Looks like the “Bersih Buzz” prevails …
Plan A, B, C, D … ?
Can we really “not be part of it”?
Supper for tonight?
“If reading about how some people selfishly criticised the rally is astonishing, then this has got to the mother of it all… someone told me this today…
“Ya’ know, I was caught up in a bad jam last Saturday. Dunno why the traffic was so bad”
I shall skip the part about how I royally admonished that person. At the end of the conversation, I got the usual remark…“Oh, I am not involved in all these politics and I am not going to be part of it”
Friends, honestly speaking… can we really entirely distant ourselves from politics? Is that truly possible? “
The BERSIH Rally – The Reconstruction of Reality and the Second Phase of Collective Movement
A genuine hope …
“I also hope that those who did not participate in the rally will speak to their family and friends who did, to get their personal accounts of what happened. They need to hear the stories of everyday Malaysians about why they demonstrated peacefully. I hope some truth pierces through the song-and-dance that the mainstream media is conjuring.
As it was with the BERSIH rally, it is likely to be the voices of ordinary people – through blogs, websites, letters to the independent media, personal phone calls and casual conversations – that share the truth of what happened, and which call, again, for reform: the reform of mainstream media in addition to the reform of the electoral system.”
CIJ: Misinformation Reigns on the November 10 March
Strong words here:
“Our country is in serious trouble in so many ways, and rather than face these issues properly, courageously, and with concern for the dignity and human rights of people, we are just supposed to pretend that everything is fine. More gloss and veneer to hide the shaky foundations and widening cracks in our society. Pretense rather than honesty, misuse of the law rather than justice, studied ignorance rather than courageous reform. Let us tackle social problems rather than avoid them! Let us rebuild the foundations of our nation and mend the cracks in the walls, not pretend that nothing is wrong!!!”
Of Public Protests, Pondans and a Pea-Brained Minister
This may sound personal but then again … the personal and the public is closely related.
Love the title ..
“It was inconvenient for many. For both the interested and the disinterested. But it was no less a call to our conscience. It was an issue of legality - and to some, defiance. Even denial. Fear and conscience can bring out the best or the worst. “
A little bit dense for an opening … but appreciate the effort.
“Any form of civil disobedience is often preceded by a process of deterioration in the part of the state. As such, civil disobedience serves as a restitutive symbol in the initiation of a reparation process. Thus, the manner and intensity in which we interact with this symbol is a constituent part of the reparation process and crucial in the determination of its outcome.”
The yellow wave and its durian effect
Nice use of the King of the Fruits … Delightfully suprised to read some Liberation Theologian names 🙂
“Will the yellow fever, like the River HuangHe does, bring sorrow to the current regime? Is the nation seeing the seeds of destruction germinating? Will the Krakatau of the Malaysian rumbling and grumbling finally erupt?
I don’t know. You and I can only make informed guesses. Man proposes, God disposes.
We can only predict and plan for the translation of theory into practice. That’s what praxis is – the marriage of idealism and action to produce “cultural action for freedom”, as Latin liberation theologians such as Gustavo Gutierrez, Denis Goulet, and Paulo Freire would say. Or like what the brave heart Che Guevara would embody. “
WIKIPEDIA: 2007 Malaysian electoral reforms rally
Let’s see how this evolves.
More Pictures
If a politician comes to your town today, he or she will only talk what he or she knows. Politics. So you have to give a political response. Malaysians are so much brainwashed into accepting peace, harmony and goodwill for the past 50 years that they refuse to say that there is any trouble even if they know there is one or more. Peace, harmony and goodwill are very good because they maintain the political stability of the country and with this kind of stability, the country will progress. However there is another side to it. If one does not solve the troubles of today, one cannot progress much. One will fail to see one’s mistakes. Mistakes are the better lessons than successes. What are the mistakes that the past leaders fail to teach today’s leaders ? Cronyism, neopotisim, corruption, exclusive lifestyle, racial discrimination of all sorts, the manipulation of law to suit oneself, failing to acknowledge those deserving and so on and so forth. Without yesterday, there is no today. Without today, there is no tomorrow. And some of the mistakes that the present leaders are making are financial gain, prematurely putting Malaysia in the world’s spotlight, wasteful spending and so on and so forth. So come the next election, Malaysian should think clearly while waiting to cross the ballot paper.