Please take into consideration this response from somebody who needed to let out how he and his fellow friends felt regarding your march in protest or support. Whilst this represent simply mine and my friend's view on what you did yesterday, do keep in mind that it is likely to be the same for many others out there who just wanted to get on with their Saturday.
Whilst you might look smart to have it scheduled during a PC Fair for 'maximum impact', please bear in mind that your actions had caused the following:
1. Traffic congestion due to road closures
The car that my friend and I were travelling in down towards KLCC were caught in a jam as early at 10.30 am from as far back as Sheraton PJ, making it a hell of a crawl for one hour just to get to Brickfieds. I will not accept the excuse that it was the police who caused this congestion as it was necessary to ensure that any riot or untoward incidents to be contained within a controllable sphere under police control. Imagine people driving by and into a skirmish between the riot squad and demonstrators - there will be men and women, children, old people etc whom would have absolutely no interest in getting into this chaotic situation for your benefit.
2. Public transport disruptions
People going to and fro Masjid Jamek were stranded by 2.00 pm as a precaution by RapidKL. Again I will accept no excuse of the police being the cause - read point 1. above.
As a Joe Public who just wanted to enjoy the weekend looking for bargains and other *akhem* interesting things at the PC Fair, I put this blame solely on you. If you did not carry out a demonstration that was illegal to begin with, then the police wouldn't have to carry out such unpopular work. And from then onwards, the people (yes, read that again and again) will not have to suffer from your 'smart' actions.
It doesn't matter to the lorry drivers who were delivering things, nor the couples going out for breakfast & shopping, the hordes of people making their way to the KL Convention Centre, the bus drivers who were ferrying people around the city or the shopkeepers who had to pull down their shutters to protect their premises - about what you are trying to do. Sure, 'justice' this, 'the people' that etc etc.
But explain to me how does 'justice' work to help those who had to huddle in fear of looting from demonstrations gone wrong or 'the people' to those who couldn't make their way to Masjid Jamek vicinity due to the imminent danger of riots.
Do you really believe that what you were doing was 'for the sake of the rakyat' ?
Being one of the people of this country, here's a rakyat's verdict at your actions:
- Stop being selfish.
- Your action will benefit only yourself.
- Stop using the words 'the people' or 'the rakyat' for political mileage.
- Whilst there are merits at the cause but the method is simply irresponsible.
What good is a demo if the rakyat cannot get to work, cannot get to do their daily chores?
And don't talk to me about 'peaceful demonstrations' - there will always be those who are waiting for the chance to show how cool they are in going against the police and becoming the 'martyrs'.
For 'the rakyat'?
Yeah, right.
Sincerely,
The Ali, Ah Kau & Rama who were greatly inconvenienced by the Saturday demo.
4 comments:
Although I don't like the ISA, I don't like the big mess the protest ended up making- ripping this off from my blog:
There was a really simple way of solving it, really. The rally was meant to be a peaceful one, so why not let them do it? After all, all they wanted was to hand over a memorandum to someone who’s no more than a figurehead. Why couldn’t the government have told that figurehead to, say, go to this little outback village, issue a statement inviting the protesters to visit him there and not further crowd an already crowded city? Simple, really. They can go visit him in the countryside, and spend the night around a bonfire singing folk songs. The water cannons would then be used to put out the fire.
End of copy. *Akhem*? Haha, what's that? Costumed booth girls? Pirated wares?
Hence me blaming the protesters for what they did that Saturday, not what they are for. However, protesting the ISA at the expense of Joe and Jane Public's inconvenience is not acceptable. Sure, ISA has its *pros and cons.
*Yes there are pros regardless of what the those who oppose it say - otherwise why would Singapore and the United States - two most modern nation on Earth - have their own?
I agree about the bonfire thingy - however there won't be any press there, so it wouldn't be off any good from the PR perspective. I mean, free publicity of 'freedom fighters' going against a 'the bent authorities' is surely a win win situation, more so if you can get willing martyrs who may not know that they're expandable in this game of politics?
As for PC Fair, there was a cosplay thingy going on at the top floor - nosebleed territory. Gotta say the number of fitties this time may have doubled... apart from that everything else is pretty much the same - bought a laptop carry bag and some DVD-Rs.
I remember walking through a protest in Rome... the mood was positively festive. One guy was making a speech beside a fountain, people were holding banners, and after that they milled around chatting and eating sandwiches from a nearby cafe.
No argument about there being two sides to it. The law isn't the problem, really- it's more of how it's been used.
True, true, a fun picnic isn't really newsworthy, is it? The press wouldn't really be interested, but that's what govt-owned media is for:)
Nosebleed territory, haha. No injury to my nose when I went last year... just my aching legs>,< One booth had a group of girls dressed up as pink nurses then, I think...
DVDs from PC Fair? Somehow I don't really see much point in that- just get mine from Low Yat at 17-20 for 10pcs. Was it cheap?
I got a hundred of Verbatims - pretty much the premium brand of recordable media, for MYR89. Not too bad, not too shabby.
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