[I don't intend to turn this into a political blog but below is something I wrote on 28 April 2012, after I attended a political rally called Bersih 3. The photo above is of the crowd I found myself smack right in the middle of on that fateful day. I really must revisit the scene of the event that haunts me until now.]
At around 2 pm, I was near the Masjid Jamek LRT station along Jalan Tun Perak. There were so many people, it was very difficult to cross the road. Furthermore, many were sitting. People like Ambiga, Nurul, Hishamuddin Rais and that ABU guy were giving speeches on top of a car. Eventually they decided to challenge the Dataran lockdown. So the people started moving towards the Dataran, along side the car. Anwar and Azizah had arrived by then. I was caught in the middle of the river of people and couldn't get out even if I had wanted to. We didn't know what was happening in front where people were cheering and clapping. Then the signal came to move back. As we were retreating the FRU opened up with tear gas. The road was packed, so how fast could you move? Poom! A round. We were getting squeezed tighter and tighter. Poom! Another round! There was a Malay couple in their late 50s in front of me. If someone pushed me an inch, I had to push them an inch. There was no give! I was trying desperately to keep my balance and not to trample the old folk. The gas was drifting over and people were starting to cough and choke. I was coughing too. Poom! Another round! I started to curse! Fucking FRU could at least give the people time to disperse!
I don't know how I managed to get out of there. And I don't know how many people were injured or killed. I was walking and walking with hundreds of people and somehow ended up at the Bukit Nenas monorail station! Must have been really disoriented!
[I had emerged from the crush above without my camera and backpack. One moment they were there, the next moment they were gone. I don't think anyone deliberately stole them from me. We were all just struggling to get away from the teargas. I didn't mention this before, in case my stuff were picked up by the cops after the rally.]
