Unfounded Fear?
Touted as the next May the 13th, it ended up rather anticlimactic in the end. It was mainly a peaceful march, and to a certain extend, the Police manage to nip the problem at the bud with the lock-down of the capital. There were aggravation of course, but on the whole, emotion were kept in check.
Rather than focusing on the organizers, nor the Opposition's push for change, I want to focus on our boys in Blue, the Police. Forget about their leaders and top brass. Forget about the YouTube videos of them kicking the protectors. Forget about the water cannon, and the gas canisters. On the whole, judging from the first-hand report on twitter and Facebook, they were courteous and were just plainly performing their duties.
At the end of the day, they were only human and given the amount of aggravation they were facing, they may snap. And that applies to the protestors as well. There would be clashes when groups of emotional human beings came together like so. But believe me, the situation could been handled much worst.
Another element that helped was the fact that the group dispersed at 4 pm as agreed by A Samad Said and Agong the other day. This definitely prevented further tension. And the manner of which the protestor left should also be applauded. The Police basically let them go their ways - minus those who were picked up for questioning earlier of course. The photographs of the protestors shaking hands with the Police on their way home warmed my heart. Forget about Kamarudin Mape's on TV3 claiming that they dispersed because they lost their leadership - "hilang punca" was his exact words - it was preplanned.
Why don't we focus on the positives and move forward. The lesson which could be learned here was peaceful demonstration can happen in this country if both the demonstrator and Police were clear of their endgame scenario. There were even glimpse of 1Malaysia at work here with all the races going hand in hand.
The sorry tale here must have been the fighting words of KJ and Ibrahim Ali on the days leading up to 9th July. They sounded as if Ambiga was about to single handedly bring the country down. Maybe they have a thing or two to learn from A Samad Said. And he is not even a Politician.
To the boys in blue who did their job yesterday with responsibility and compassion, I salute you. The plaudits and Datukships would go to your superior we hid behind the mikes and whose only challenge for the day would be how to appear smart in front of the reporters - for which they had failed big time, look at the misinformed IGP's press conference yesterday. The once on the ground were the ones should be applauded. There would be photos. videos and claims of brutality, but to claim that all of you were responsible is just plain irresponsible on our part. You were the ones being provoked and cojoled, and on the whole, you passed the test in flying colours.
