Green Over Yellow I: The Calm Before The Storm

Green Over Yellow, swiped from williamnyk on Flickr.

I wasn't really if I wanted to go to Bersih 3.0. Several friends asked me about it, but I didn't give a definite answer. My mum told me that she was going, so what the heck, what kind of son would leave her mother to go alone? So I said yes, and peeled myself from the laptop and put myself in the thick of things for the first time.





The night before 428, mum told me that we should gather with some DAP members at Taman Sungai Besi before heading out to Tasik Selatan. I heard 8:00am and I was like... forrrrrr whatttttt. Told her that we were going to the same place, so it didn't matter what time we left. No point going out of the way and end up on the same LRT line. As usual, she was a bit bull-headed about it, so I gave her friend a call. Luckily her friend saw my point and also changed her plan to board at Bukit Jalil at a later time. In the end, we left home at about 8:30am to use the park n' ride facilities at Bukit Jalil. Many cars were already there and I saw two guys changing into yellow Ts at the carpark. Not wanting to attract so much attention, I wore a pale yellow T and mum in black. I reserved something yellower in my backpack. The night before, I did some cramming and prepared my so-called Bersih 3.0 survival kit based on some websites. Quite helpful. Packed three bottles of drinking water, table salt, pen and paper (if suei-suei kena tahan), bandaids, face masks, salt and a face towel. Also saved some emergency legal aid numbers into my phone. And also password protected it. Decided not to bring my camera as I did not want something extra to look after. More important to keep an eye on mum. Better safe than sorry.





The number of people waiting the board the train at Bukit Jalil was unusual for a Saturday and many were wearing yellow or concealing it beneath other articles if clothing. In the train, a Malay uncle was already calling his friend and asking about the situation on the ground. Not all were heading for Bersih, some were usual commuters whom I have met on the rush hour train ride. In addition to the yellow, the red were out in full force too-- not Unit Amal PAS, but the staff from Sogo. LOL. Lots of people alighted at Plaza Rakyat. Most were in yellow and they made their preparations there, changing in the toilets and what not. Mum also changed there, coming out with her customized Bersih T, complete with a stalk of leaves representing the Anti-Lynas Movement. Walked out of the station and headed to Jalan Sultan. Yellow everywhere on the streets. They were all sitting and standing around in the shade. Saw StevenG with a group of friends with Angry Bird balloons and other yellow items. Found our way to Yan Keng Benevolent Drama Society. Pete Teo was there to record a music video for the conservation of Jalan Sultan. Since we were just standing around anyway, mum and I took part. Meanwhile, people passed me a green strip of cloth and a yellow balloon. I tied it to my backpack shoulder strap to match the yellow strip that mum got me. The balloon was quite a nuisance so I stuck the stick into the back of my shirt effectively turning me into a two-headed Bersih activist.





During the recording, everyone gathered and held "Rasa Sayang, Jalan Sultan" placards while singing a song with the same repetitious words. Several versions were recorded-- sad, happy, crazy. Was a nice warm up to the rally. At about ten plus, we did not know what to do. Suddenly the crowd surged toward Pudu Raya only to reverse back towards Jalan Sultan. And the sun had already started its sweaty work. Several false starts later, we saw a familiar face in the crowd. A CDD priest was with two sisters from the FMM. The priest was in his robes and holding a beautiful Michelin umbrella with the words "BERSIH" and a hibiscus, specially made for him by a local artist. The sisters were in their habits-- one wore a hat with a thick ribbon of yellow and green, while the more elderly sister had yellow ribbon around her neck. They cut a swaft through the crowd in a deathly silence. Immediately, mum and I decided to follow their group. Their first stop was the nearby Gospel Hall. We stopped there for a bit, resting and relieving ourselves. Later on, a commotion came into the grounds of the church... it was Aunty Bersih! She had a short talk with the priest and many people requested to take photos with her. Though reluctant to do so, she relented. But she drew the line at autographing stuff.





The Gospel Hall seemed to be the grounds of operation for several groups of young protestors. They prepared their noise-makers and strategized there. At about noon, we headed out following the surge of people. From Jalan Sultan we moved towards Jalan Tun HS Lee. At one point, we thought we were stuck, but the priest surged on the front. Along the way, we saw a couple of paragliders pass by and everytime a helicopter passed, the crowd would boo loudly. We passed by many boys in blue in the five foot walkway, but they did not hassle us. We stopped by the roadside and started reciting a decade of the rosary. Recharged by prayer, we followed the human traffic while singing "Hail Mary, Full of Grace" in mandarin. Occassionally we were drowned out by the usual slogan chanting. We continued on. Some time during the march, a giant yellow inflatable ball came out of no where and the crowd bounced it from end to end. Surging forward, we passed by the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple and the Guan Di Temple. Continued on to Sin Tze Ya Temple, where we hung a left towards Leboh Pudu and subsequently on Jalan Hang Kasturi. Seemed to be the end of the road as the road in front of the bar council was barricaded and Dataran Merdeka was just in front.





Once again we stopped to rest, this time at the lane beside the Bar Council. There we met up with another CDD priest who even came with a pectoral staff and a stole. Walking towards the river, many more people were camped out on the Bar Council parking lot. Access to The Annexe Gallery was barred. The priest walked out to the front and was confronted with the barrier. A girl who sat nearby shouted:

"Father, bless the fence! Bless the police!"

After a while, we retreated. It was nearly 2:00pm. On and off the crowd would chant:

"Buka pintu! Buka Pintu!"





And at one point, we sang the national anthem. Then someone heckled the police for not standing up for "Negaraku". The stand-off happened for some time until a FRU armored tanker-truck came into view on the bridge at Leboh Pasar Besar. At that point, mum found her friend at Sin Seng Nam coffee shop. A whole family outing. We were advised to move, so we made our way to Medan Pasar towards Leboh Ampang. It was a giant standstill. Noticed quite a number of gay boys. Kinda like a fashion show with their high hair and A&F T-shirts. Some Bersih Bois were quite cute le... We caught up with the CDD priest again, so we went forward. They were resting on the kerb. It was already 3:00pm and the biscuits kinda just disolved in our active gastric juices. So we backtracked towards Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin and bumped into Ngeh Koo Ham addressing the crowd in front of HSBC. Seeing that Soong Kee was open, we made our way there....



to be continued