Assalamualaikum...
Yes, went to the event today. Arrived there at around 10.20. Talk have started, stalls were already up. So our first stop was to get the 'PROTES' t-shirt. Then, went to take pictures of the suasana and it was surely merry and people were very full of spirit! (at first) Especially the Indians, they were really active and participating..they were cool~ they had banners ready, they berarak...to be honest, they were the only ones showing the attitude of protest against the oil price hike, besides the talk from the leaders.
People were all over the place, some were outside hanging out, some were outside eating and some were shopping at the stalls. It was indeed a very calm surrounding, and was getting too calm and almost nothing special because it was suppose to be a rally to force the government to decrease the oil price! I'm not saying that we should burn down the stadium or attack any public areas, but we should have not been too obedient towards the government and change place to the, may I say, secluded area. There were no people passing by the stadium area that could actually see or hear what we were trying to say and seru everybody to take part in the protest.
I did not stay for the whole event, was already wiped out after Zohor, plus there weren't any interesting activity going on. People were entertained by street musicians and poet and most people were having lunch at the stalls. By the time my brother and I decided to leave for home, there was this one band performing a PUNK song. Soooo very tak sesuai, I know that rock and very metal-ly songs are suitable for showing rebellion and protest, but surely we don't need this kind of things to show our protest, does it even workk? Is the government even listening? And it turned out that the punk band was called off from performing after about 700 Unit Amal people withdraw from the event because they did not agree with the performance. Read more
here. Way to go laaa Unit Amal, at least you guys stand up for your principles! And more ketidak best-an berlaku afterwards. I read from
Malaysiakini that another band that was performing was behaving inappropriately when the singer was singing while showing off his behind towards the audience and was continuously pulling his underwear(hmmm?? maybe he had the wrong pair on at the wrong time I guess). The sad part was that, this happened around Maghrib time (~7 pm), surely people understand right...time-time Maghrib mane ade orang bergalak2 ..tak kee? And a few unsatisfied viewers decided to take matters into their hands by throwing bottles at the singers and some people tried to chase them off. So, it was kind of disappointing to learn about that incident. Hishamuddin Rais should have done better. The event was said to continue until 12 tonight.
Here is another link of a disappointed party about the event that was suppose to shock and provoke the government. The event was suppose to give an impact on the government, should have shown that WE, the people ARE EFFECTED by government DECISIONS, especially to increase the oil price and NOT making any effort in taking the weight off the people, instead of asking us to CHANGE our lifestlye, how about change the GOVERNMENT for once? But we did not feel that today, there were no vibe, no feeling of "YES, THIS IS WHAT WE WANT!"
Maybe because it was not the peak of the event yet and I did not stayed longer, even the local main stream media have
this and
this to say (they are not taking this seriously, for them it is just another carnival), it did not give the same impact it did during Bersih, all in all..we could have done better.
wallahua'lam~
p/s: pictures will come
