EYEWITNESS A few weeks ago, I still don't know what Bersih 2.0 truly meant.

However, some days later, I was busy looking for friends to accompany my husband to the rally on July 9. The reason being that we, having two children, could not afford to have both of us arrested. I had to stand by, to provide legal aid for any untoward happening.

On July 8, I bought few mini-buns and was still persuading friends to go to the rally along with my husband, to keep him company.

On the morning of July 9, I put the mini-buns, two bottles of water, a yellow shirt wrapped in a paper bag, a cap and a small umbrella in a backpack for my husband, who told me to send him to the nearest KTM commuter station - in Subang Jaya.

NONEWe left home about 10.30am. I drove and my son Rui En followed. The roadblocks along the way put us into a terrible traffic jam. I was very upset with the wastage of the resources and taxpayers' money.

If I called to say there was a robbery somewhere, would you think I could have got any help from the police? I sounded the car horn furiously few times on the road to show my unhappiness.

Finally, we skipped the roadblocks and after few alternative, small detours, we reached the Subang Jaya KTM station about noon. After dropping off my husband, I wanted to drive back home. But Rui En was crying badly and wanted to follow his father. That delayed me.

Suddenly, my crying boy pointed to front and called papa, papa! My husband was walking back to us - many police officers and men were there.

I then parked the car and with two backpacks, one for my husband and one for Rui En, we bought tickets for KL Sentral, which we reached not long after. There, a stall owner misdirected us upstairs to buy the LRT tickets to the city centre.

Many police cars and police were there. I saw the police trying to arrest a Malay youth, with a woman begging them not to. While the youth was struggling with the police, somebody threw a water bottle, which fell into the police crowd.

This is a 'police state'

That's when I could not hide my anger anymore. I shouted, and I have a loud voice: "Apa jadi? Orang muda saja. Lepaskan dia. Stop it!"

A young policeman came to me, saying, "No worries, the police are only doing their duty. Unlawful assembly!"

I shouted back, "We are worried, we are scared! You all make us worried, and you all are scaring us now!"

A Malay man passed by me and said, "police state".

We then went downstairs. I wanted to go to the LRT station at Plaza Rakyat, but the counter clerk told me that Masjid Jamek was the nearest station.

In the train, we met a lot of people like us. The train did not stop at Masjid Jamek but at Dang Wangi, and we walked from there towards the rally and again, along our way, we met many people like us.

Near the Masjid Jamek LRT station, about 1.30pm, we saw many police cars and trucks heading towards us. Tear gas was the immediate thing we could think of and I ran to a corner with Rui En, while my husband tried to get into the front of the crowd.

My son was excited. He saw a helicopter, police cars and a Federal Reserve Unit truck that he called "fire engine", because it was large and red in colour.

NONEWe could not move further. Tear gas had been fired at the crowd at Menara Maybank and all the routes towards Merdeka Stadium were blocked. We stayed to observe and move as close as we could.

It then started to rain. McDonald's was closed. We went a 7-11 to buy some drinks, where we also bought a raincoat - which coincidentally was yellow in colour - for Rui En, hoping to keep him dry from the rain.

We still tried to move closer to the stadium, and at the legal aid centre, we met a few lawyers who were on standby to provide legal aid to those in need. There, I offered to help in any way, but was refused - because, I suppose, as a rally participant I could not be a neutral or independent person.

We then decided to go back and then saw a crowd of people marching towards our direction. Strange that the police actually let them go. We were wondering whether these people were supporters of Bersih 2.0 - until somebody told us that it was the Umno Youth group.

My anger hiked up and from where I was, I screamed under the rain: "Shame! Malu, double standard!" The police were looking at me, but did not come near. I think my son Rui En was my weapon.

We continued walking towards the Dang Wangi LRT station and along the way we came upon an even larger crowd, marching towards us. These were the Bersih supporters, so we followed them, and again got close to Merdeka Stadium, where I could see the tear gas being fired. I ran with my Rui En. Without him, I would have moved even further!

It's all right, we have done our very best! We were very brave to move so far already.

NONEAt the Dang Wangi station, we were told that the KL Sentral station was closed. My husband called his sister to get to the Kelana Jaya LRT station and to send us to the Subang Jaya KTM station.

Riding in the LRT train, we saw the large crowds on the roads and all of us in the train shouted in support, loudly and so proudly!

On our way back home, the roadblocks were still there and it took us a long time to cross the roadblock to get to Summit USJ, and we finally reached home at 5pm.

Thanks to everybody who had been so supportive. Whether we were in the rally or not, the attempts we made to get as close to Merdeka Stadium as possible had already proven something.

The numbers at Stadium Merdeka do not matter. What matters are the numbers of Malaysians scattered all over the city - and in the other countries as well in support of electoral reforms.

And those closely watching the Malaysiakini video coverage on the Bersih rally over the Internet from home have also done a good job by giving their moral support!

Let us keep up the spirit till the coming general election! Well done, all Malaysians!

 

 

The writer is a mother of two.

This series relates eyewitness accounts of the Bersih 2.0 July 9 rally in Kuala Lumpur for clean and fair elections. If you were there and have an interesting story to share, email us at editor@malaysiakini.com by Friday, July 22.