“Here Uncle, take more salt,” Nash,my minder urged me as we encountered the 6 blast in quick succession.
“No, I am OK, it is not the tear gas Nash. I am crying,” I replied.
“Why Uncle, if you are afraid of an arrest, I will take you back,” Nash queried.
“No, I cry because I am so happy to see so many brave YOUNG Malaysians come out today,” I assured Nash.
Straight out of Amarjit’s mouth, on 14 July at Devi’s corner when I returned him his donation he gave to bail out RPK’s son who is now acquitted: “Zorro, I cried on 13 May 1969 when I was in the Special Branch and saw the savagery of the riots. On Saturday (9July) I cried when I saw the support of Malaysians, especially the youth, stand for their rights.”
16 year old schoolgirl told her CEO father on Friday night: I want to go join Bersih at the stadium. “No, you are still in school. No way! Don’t go out tomorrow.”
Saturday morning, father leaves for golf and our 16 year old went out to meet her friends. When papa came back at 4:00pm he asked mama where their girl was.
“She left without my knowing.” Mama volunteered. Papa waited for the return of his prodigal child. At 5:00 something she walks into the house still chatting on her mobile, and Papa was ready to raise hell.
“Why did you disobey me?” he barked.
“For my future, Daddy,” was her spontaneous reply.
Which caring and honest father would raise hell if confronted with such an honest statement of fact?
JoFan hopes his kindergarten teachers would give him a second chance to draw his Vision 2020 on an art block today. Despite everything, he will not give up on the hope to see a Malaysia that belongs to all people who call themselves Malaysian and he aspires to be a part that makes this happen. He walked with Bersih on 9 July.
His story HERE
GENERATION 709 PLACING FLOWERS AT KLCC IN MEMORY OF BAHARUDDIN AHMAD.
EeMay Lee wrote:
I am a Malaysian, a recent graduate from the UK and a participant in the Bersih rally on July 9. Mr Rozian, if the truth was different as you claimed it was, why then did the police threatened to arrest me if I did not budge, when I was gasping and heaving for air, suffering from breathing difficulties after the tear gas?
Is my health, my life not important to your government? Isn't the role of the police to protect the people, not harm them? All I did was enact my right to peaceful assembly, as is enshrined in the Malaysian constitution, and joined tens of thousands of other Malaysians to call on for our basic rights in a "true democracy"- free and fair elections, that has been denied from us all these years. If there was no repression, why were tear gas canisters were thrown directly at us, the masses, when instructions clearly showed it was not to be aimed directly at the people?
Why were tear gas bullets shot, not at a 45 degree angle towards the air, but directly towards the faces of your own fellow citizens? And you claim that all these were done in response to "thousands of people attempting to enter an unsuitable venue in a densely populated area" which was why "the police were forced to intervene to disperse the crowd." Mr Rozian, we weren't even anywhere near the stadium when tear gas and water canons were unleashed on us. But almost a kilometer away at Puduraya. Or even further at Dataran Merdeka and KLCC.
Why then were people arrested for merely wearing yellow? In a true democracy, is one subject to a certain law in regards to even their basic choice of colour to don? You argue that claims that Saturday's events meant that Malaysia was not a "true democracy" is simply wrong. Judging by this, your definition of what true democracy constitutes significantly errs from worldly conventions.
One of which the masses are denied basic freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to access information, freedom to even don whatever colour of tshirts we choose to without fear of arrest. If this is the type of "true democracy" you profess Malaysia has, then no wonder us Malaysians think it is time your government moved out from Putrajaya. Because this is precisely the type of democracy Malaysians do not want. Our voices cannot be quelled.
THERE ARE MORE YOUNGSTERS OUT THERE WHO HAVE A STORY TO TELL. SHARE IT WITH US.
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“Young Malaysians want to see their leaders with rolled-up sleeves on stage taking on questions relating to issues affecting their daily lives. They want to tell our leaders how they are coping with the increase in cost of living and how they have to sacrifice their sleep and leave their homes early to beat the increasingly bad traffic jams,” Wong Chun Wai smugly sermonized in his Sunday “On the Beat” column.
Wong Chun Wai…..you are definitely on the wrong beat…..generation 709 went out because they want a clean fair elections. Don’t pluck excuses from our hazy sky for them. They know what they want - Those straight-forward 8 demands.
They care for their future and the young of their generation. Do you? Did your children participate? Chances are they couldn’t, not wouldn’t, because you care more for your own future.
Chun Wai also said: The trouble with most politicians is that once they hold the microphones, they cannot let go. But they had better learn to pass the microphones to their listeners more.
These Generation 709 youngsters don’t need microphones…..their message is simple and clear – give us an environment conducive for us to continue doing what we want to do best…..live in harmony as Malaysians, minus all the lies and spinning from the likes of you and the mainstream media. Is HONESTY such a difficult chore?
