January 12, 2013
KL112 at Merdeka Stadium ended peacefully and Congratulations to ALL
by S Retnanathan |www.freemalaysiatoday.com
Many had feared an outbreak of violence from Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat but all fears were unfounded and the rally has actually set a benchmark for such future events.
This is how it should be done. In essence, the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat rally today has set a new benchmark how rallies and public assemblies should be conducted in the country.
While many had earlier feared that the rally organised by the Opposition front, Pakatan Rakyat – made up of PKR, PAS and DAP – would see the recurrence of violence between Opposition supporters and the Police, their fears were unfounded in the end.
Many had expected the rally to turn ugly following the Bersih 3.0 experience when Bersih, a coalition of non-governmental organisations, demanding free and fair elections, held its rally in the city centre.
The rally then was joined by Opposition leaders and led to bloody clashes between the Federal Reserve Unit personnel and the protesters.
However, today’s rally turned out to be rather “mild”. Opposition supporters were restrained from the word go.They started converging at several locations in the city late last night, parking themselves at mosques, small hotels, houses of relatives and fellow party members. They gathered at eight specified locations around the city as early as 8am fearing police roadblocks and road closures.
But to their surprise there was none. Soon after PAS applied for permits to use Stadium Merdeka for the rally, there was a huge hue and cry that the rally would cause disruption in the city. To the surprise of many, the stadium granted PAS the approval to use the historic stadium, where the country’s independence was first officially proclaimed.
Congrats to the IGP and PDRM
Then came the Police. They held a cordial discussion with the organisers and it turned out well. Even with everything going on fine, there were still some lingering fears that one party would break their promise.
But this did not happen. Both sides held on to their promise. The Police did not use force, and the rally participants followed the set rules.
The Police this time around were on their best behaviour. They cleared the roads for the rally-goers to walk to the stadium from the eight meeting points. They diverted traffic and made it easier for both motorists and participants. There was no sign of the FRU, which is normally used to disperse the crowd.
At the rally itself in the stadium, the speeches were restrained while supporters, made up of at least 80% Malay crowd, were motivated. There were two bomb hoaxes – one at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre and the other at the Bar Council building. But the Police were quick to dispel the rumour with Dang Wangi Police Chief ACP Zainuddin Ahmad holding a press conference immediately after the news broke out.
“It was just a box with some papers inside. There was no explosive device,” he told reporters waiting in anticipation.While the BERSIH rally saw hundreds of arrests, there was virtually no arrest at all at this rally.
All said and done, this rally proves that if two sides are sincere any rally can be organised in Malaysia peacefully. To all parties involved, especially the Police and Political parties, thank you for a job well done!
TV3 Spin on KL112
Let us congratulate the Government, the Opposition, the Police, the NGOs and civic minded Malaysians who were at Merdeka Stadium today for maintaining peace. –Din Merican
A benchmark indeed, Dato. If only all previous gatherings had been held in stadiums… we would have avoided so many headaches. But better late than never.
Today, common sense prevailed… a good day for our country.
Tks bro
Sent by Maxis from my BlackBerry® smartphone
Congratulations to everyone involved and I’m happy to be part of this historical event..
The police did a nice job on the ground, Dato, but people like Rais Yatim and a senior police officer at Bukit Aman still want to play game and spin there’s only 40,000 people etc etc…. they should find out why the gathering at Semenyih is only 15,000 people despite an alleged payment of RM20 to each participant plus goodie bags squeezed from MNCs…. usual victims allegedly include Nestle, Danone, Munchie Biscuits, Yeo Hiap Seng…. these companies should be given tax reliefs…
Dato’ Din and all, this day is truly historic as the IGP had said it would. We salute the IGP for allowing the making of this historic day whereby Malaysians as ONE people have come of age. I cannot recall anywhere in ASEAN or anywhere else in the world for that matter, that such a huge rally had been so well conducted.
Indeed, we are ONE Malaysians, capable of peaceful reformation rally.
This is the answer to all our prayers for realigning of the nation. 2013 is the year of change. We must however be on guard and not put our guard down. PKR must now get their act together . Haris RPK and Ambiaga must remain a 3rd force.
Some semblence of maturity for Malaysia, in accord with the law & spirit of the Peacefull Assembly Act – kudos to the Authorities & Participents, and the By-Standers….
May be, the idea behind this new Akta is for both the Authorities and the Peacefull Protesters to sit down TOGETHER at least a month ahead of the date scheduled, and draw out the Plan, so that at all times of the Assembly, it is done in an Orderly way, depicting our own ‘ civilized ‘ society….good news really this time, Congratulations !
This ” Planning ” thing which should be done @ least one month ahead, is not of a kind as in other situations ( of planning ) – its a slightly different situation.
Its is sitting down together to find ” Consensus ” , b’coz the two sides of the Divide, have got different and seperate duties, rights & obligations under the law, they are different. One to maintain law & order, the other is their Right to ” Peacefull Assembly ” for a peacefull protestations. In the ” Consensus ” way, it is to finalise in order to understand the ‘ differences’ , thus actually showing Respect for one another….
( we can see this happening, and emulate them, similar planning as in UK or the West- good luck Mlaysia, well done ….)
good news,it is because the most upper part of the body has been most utilised by every one-especially those in power-takut bayang sendiri.
The organisers of Hipunan Kebangkitan Rakyat should give thumbs up to the police and other authorities for the peaceful like carnival event that thronged at the Merdeka Stadium for the first time.
See? When the police stay true to their job, which is to maintain peaceful and safety of the people regardless of who they are and don’t take orders from the outside no matter whether they are ministers or PM, the peace can be maintained even when it involves nearly 500,000 people in one go! I was there (just like in previous gatherings) and for the first time I have some respect for the police force! I even ended up thanking the police in their face because they managed to do their job well and be civilized towards the public, for once! As for those (ibnu baltazar) who said this was the result of the Peaceful Assembly Act..NO, it’s not! In fact, that Act serves nothing but hardship on the public. The fact that it prevents children to go to a peaceful Assembly shows that it’s wrong in the first place. This HKR event managed to maintain the peacefulness throughout purely because the POLICE DID THEIR JOB RIGHTLY, despite the fact that the Organizers of HKR held their meeting with the IGP and local police force merely 4 DAYS before the event, and not even one month before as Ibnu Baltazar would like to think! LOL!
Yes, but Consensus means merely to reach some understanding, one of the other – in broad terms. Some ‘ conditions ; can be imposed by the Authorities, coz they are responsible ultimately for peace & order.
The Akta represents the ‘ spirit’ of the law, the process & proceedings COULD go haywire for any unanticapted ways, the smallest ‘ misunderstanding’ could trigger a possible conflict.
In the ultimate, when someone or anyone is charged in Court for being the ‘ cause ‘ of the Disorder, Courts usually will put blame on the party causing it, whichever party is identifiable by the Authorities/Court.
The Akta makes sense in its broadest application, and nothing can be certain, until ‘ something ‘ happens…no one can actually predict in any large gathering !