… as I was reading first person accounts of the Bersih 3.0 rally how essay writing has always been a big part of primary and secondary education in Malaysia. Seriously, check out some of the stories there.
By the time we were in form 3 (8th grade here in the US) a 2000 – 5000 word essay assignment was the norm. And as evidenced by the stories at the link you can see that this skill continues way past schooling. No doubt, some are better than others but the point being that each and every one is of a substantial length.
The rally itself took place on the 28th of April. The big one in Kuala Lumpur was supported by “satellite rallies” in several other cities in Malaysia as well as in at least 70-80 cities worldwide… all standing up for clean and fair elections in Malaysia.
There was a similar demonstration last year that reportedly brought out 50, 000 Malaysians of all stripes. The numbers of the one two Saturdays ago run somewhere between 80, 000 – 300, 000. Whatever the number… it was an impressive turnout.
In my opinion… a good noble cause that unfortunately was marred by some violence. Since then accusations have been flying from all sides.
For my part I was both impressed and moved by those who turned up… in spite of the inevitable probability of being tear gassed and shot at with chemically laced water cannons… which did happen. There were also reports of folk (hours after the rally was dispersed) being beaten up by the authorities… many pulled out of eateries just because they were wearing yellow. I even spotted a cousin in the crowd… meaning that the Nunis clan was represented. (Yes, I did send her a message telling her how proud I was of her for being there.) Plus, by most accounts everyone came out to demonstrate with a positive attitude… and conducted themselves in a quirky Malaysian manner.
This is probably going to be a continuing effort and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. But check out some of the first person accounts (linked at the top) for a clearer sense of what this is all about and what happened. Here are a select few worth the read.