Today was Bersih 3.0, the 3rd installment by a coalition campaigning for free and fair elections in Malaysia. Bersih is NOT about political party. It’s not a gathering to promote PR or BN, (In fact MCA Kelana division committee member Lee Hwa Beng was spotted at Bersih 3.0 according to Malaysiakini and it was made clear that no MCA members were barred from attending the protest.)
It’s a protest in an effort to fight for clean and fair elections.
When Bersih 2.0 happened, I was on my Hong Kong business trip.
I remember being glued to Twitter, reading the constant tweets about the event. I felt lousy about myself for not attending it. So this year Shorty and I decided to attend it. When I told my Dad that I was going to go, he called me every day persuading me not to. Not that he didn’t believe in Bersih’s cause, but that he feared for my safety as any father would. He was even going to be down in KL that weekend and I suspected that he was going to stop me from going if I tried walking out of the house. I was torn about going. Fighting between my desire to go and my respect for my father
Last night while attending a dinner meet in Bangkok with my Thai business partners, I decided to go. I called Shorty and told her that I was scheduled to fly back Saturday morning and we can go straight from LCCT after she picked me up. I told her to bring salt and 2 bottles of water for us. I told her though, not to tell anyone else because I didn’t want my father to know and worry.
Then this morning I woke up and went to Bangkok’s airport to take a flight back only. I was excited. All pumped from reading the tweets.
When I reached my departure gate though I realized that the Air Asia plane that was supposed to take me back wasn’t even there. They said the flight was going to be delayed for 2 hours and that drove me crazy. I wouldn’t be able to make it then. I read tweets that said the sit-down protest was supposed to be 2-4PM. So instead of reaching KLIA at 1PM, I would reach at 3PM. If my previous timing was cutting it close, with the 2 hour delay I wasn’t going to make it for sure.
When I touched down at LCCT, I called my friends who were at Bersih and asked if it was too late. They told me that the riot police had just shot tear gas into the crowd and the crowd was dispersing.
I rushed over from LCCT but by the time I had reached the city, I could see the crowd, dressed in yellow walking home. To me, they looked like war heroes who had just fought a fight.
Today I once again let my other fellow Malaysians risk their safety to fight for my rights as a voter. To these Malaysians I say Thank you.
Thank you for fighting for me… and my children. One day, I will fight for you and your children.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space