Speak UP

I can clearly see that everyone was the same, our goals are the same; it’s as if everyone was on the same wavelength. On that day there was only one race, one religion and one belief, they were all battling to be heard.

by Mavis Mercury

I first noticed the BERSIH badge on a friend’s profile picture. I was curious and actually saw that he had posted a BERSIH 2.0 official fan page on his wall. Curious, I clicked on it and started researching and looking through what they were all about; YouTube clips and websites.

I decided to register online and "liked" the page and instantly, kept myself updated with the current feeds. Spoke & discussed about it to a couple of friends even.

The reason I joined and showed interest was pretty simple; this campaign involved all the 3 main races including the natives back in the east and… of course, cleaning up the government. Looking through their passed rally from previous years, I was astounded. Sadly, I did not join the rally this year which I totally regret, but if there is another assembly in the future I can reassure you that I will be one of those people standing amongst the crowd. I am aware of the risk of joining the rally, but I also believe that each individual plays a part and one person can in fact make a difference. If we want progress and change, we definitely have to go through a few bumps; just like how Martin Luther King Jr., the activist and the leader of the African-American Civil rights movement who fought for the African Americans and back then when a group of women stood out in voicing out on wanting to be heard. This people went through a rough patch and went through hell at the beginning, to fight for a change and what they believe in, these changes did not happen overnight. We without a doubt have definitely benefited from it today. They stood and fought for the future. And now, we want our voices to be heard. We want a clean government, although cleaning it up 100% may be impossible, but at least something, for our kids and our kid’s children. The rally that was done on the 9th of July was incredibly amazing. For the first time, I am proud to be a Malaysian but at the same time was mortified by how the government reacted towards the rally. I was embarrassed for the ministers, or how the government responded to it. This puppets; it’s amazing how they “took care” of the whole situation. We all have different races, religions and other beliefs but the rally on that day…I can clearly see that everyone was the same, our goals are the same; it’s as if everyone was on the same wavelength. On that day there was only one race, one religion and one belief, they were all battling to be heard. I see women and men, brave men and women of all ages. Again, we’re all different but what unite us all on that particular day was that we are all Malaysian the real 1 Malaysia who wants changes to happen for our future. Watching all the clips and listening from friends who actually participated in the rally, standing right in the middle of it all, I salute your bravery as well as your courage to stand and show your support. You stood for your beliefs and went through hell and back but you were there.

There was no doubt that some or most people complained that their weekend was ruined, the jam was mad, complaining that this rally messed your weekend tremendously, shame on you! You may think this is done for nothing, some even say that the fight was unnecessary and pointless, and that it is totally useless because we could never win it or will never be heard. Shame on you too! If you want changes to be done, you need to step it up; you can’t expect anything to change if you just sit on your arse and expect it to happen magically. Of course there will be obstacles, of course it would not be easy, Rome wasn’t build in a day remember that. These people stood there to fight for our rights, not because of boredom or not because there was nothing left to do. It’s for our own land, for our own people and it all boils down to fairness! Particularly to all the women out there, our rights are claimed because a group of women fought for our rights! The majority of people at the time would never have expected the change…BUT IT DID!

So boohoo, your weekend was ruined? Is it because you missed your weekend outings? Could it be because you’re not into politics? Scratch all that. It’s not about that at all, it’s about changing and progressing, don’t be ignorant. If you do not support or not into it, at least give these people the respect they deserve. They stood out there walking into the city for the nation on their weekend. It’s sad, how we all live in a fast lane that we forget about other things, looking at the big picture. Well, I am sorry that your weekend was ruined, I am sorry that there was a road block almost in each corner of the city. You choose to not stand for anything but these people did. See, that’s what most of us did, we sat in our comfort zone, too afraid to speak up or became totally unaware. I am not into politics personally but I believe that changes should happen in this country. Sure some of you might disagree, then again; we’re all entitled to have our own opinion but I refuse to be a puppet to this country. I trust that all their effort would not go to waste and even if this country stay the same for another decade well at least those who stood their ground on the 9th of July 2011 will be remembered and I know that most of us will keep fighting for a bigger, brighter future.

(from Facebook)