Bersih march to Istana Negara: What really happened Part 2
If you are asking how many people turned up today in the city center of Kuala Lumpur to attend the Bersih rally, you will never get the true number. But there were so many of them. Harakah Daily reported more than 100,000 although Malaysiakini reported just 40,000. I am not sure how many reported by mainstream media if any at all, but from my guessing game, 40,000 is just too low. At the Masjid Jamek alone there were seas of people. I could not imagine how many were there at other locations such as Masjid Negara and Pasar Seni, but looking at the pictures and the videos in the blogs… the total figures could well reach 100,000 if not more.
After the Zohor prayer at Masjid Jamek, I went out to have lunch at the restaurant nearby and I must tell you the business was brisk at Restoran Jamek. Everything had finished at the food station and there were no seats available. I ordered a mee goreng mamak and had to wait while standing. I had to figure out where to get a seat soon…. The crowd outside the restaurant were quickly building up as people were leaving the mosque after the prayer and were ready to march. I was in the restaurant and just before my mee goreng mamak was ready, I heard a loud cheering of Takbir outside and all of sudden the restaurant become almost empty when the patrons started leaving for the counter, much to my happiness as I now could enjoy my mee goreng mamak properly seated. With my stomach really hungry, the mee tasted rather good and with a nescafe tarik, I only had to pay RM4.40 for the meal…. acceptable by any standard in Kuala Lumpur.
The crowds at the Masjid Jamek, according to Malaysiakini faced the most problems compared to the one at Masjid Negara. I am not sure what happened at Masjid Negara but I can tell you, the marchers around Masjid Jamek deserved many pats on their back for the way they behaved and carried themselves throughout the ordeal facing the policemen with red hats. I later found out the whole crowd at Masjid Jamek was lead by none other than Dr Hatta Ramli.
I was not sure what was the cause but it was the people at Masjid Jamek who had the honour to be showered with the first chemical rain today at the historic march to Istana Negara. The crowd, which were initially in front of the Masjid Jamek LRT station was forced to split and ran for their lives when suddenly the red truck marched from the main junction near Dataran Merdeka towards the crowds. At that time I was forced to inch my way to the back of the restaurant where I had lunch and emerged again to the main road, where I quickly crossed to the other side of the road… and heading for Masjid India.
Although I was not directly hit by the chemically-laced water from the water cannon, the fumes were irritating enough to make my eyes teary and my breath suffocated. The crowds were just tortured. I had to thank a ‘makcik’ who had come to the gatherig well prepared, when she took out a pack of salts and distributing it to others. When I asked her what was that for, she quickly said it was to help reduce the effect of the acid rain, courtesy of the red trucks. Much later during the proceeding, I overheard one guy made a joke that he was suffering from a high blood pressure and yet today he had consumed so much salts…. followed by laughters from his friends who were also nursing their teary eyes and breathing difficulty.
I forgot to tell you that since I crossed the road towards Jalan Masjid India, the rain had started to fall really heavy. And it was this rain that had saved the day for the people. Had it not for the rain, the whole episod whould have unfolded under the scorching sun and I could not imagine those poor old women and men… although I must say it would have been a real challenge too even for the youngsters as well. But the rain did save the day. Not only it made the whole march rather cool, the effect of the chemical water fired from red trucks were very much reduced because of the rain. We planned, they planned, but Allah is always a better planner.
In the next posting, the video will show the crowds marching towards Jalan Raja Laut and another round of chemical rain greeted the people.
[tags]Bersih, election, Istana Negara, Dr Hatta Ramli[/tags]
As I conclude this writing, my web traffic statistics showed that Kuala Lumpur is Home had well over 1500 unique visitors clocking well above 2000 page views for the day. A record of some sort for this blog. Have a good night..errr morning folks. I hope to sleep like a baby tonite….. I am so tired and my legs are aching!!!
Read Bersih march to Istana Negara: What really happened Part 1
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1 opinion for Bersih march to Istana Negara: What really happened Part 2
Anonymous
Nov 11, 2007 at 1:38 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Bersih_Rally
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