Without doubt, I’m putting this recent Malaysia rally; Bersih 2.0, as the historical event of our country for 2011.
Apparently this is the 2nd rendition of a campaign run, hence the two-point-zero since 2007. Its purpose still remains the same – raise the awareness and demand for a fair electoral system independent of third parties.
I’m not a person likely to discuss politics and I prefer avoiding any of conflicts whatsoever. I love living a fruitful and un-stressful life with loved ones while doing what I love doing. Thus, I’m only going to write about the noticeable affects to this event.
Unnecessary traffic congestion due to roadblocks
Days leading up to this day, some of my friends have complained roadblocks on highways causing congestion. And a day before today, another friend on Facebook shared that some roadblocks made congestion last until 2:15AM into the morning.
I seriously wouldn’t want to be caught in that situation. Imagine if you had to pee! OMG!!!
Nationwide curfew rumor caused concern
It did make me worry. Not because whether I’d bump into rally members. More so because of police roadblocks and being unnecessarily questioned. Plus, the whole idea of curfew was plain dumb – Malaysians mamak and clubbing hours is part of our culture. But yeah, I don’t like being in cumbersome situations.
Escalating news coverage
In the morning, news of the rally had begun coming in. By the late afternoon, its flooded my Twitter timeline. But it was good to know what was happening, despite my neutrality.
Especially by being an outsider, you’ve the benefit to observe both sides.
Acts affecting businesses
Hear say some people got hurt in the rally by authorities. But I’ll leave that to be clarified by the news publishers unswayed by third parties. Instead, after watching a video of the authorities having to use tear gas, I thought to myself, “wouldn’t business traders nearby be affected too?”
Plus, they fired more than 1 tear gas canister into the area. -_-|||
We (Malaysians) are really intuitive people
Friend of mine actually took this opportunity and came up with a pet project of his own to aggregate information of the event. Let me highlight one of the geeky things about the project.
That’s a map showing the Twitter conversations happening in areas co-relating to this event. If you zoom out, you’ll even notice the event affecting Malaysia across the world from the US to down under Australia.
The wonders of technology. And Malaysia’s historical event of 2011.