BERSIH: The Yellow Wave (Pics) Part 1

Malaysiakini reported Bersih plays cat-and-mouse with cops
by Beh Lih Yi and Syed Jaymal Zahiid Nov 10, 07 8:38pm
Bersih rally The organisers apparently hookwinked the police by telling the protesters to march directly to Istana Negara, instead of going to Dataran Merdeka.


The four points demanded by BERSIH for a clean / fair election :
1) Usage of Indellible Ink
2) Clean-up of Voters Registration
3) Abolition of Postal Votes
4) Access to the Media

Judging by the large number of people that turned up, it seemed not only BERSIH are making the demands. The Rakyat (citizens) wants a clean election too. It is with great disappointment that Pak Lah said he supports Genuine Democracy. How about the reasonable demands from BERSIH and the Rakyat? My dear Pak Lah, after all, if there are too many discrepancies or issues with elections, that would not be genuine. That would be Sham Democracy.

If Pak Lah has problems with BERSIH demands, then I would really want to know why?

Isn't he supposed to be supporting genuine democracy?


Most participants of the Yellow Wave event wore the BERSIH T-shirt. There were variants of course, but the four points of BERSIH demands stay.


Taken from LRT station Bandaraya. The sky darkened. Heavy rain ensued later. The red coloured shirt people were those from Unit Amal. Kudos to them. Good work in controlling the big crowd.


Yellow March for Agong and Clean Election begans around 2.20 p.m.


A big crowd was heading towards Istana Negara.


Participants braved through the storm. Nothing would stop them in getting a clean election. Bukit Aman is in the background.


Police officers were standing by the side of the road. No one was allowed into Dataran Merdeka, which is located behind the Royal Selangor Club as seen in the background.


Participants from Bandaraya passed by the 2nd meeting point, Masjid Negara. 2 crowds merged into one. Cars honked in support of the BERSIH rally. I chatted with folks from Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan. Many guys in their twenties marched. Some told me their parents attempted to discourage them but they persisted.


This helicopter was hovering above the rally all the time.


By this time, the Central Market, Masjid Jamek, Masjid Negara and Bandaraya crowd had become one. Look at the stream as it went to Istana Negara for the memorandum submission.


I was taking some time to enjoy the scene too. History was in the making. The BIGGEST RALLY IN MALAYSIA to date. I am part of history !

Other posts on BERSIH rally:
BERSIH: The Yellow Wave (Pics) Part 1
BERSIH: The Yellow Wave (Pics) Part 2
BERSIH: The Yellow Wave (Pics) Part 3
We have to BERSIH-kan Malaysia
The Yellow Wave: How Come Opposition-Led?

Bloggers, beware of hired hackers

Malaysiakini published my letter Bloggers, beware of hired hackers .

by Sagaladoola
Nov 6, 07 5:22pm

I wish to bring to the attention of all bloggers and concerned citizens Malaysiakini's report, Bersih website hacked ahead of Nov 10 rally.

The hacker posted a message saying that the Nov 10 gathering will be postponed. On the contrary, Bersih had later reiterated that the gathering would proceed as planned. A large number of organisations will be there and various political parties had confirmed their participation in this peaceful gathering.

A few days ago, a famous independent news portal, Malaysia Today, suffered a similar fate. Currently, Malaysia Today is back online. Elsewhere, I have read of another blog by a member of parliament (Ronnie Liu) having a few days worth of articles being removed the same way.

It is certainly ironic that as the days of the rally draws near, several websites are being attacked. Perhaps, there is some greater hidden powers at work - one that may not be comfortable with certain concerned citizens in the form of bloggers and writers expressing their opinions on the Internet. Otherwise, there could be certain parties who are not pleased with calls for electoral reforms for the better.

If the latter is the main reason for such unruly behaviour, the actions of the hacker(s) and the people who gave the orders are indeed strange. After all, if one is patriotic towards the nation, one should always support a move that supports true democracy through a necessary change in electoral processes. Naturally, upon careful thinking, it may not be hard for Malaysian bloggers and citizens to guess who the real perpetrators are.

Online bloggers should periodically back up their work in Word documents or Notepad files to ensure that their hard work are not permanently lost. Bloggers who do not use familiar blogging sites such as blogspot.com or wordpress.com but use their own purchased domains should exercise extra caution by incorporating better security. Personal, purchased domains are more vulnerable to attacks.

P.S. The Member of Parliament mentioned here is Ronnie Liu. His website http://colour-blind.org/ was hacked. Meanwhile, he will be reusing his older blog http://ronnieliutiankhiew.wordpress.com/ for any public updates.

PAS, Samy, Hindu Temple Demolition

I had earlier chronicled the Kampung Rimba Jaya Temple Demolition in my post Deepavali and Bulan Syawal Destruction.

PAS on Temple Demolition
Mujahid Yusof Rawa, Chairman of national unity of PAS had written a letter to Malaysiakini condemning the demolition procedures of the Hindu temple in Kampung Rimba Jaya. In fact, the PAS representative had expressed deep regret over the violent manner the issue was handled.

Surprising isn't it? I mean, this is PAS, the Islamic Party of Malaysia. The temple was of the Hindu religion. It is supposed to be no concern of theirs. Perhaps, PAS is not 100% intolerant as certain parties painted it to be. Kelantan, the state in which PAS reigns, houses Wat Photivihan, biggest reclining Buddha statue in Malaysia. There were rumours circulating that PAS even allowed a Hindu temple to be built in one of their newly obtained constituency. The Hindus were asking for permission from a previous MP of another party for years but to no avail.

Maybe it is high time that people take a deeper look at what PAS has to offer for the people. Put aside some of the negative impression. That is provided that PAS has a complete and clear blueprint on governing the nation for the people to analyse.

Samy on Temple Demolition
In the meantime, Malaysiakini posted another interesting article titled MIC retracts ban on Deepavali events. Earlier, Samy Vellu, the President of the Indian representative party, MIC, with courage not commonly seen, called for a ban on open houses during the upcoming Deepavali celebration.

If Samy Vellu had proceed with such action for the sake of the community he is supposed to represent, in my personal opinion, the Hindu gods must have been compassionate enough to bestow some Light on the greatly marginalised Indian community of Malaysia after witnessing much sadness and grief that they had over the recent event.

And I thought the Hindu gods must have been so understanding that they shone some light on the minds on MIC leaders as well, awakening them so that they will do what they are supposed to do.

Happiness is a rare occasion and difficult to be obtained it seems, the ban was retracted so 3 hours after the initial announcement. There are reasons of course, as KTemoc writes in his article : "Deepavali Open House & MIC - Must I Cancel?" .

3 hours, phew.. that was quick.

Let me make some important extracts from KTemoc's blog:
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Samy gave the excuse that there has been an 'overwhelming request' by the members of the community for the ban to be overturned - hmmm, 'overwhelming request' from the MIC community or the entire Indian community? Alas, he didn't bother to elaborate, but I need to ask the question - where's the MIC protest against the demolition of Hindu temples now?

But you know something?

Well, it seems that Mama is still in mourning for his late brother, who passed away early this year, therefore he won't be having an ‘open house’ anyway.

While I respect his piety for his late brother, I certainly don’t his grandstanding - hey, Mama, when you've already planned not to have an 'open house' in the first place, please don't act tough by saying you won't be holding an 'open house'.

It’s little wonder that the other MIC leaders were annoyed at the ban which wouldn't have affected Samy, but which would have denied them the opportunity to ... er ... showcase their ... er ... hospitality

hahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
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I certainly understand why KT ends his article with a very loud laugh. It is not hard to know why.

Good luck Malaysian Indians. Pray hard..... during Deepavali..... May God bless you.