Okay, time to get down to writing about my Bersih 3.0 experience and thoughts I have gathered from what has been surfacing these past few days. This will not be exhaustive or even comprehensive, as you'll probably get more information from Facebook alone, but will be more personal. I also won't tell you how my day went, since it was relatively safe and can be summarised as follows: went Bersih, waited, marched, stood stuck, sat, saw the first few gas canisters released but too far away, dismiss, took 2 hours to get home cranky. Yeah, not exactly an example of heroism or calculated bravado.
One week before the rally, I still didn't know I was going, but as the days creep nearer, more news of problematic governance and conspiracies of both sides flood news feeds and online tabloids (again, you can find those news by yourself without too much problem). I became more and more concerned about our country's current predicament, and my body yearns to join my brethren in their quest for a better democracy. Having other friends who were planning to go on the journey helped much as they support you through spirit if not in presence. However, I believe many of us do not ask ourselves the question, or perhaps not give a satisfactory answer to themselves for 'Why were they rallying for Bersih 3.0?'.
I went to Bersih for symbolic reasons. It is true that appearing as merely one number out of 250,000 to 300,000 citizens will not simply make any changes, but this country needs more than just actual change now: it needs a firm sense of unity and sensibility of having ideal concepts of how our country should be run. We need to know that we are not alone, that we are intellectual organisms able to see both sides of the coin and request for what should be rightfully ours, the truth and nothing short of it.
I just want to make some points that you might already know, but I'll say them nevertheless:
- Bersih is not the rakyat (citizens, it does have a nice ring to it doesn't it?). Bersih simply represents the rights that the rakyat should possess.
- There are many pawns in this whole game. The opposition and other factions are using Bersih 3.0, and the government uses the police, the KL governance and other unknown forces. We are pawns in their game, but we should be self-aware and choose to affiliate ourselves with what Bersih is, neutral and non-partisan.
- The government is putting effort into reforms, but they leave much to be desired for, and their timing of red tape cannot be any fishier.
- Our media is not objective, and I feel sad for the journalists much, for I believe they truly want to report the truth when they are stifled.
- Many people actually still do not care, or believe that the current government is still the lesser of two evils. You can argue this point till the dogs come home, but there are lines that the current government shouldn't have crossed, and they did without any form of guilt.
- Our economy is screwed, and some say that unwinding it will involve a leak that might weaken our walls and release the waters of finance. Better a small and solidly grounded than weakly caught in an illusion.
- The race card is so last millennium. Or religion. Or sexuality.
There's still a long way to go with all this, and the war is definitely not over. A dear friend once told me that Malaysia will have to go through its own civil war before rising as a develop nation. Maybe, this is it. I can hardly wait, but I worry much for the sanctity of our democracy.
Meh. I felt that I said nothing in this wall of text. In all, love everyone more than you love yourself. Kudos.
