From Rally to Riot: Was it really worth it?

 

Haris Dol, Malaysia Digest   

I was at a nearby supermarket yesterday evening looking to get some fruits and milk. It was supposed to be a fast one – in and out in 2 minutes. Little did I know that my mission was about to be delayed for two hours by this woman I saw at the diary section. Early 30s, sweet face, and… amazing figure. I smiled at her and said ‘hi’. She smiled back. She seemed very friendly so I asked her if she needs help with the groceries when I bumped into her again at the cashier. She said yes and it so happened that we live in the same building.

We left the groceries in her kitchen and were chatting in the living room. She said she just moved in and that she feels lonely sometimes. “Some days I feel so cold and so alone I just wish there was someone here with me to cuddle in bed with… Tonight would be one of those nights…,” she says.

Okay, none of the above really happened yesterday, of course. I was actually in the newsroom yesterday processing and exchanging information on the Bersih 3.0 rally-turned-riot. It’s just to show how easy it is to sway people away from the real subject matter. In the case of yesterday’s chaos and destruction, it was supposed to be about electoral reform but certain parties obviously had other ideas. 

No one can exactly be certain what set it off but, by now, everyone pretty much know Azmin Ali had a lot to do with it. Thanks to YouTube, we heard and saw how the PKR deputy president ‘worked’ the crowd by inciting the protesters to invade the barricaded Dataran Merdeka. What the hell would they have achieved by doing so?

Yes, the rally was a success for the organizers in terms of getting the numbers. Most who turned up say more than 200,000 people took to the street on Saturday. But, what the organizers had feared most happened. 

Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan can’t deny that the rally had turned out to be more about PKR than the real cause. Ambiga also can’t deny that the crowd was too big for Bersih to handle. She could have issued a rule against people (especially politicians) giving speeches prior to Saturday. But no power-hungry politician could resist taking advantage of such a ginormous crowd presence. I think even our prime minister had ever had that big of an audience at his disposal.

Things got haywire and experienced participants are saying that that the tear gas stings a lot more this time around. Many are saying the police were heavy-handed in handling the situation and the opposition leaders echoed this sentiment. Meanwhile, the city’s police chief said they had it under control while the government is pretty much saying ‘I told you so…’

We can expect to see war of words between the involved parties in the next few days. Whatever it is, from the way things turned out on Saturday, it only shows that the leaders of PKR are no better than that of Umno whom they claim have been responsible for inciting hatred and violence. 

So was all the chaos, destruction and violence worth it? Well, it definitely was for Anwar Ibrahim and his party.