisioon.