Timeline

Haha, not a way to make a come back to the abandon blog, but hey, just want to jot down my experience before it was all washed away in time.

So, during the last bersih, I did write a post but it remained as draft and I remembered jotting down that the next time I would want to go because it looks awesome and looks like a good thing to do. But last minute, I was still reluctant as I was really quite tired. My mind changed when couple of my friends decided they want to go and I say. Ok, at least got gang want go.

We made some prep and decided to go down in the morning which was actually way too early but, no matter. We packed our yellow shirts and decided to wear it later on. We took the LRT and annoyingly, the LRT speakers kept on blasting out “Harap Maaf, station ini ditutup sementaranya.” Despite that, everything was still working so we boarded the train and once we were there, we were shocked to see people are already in yellow and walking about chanting.

The rest of the time, we were loitering everywhere from Petaling Street (breakfast) to Sinar Kota (Starbucks) cause some of my friends wanted ‘real coffee’ haha. then to Masjid Jamek. And just hearing the same chant over and over and over again. It was crazy. In my mind, I was like there’s no way anyone can stop this. It’s a movement that has gained much momentum.

In the back of my mind, I felt like man, I do want my country to become better but there are people whose passion runs so far ahead of mine. Even the Chinese teens / college students. They were different. They were passionate.

A cool thing happened while we were loitering outside of Starbucks. Out of nowhere, Postmen of Pos Malaysia decided to pull a stunt and they have a gang of 80-100? I don’t know… just drove past us @ Pasar Seni and honking at us waving their thumbs up. It was crazy. Look at the vid below. Kinda cool!

The excitement kept on building and people kept on coming. Some aunties dressed up in carnival mask and hairs as if it was. Indeed, all sorts of carnival stuff just kept on coming. Finally we decided we want to just chill at Masjid Jamek and boy Masjid Jamek was pack. It was unreal. People kept on chanting and we joined in this time.

As this was our first time, hearing people with single or double cause (Lynas) as well it was hair standing moments. It was so eerie that people chant in unison. If you were there and not supporting, you feel incredibly small…

People piled up as time past and soon. Lynas march reaches Masjid Jamek station. We were told to sit, stand, sit, stand and it was quite fun. Then we decided to make a move. That’s because somehow or rather, we were the makeshift pathway so we decided to check it out la. We decided to just move to Dataran Merdeka and see how. But it was impossible, so we squeeze all the way through and regretted our action which later would be thankful for.

We manage to get to shaded area under the tree in time so to save us from the heat of the sun. Talk about being passionate. Haha. We were there for quite some time and we then decide nothing is going to happen anyway it was well past 3:20 and we decided to just call it a day and begin to head back because of the traffic.

At that point (and later read that Ambiga did say we have done our part now disperse) and it is at that point, people started to cheering. People on higher ground holler at us to move forward. We knew that the barricade was down but we also saw water coming from the For Rough Use trucks and we knew it will be havoc. Shots are being heard and BAM! one landed at the shaded tree where we were a minute before. Joe hand me the mask and it does help I would say.

My team mates begin to walk and I did not know that Dataran and Sogo were that near. HAHA. It felt short, People handling salt out to us we said thank you and move on. We rested at Sogo area. Joe say let’s go eat at Sogo. (It was closed. Shutters were down, People couldn’t get in and out of train station) so we loiter a little more. And I went and check the LRT and it is close. Then I saw that people were still being gased even though, crowds were way far away from Dataran, People are still being pushed back.

At that point people holler to keep moving upwards. A spoke person says gather at Raja Laut, The Sultan Ismail LRT was open so we thought we should opt that. And I am glad we did because a few minutes after that police nabs and brutality began to show up everywhere. It was too unreal. The people had the power to fight back, but we’re just citizen who did nothing. The queue for train ticket was long. But we had TNG so yey! We couldn’t get out to Masjid Jamek, Bandaraya. The train did not even open and did not stop. People waiting on board was really trap.

We past by DBKL and saw some havoc stand off between people and cops. It was like as if some gang fight was bound to happen. Sadly, I did not see that image anywhere on the internet. Maybe they’ll surface over time. But it was unreal.

We went a long way and finally manage to get back safely and exhausted and dehydrated. It was memorable. Rumous began flying around on what happened. And till now, no one know for sure what had happened. Is this an inside job, police open baricade? Instigators? Opposition? Too many question with no answers. But it happened at that moment Ambiga  / Anwar said to disperse. Sabotagage? Probably.

But, I would say, BN played their cards well. They were better prepared compare to the last time, take in all measurre, Whoever is the PR agent. Kudos. It was an even that is memorable. It was an event full of mystery but one thing is for sure. The government cooked this up. They clearly did not play tower defense… They shot at everyone. Sure some breached the barricade but they punish people all over. Why is that so? Cordinated attacks, Planted Cameras. Conspiracy? Quite a number of accounts of tear gas mysteriously appearing in the crowd, drop from a height. Which seems possible because how the heck the police shot the teargas some 300 meters away at that trajectory angle? By now, more and more ridiculous stories began to emerge.

So many questions that probably will not have answers. But one thing is for sure. People came with a single cause ok. maybe multiple cause but they all interlinked with each other. And it felt good to be a Malaysian just for a couple of hours. And it does not matter it plays into whose favour. Both side got what they ‘wanted’

But the winners is still the rakyat. A quote I saw recently after the event says it best.

“The tide that overtook others today awaits to ambush us tomorrow” What goes around comes around. We should never take anything for granted

Stories that could have been told over and over and over again. But one got to experience them first hand to really feel what it is like…

Oh and we walked 4.5km in total. The next few days, we were all super exhausted… HAH!

Just me (in yellow) and Joe.