Yellow Fever !

Heyyy i'm back ! After 3 months of hiatus (i know you guys missed me xP ) i'm finally inspired to update my blog again !!! (I know i'm such an unmotivated person). ANYWAY....i definitely have a good reason to blog about today ! And guess what i'm going to talk about?

Hehe...i bet you guys know by now. I'm going to talk about BERSIH !!

I'm sure most of you will know what's Bersih about...unless you're on internet everyday and all you did was just playing games or chat and you don't give a damn to even read a single news in the past 2 weeks. Which is sad. So this is exactly why you should read this post even more. I DARE YOU TO !

Now let's forget about me being pushy earlier (i can't stand ignorant people so don't blame me >.<" ) and let me simplify everything for you what Bersih is about.


1. The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (aka Bersih 2.0) organised a rally to promote democracy and to demand for electoral reform. Go google those words coz it's time you know them.

The Bersih rally has 8 immediate demands :

a) Clean the electoral roll - why? there's so many dead people who are still voting for BN. A person who is 131 years old for example. Why didn't they get themselves into Guiness World Records then? And an address that has 88 people living in it. Unless you've got a house the size of Buckhingham and 4 wives having 22 children each, all over 21 years of age, that might be possible .

b) Reform postal ballot - Same problem . People from overseas automatically vote for BN. Like, seriously?

c) Use of indelible ink - So that 'some people' can't tamper with the votes by 'erasing' and marking for the other party.

d) Minimum 21 days of campaign period - The opposition has sufficient time to do their campaign, so it is fair for both parties to reach out to voters.

e) Free and fair access to media - A huge problem in Malaysia. All the local news (be it tv, radio and newspaper) are controlled by the government. There is no such thing as unbiased reporting. Since poor people can't afford cable tv like Astro, or even internet line, the only news they get are all pro-government mainstream media. And 60% of Malaysians earn below average wages.

f) Strengthen public institution - Public institution such as judiciary board and police force are not politicised. It means they do not get orders or influenced by any political group.

g) Stop corruption - Like electric bill going up as high as RM170,000 per month, or official trips costs up to RM48 million in 3 years, or buying a ring that costs RM73 million. Damn i would love to be the PM's wife !

h) Stop dirty politics - Using dirty tactics to sway voters from their rival candidate. Like creating scandals (literally) or defamation at the highest level.

So this is the simple version of what happened after Bersih 2.0 announced the date for the rally.

~ Bersih announced 9 July 2011 as the date for the rally

~ Government announced it as illegal and organise mass breakdown on Bersih organisers

~ People found wearing Bersih t-shirt were arrested

~ Bersih office was raided without a warrant. Laptops, t-shirts, banners and documents were seized

~ Government linked Bersih to 'reviving communism', instigation chaos, racial riot, backed by Christian Jewish etc

~ Local media was ordered to warn people to not participate in the rally, but was not allowed to use the name Bersih . The term 'illegal rally' was used instead

~ The King interfered as the government and Bersih committee cannot reach an agreement. The King ordered the both parties to sort their differences

~ Najib agreed by letting Bersih have their demonstration in a stadium instead of taking the streets. Ambiga, Chairman of Bersih 2.0 agreed. Supporters, not so happy ( including me D: )

~ Hisham, Minister of Home Affairs, insists that Bersih is illegal and had police force go all the way to prevent supporters from taking part in the rally, including conducting road blocks in major highways and halting sales of bus tickets entering the city 2 days before the rally

~ Police claimed to have found some parangs and molotov cocktails in plastic bottles along with Bersih t-shirts during road blocks.

~ Request to use Stadium Merdeka was rejected, claiming that they're undergoing renovation and clean up after Justin Bieber's concert. (Seriously?!?)

~ Ambiga insisted that the rally goes on, meeting point will be outside of Stadium Merdeka. Finally got a permit for the rally

~ Roads to the city were closed on 9th July starting at 12am. Police raids hotel rooms for supporters and Bersih t-shirts

~ Arrests starts at 11am around KL area. A few hundred people including children are caught

~ Supporters of Bersih started coming in groups from all sides of Petaling Street/Puduraya/Masjid Jamek area. Police tried dispersing supporters with chemical water cannon and tear gases.

~ Supporters at Puduraya trapped on both sides. Crowds started heading into Tung Shin Hospital for shelter when FRU started firing tear gases.

~ Police force threw tear gas and fired water cannon into the hospital compound. They then barged into the hospital and started arresting supporters

~ Leaders coming out of KL Sentral was greeted by tear gas and water cannon. Anwar was hit with a tear gas canister and brought into Hilton for treatment

~ Groups merge and make their way to Stadium Merdeka. Another group gathered outside KLCC. A total of about 50,000 supporters were estimated.

~ Some leaders were caught after trying to discuss with the police to guide peaceful protesters to the stadium grounds. Other leaders including A. Samad Said marched towards Istana Negara to hand the memorandum.

~ The demonstration was dispersed peacefully by the supporters around 4pm. However police force were seen chasing people around with batons, and another round of tear gases were fired.

~ A total of about 1400 people were caught. Police claim that detainees were treated well with a buffet style dinner prepared for them.

Okay maybe you guys got tired of reading but that is the summary for the Bersih event. If you wanted to know more you can go to http://www.bersih.org or bersih's official facebook page

I'll stop right here before you guys fall asleep :P