25th May 2013: Suara Rakyat 505 (Suara Rakyat Suara Keramat), at Padang Timur, next to Taman Jaya.
I took the Kelana Jaya LRT line (PUTRA line, for those of you who are old-school) to Taman Jaya, and disembarked there. I spotted a Rocket Man, a Malay chap. I'd later see Chinese PAS-serbys.
Caught lightning!
Sales of masks were brisk.
Oh, and vuvuzelas. Somebody didn't get the memo that these were banned for this gathering.
Food, glorious food! This was a market of sorts of all sorts of Malaysian street food. It felt a lot more like a bazaar as you entered.
I reached during Muslim prayer break so the field was not so filled - most were in Amcorp Mall, across the road, having dinner and prayers.
Source of power.
English, Malay and Chinese text.
These guys were just raking it in.
If you haven't figured it out, the theme for this gathering was black.
My eyes are blind, but I can see...
Collecting funds.
Big, colorful umbrellas!
Oh, how they make counting so hard! (Picture can be clicked for a full-resolution view.)
Even more for you counters and insomniacs. (Picture can be clicked for a full-resolution view.)
Near the stage. (Picture can be clicked for a full-resolution view.)
A wider shot. (Picture can be clicked for a full-resolution view.)
As much of the crowd as I can fit from as far away as I can get. (Picture can be clicked for a full-resolution view.)
Iced Milo! I had it.
A close-up of the Malaysian Spring installation.
Not sure who these guys are but I heard one of them is from Raja Lawak.
Arul of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), who gives a very socialist speech. You can't say there wasn't variety in the speeches!
Abby Abadi, famous for being a member of girl-group Elite, one-season co-host of Roda Impian and one of the lead characters in Gerak Khas - now a member of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS).
All this, under the light of the nearby Tenaga Nasional building. The gathering is also known as Blackout 505, because of some incidents of power outages during the counting of votes. Tenaga Nasional, the electricity provider for Peninsular Malaysia, has denied that there were any blackouts. If this is true, then somebody may have tampered with the ELCB (Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker) by flipping the switch, in each school where the lights went out. There were also police reports regarding blackouts - here's one and two.
Dato' Ambiga Sreenevasan, co-chairperson of BERSIH 2.0 gave a speech... but all attention was drawn to Anwar Ibrahim, Opposition Leader, as he walked to his seat on the stage.
Now that that was settled, she continued.
This was the closest I could get from where I was, behind the sound engineer's tent, without blocking people. All telephoto shots are with the Sony Alpha NEX-5 and Opteka/Samyang 85mm F1.4. The wide shots used the Sony E 16mm F2.8 pancake lens.
N. Surendran, PKR vice-president and founder of Lawyers for Liberty, on stage with Gan Pei Nei, state assemblywoman for Rawang.
Tian Chua, PKR vice-president and Haris Ibrahim (on the right) of Asalkan Bukan UMNO (ABU).
Ito of Blues Gang sings their hit single, Apo Nak Dikato. He came up earlier to sing another song penned for the current political climate.
These young dudes knew the song, too!
Nurul Izzah Anwar, Member of Parliament for Lembah Pantai.
Mat Sabu, deputy president of PAS. He always has the most entertaining speeches.
Everyone was asked to turn on their phones or lighters, as the spotlights went out. It was an amazing spectacle to see! I only wished I was way up on the hill, from where I was earlier, to take this same picture.
The night ended with Opposition Leader Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim's speech.
I will blog about my experience as a Polling Agent/Counting Agent during the 13th General Elections of Malaysia soon - I just need more time to cross-reference the laws.
Ignoring who you are voting for, what kind of situation would you like?
A) BN wins by a supermajority B) BN wins by a simple majority C) BN wins by a jaguh kampung majority D) PR wins by a jaguh kampung majority E) PR wins by a simple majority F) PR wins by a supermajority
Supermajority = more than 2/3rds of Parliament Simple majority = more than 50% of Parliament but less than 2/3rds of Parliament Jaguh kampung majority = more than 50% of Parliament but less than 2/3rds of Parliament and the total votes are less than 50%
The Jaguh kampung majority happened in 1969, when the Alliance (UMNO, MCA, MIC) + SUPP won 65.67% of the seats with 49.3% of the total votes. The Opposition (PAS, Gerakan, PPP, DAP, etc.) had 50.7% of total votes but only 34.33% of seats.
If you have more than 2/3rds of Parliament, you can change the Constitution.
Now I would personally like either C) or E) to happen. 2008 results were B) and you could say that the sentiment has swayed towards PR, but there are new dubious voters and the EC has doubled the number of classrooms to vote in (meaning that you need twice as many Polling Agents and Counting Agents to make sure no cheating happens.)
As much as I am tempted to vote BN to ensure that F) does not happen, I know BN has already implemented measures to make sure that B) or C) happens.
In a fair election, the percentage of parliament seats should be equal to the total vote percentage. Every voter should have equal voting power. (In Singapore, 60.14% voted for PAP but they got 93.1% seats, not fair either!)
So how does this happen? Some seats are smaller than others, like in 2008 where Putrajaya had 6,608 voters and Kapar had 112,224 voters. A voter in Putrajaya has 16.98 times more voting power than a voter in Kapar! In 2013, Putrajaya has 15,978 voters versus Kapar with 144,369 voters, making the difference 9.035 times. It takes 72,185 voters in Kapar to ensure a winner, while a candidate in Putrajaya needs only 7,990 voters to win. (If both seats only have 2 candidates.)
Article 116 of the Federal Constitution had three clauses (3) (4) and (5) that were removed in 21st June 1962. What were they?
(3) Constituencies shall be allocated to the several States in such manner that the electoral quota of each State is as nearly equal to the electoral quota of the Federation as it can be without causing undue disparity between the population quota of that State and the population quota of the Federation.
(4) Each State shall be divided into constituencies in such manner that each constituency contains a number of electors as nearly equal to the electoral quota of the State as may be after making due allowance for the distribution of the different communities and for differences in density of population and the means of communication; but the allowance so made shall not increase or reduce the number of electors in any constituency to a number differing from the electoral quota by more than fifteen per cent.
(5) in this Article— (a) “electoral quota” means the number obtained by dividing the number of electors in the Federation or a State by the total number of constituencies or, as the case may be, the number of constituencies in that State; (b) “population quota” means the number obtained by dividing the population of the Federation or of a State by the total number of constituencies or, as the case may be, the number of constituencies in that State;
and for the purposes of this Article the number of electors shall be taken to be as shown on the current electoral rolls and the population as counted at the most recent census.
In short, they were removed, allowing elections to be more imbalanced. The difference between the electoral quota was supposed to be no more than 15%! Electoral quota = 13,300,000 / 222 = 59,909.9 voters per constituency. (Simpler than digging number of electors per state.) So Putrajaya has 274% difference while Kapar has 140% difference. Even in my voting area, Petaling Jaya Selatan, there are 79,699 voters, or 33% difference. If we truly stuck to the 15% formula, each seat should only have 50,923 to 68,895 voters.
It is with this imbalanced constituency division, that you can actually win more than 50% seats with only 15% of the total votes. This is the ultimate Jaguh Kampung Majority.
If B) happens, it will be the same as in 2009-2013 - election mode forever. If C) or D) happens, you can bet there will be chaos because whoever wins is considered illegitimate.
On the 12th of January 2013, I went down to Merdeka Stadium for the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat, also known by its Twitter hashtag, #KL112.
But first, I rewind to when I woke up late, as I wasn't as excited for this rally because it would unashamedly have opposition parties involved, not just the more neutral movements. I only realized later that this was a combination of every big movement there was!
I got on the monorail at 3 something - the rally was to start at 2pm, and the processions, before that. I missed all that, which is quite the sight to see, especially from above!
I should point out that I suspect this guy with a Heckler & Koch polo shirt is someone in the police or army. Many videos with paid protesters feature antagonists with weapon branded caps or shirts. Nevertheless, I am glad nothing happened the whole day.
The Merdeka Stadium carpark.
I brought 3 zooms that day - the Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG, the Minolta 24-50mm F4.0, and the Minolta 70-210mm F4.0 "beercan".
Rally-goers from the Islamist party, PAS.
Orange shirts represented the Himpunan Oren Selamatkan FELDA protestors. People were not too careful not to step on the face of Isa Samad, former Minister of Federal Territories and former Chief Minister of Negeri Sembilan, then found guilty of money politics. He then became chairman of FELDA, which is who they are protesting against, among other things.
Air horns.
If the mass media won't print news about the rally, people will record it. Media is perceived to be biased anyway, so why not come down and record it for yourself, to show your children, if and when these events are forgotten?
The variety of placards was a lot more than any other rally - then again, every other rally was just one or two groups maximum.
Their glasses drew me to take their picture.
I finally found out what the R was - it was for Royalti, to demand that the states that produce oil, get their 20% share as it is stated in the law. Their long name? Gabungan Profesional Menuntut Royalti, Pendaratan Minyak dan Gas.
The Chief Minister of Kelantan, Dato' Bentara Setia Haji Nik Abdul Aziz bin Nik Mat, must've transferred his license plate over from an old car. DAT 55!
Another official car behind.
This guy has style.
Nurul Izzah's roving promotion vehicle.
S. Arutchelvan, Secretary General of Parti Sosialis Malaysia.
People were all over the walls, railings, roofs and any surface they could find, like cats.
Inside.
The tunnel leading to the main area.
This taxi driver sure wasn't a fan of the Teksi Rakyat 1Malaysia plan that the government conceived, that gave them 4 new tyres and encouraged them to be ambassadors to the government.
Ironically, just the night before, I was in a taxi with one such young man, who had a TR1Ma bumper sticker on his front windshield. He was born in 1988 and seemed to be a bit more in tune with the younger generation as far as talking to somebody who wasn't siding with the government was concerned. It started with him revealing that he was with JASA, in the Prime Minister's Department. As such, he was allowed access to certain high-rise buildings to photograph rallies, but his camera was also confiscated during the BERSIH 3.0 rally.
Even after we reached my neighborhood to drop me off, we continued talking for 2.5 hours! He then explained that JASA had pro-government and pro-opposition photographers, and they were not afraid to speak their mind. He admitted it was hard for the government to come up with policies to appease everyone. He did, however, eventually show his UMNO-bred roots - he cited an example of how it used to be that when building a road, a Malay contractor would get it to build this, a Chinese contractor would do that part, and the Indian contractor would build the road. He says this is better than the liberalised market where a foreign company can simply enter and take all the money out of the country.
He then told a story of his uncle (if I remember correctly) that if he entered the jungle, found a snake, a Communist and an Indian, he would kill the Indian first!
He also complained that the Chinese would be too calculative, whereas he gave me a 70 sen discount on the taxi fare. I then threw back one at him, how Malay traders often don't carry enough spare change, to the point that I don't want to eat there when I only have a RM50 note. He apologized for this, and said they were trying to train Malay traders to have much more "duit float" (spare change). He also recounted a story of a Chinese sugar cane-selling lady who sold her drinks at 80 sen. He asked, "how do you keep in business when you don't charge so much?" She said, "as long as you're not losing money, you're doing alright." He contrasted this to the Malay mentality, that they must have profit, or else they quit and change business. This also explained why you'd see a restaurant with excellent currypuffs or the best nasi lemak ever, disappear without a trace, despite seemingly good business! The consistency is what brings me back to a place, and I am disappointed when a stall decides to disappear whenever they like. Chinese stalls certainly don't do that often, plus they would be ashamed of themselves if they didn't have change.
He then defended the Election Commission's reason for not dividing the constituencies properly - if they did, there would be a lot more Chinese-majority seats. "If you are Malay, you would make sure your fellow Malays are well-protected and can survive." So what, I asked him? I told him I was all for meritocracy, but he was still a product of UMNO.
I definitely cannot say I am not racist at all, but this guy put it in perspective. You know which side you stand on when you find someone far more racist than you.
In retrospect, I might've had the honor of meeting one of their better cybertroopers. He was previously selling mobile topups, and he now does freelance photography and drives a taxi. I respect that he used the meter, but I hope he realizes that we aren't in the best economic situation if we have to take on two or more jobs to survive!
So yeah, the massive crowd! Click the picture for the full-resolution version.
The toilets, and again, people on the roof like cats.
I don't know what it says.
It's a picture like this that makes me love my Sony Alpha 99 - I pulled out a beautiful amount of dynamic range from this photo! I was trying to go for a Konica or Fujifilm Superia look.
First time I saw Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim on a shirt.
Another view. Click the picture for the full-resolution version.
Stairway going in to the field.
Banners of all sorts. The amount of colored fists shows you what a mish-mash this gathering was!
Close-up of the colors: - Yellow for BERSIH 2.0, itself a coalition of many NGOs for free and fair elections, different from BERSIH (1) that had political parties, BERSIH 2.0's committee is non-partisan. - Green for Himpunan Hijau, who are against the Lynas LAMP rare-earth refinery in Gebeng, Kuantan. - Red for Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA, who are against the Internal Security Act, which allows the Home Minister to arrest anybody without trial. The ISA has since been repealed, but there are still prisoners under the ISA! - Purple for women's rights (there seemed to be no group name that I can find...) - Black for Asalkan Bukan UMNO, a movement against UMNO, the primary party of the current government coalition, the Barisan Nasional. - Orange for ANAK that organized Himpunan Oren Selamatkan FELDA, a movement against political interference with FELDA, sale of palm oil to an Israeli company, that FELDA land be returned to the settlers, and against FELDA Global Ventures Holdings' listing. - Red for Royalti, demanding the proper 20% royalty from oil harvested from the state. - Green for PAS, the Islamist political party. - Light blue for PKR, a centrist political party. KeADILan was formed by Anwar Ibrahim's wife, Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. The party was born out of Anwar Ibrahim's politically-motivated sacking and imprisonment, to reform the government. It then merged with Parti Rakyat Malaysia to form the current Parti Keadilan Rakyat. - White for DAP, a social democratic party.
Regretfully, I did not spot Abby Abadi, formerly of Malaysian girl group ELITE, nor the purple group. I almost forgot this band, until I looked up their videos on Youtube and remembered thinking they were fine ladies with a pinch of girl power, with 90's New Jack Swing hooks that stuck in your head without getting annoying. I wonder how PAS takes Abby Abadi ever since she joined the party.
Remember this?
All sorts of other groups also came, like the Kumpulan Kartunis Independen, and carpet trader Deepak Jaikishan. I tried to find a full list, but there was no official one, so you could say many of these groups invited themselves. Democracy at its finest!
The people who consider rallies a nuisance should be thankful that this was a very general rally - anybody with a grouse could join, all on the same day! If we took the 10 fists in the above poster, and they all rallied by that day, there would be only 2 days without rallies. Let them release steam and vent their grouses - it is only healthy.
A certain shade of green.
Down on the field. Click the picture for the full-resolution version.
Another field shot. Click the picture for the full-resolution version.
Dato' Seri Haji Abdul Hadi bin Awang, president of PAS, gives a speech.
I missed a whole lot of speakers, like: - Anthony Loke (DAP Rasah MP) - Safwan Anang (Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia chief) - anti-Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) representatives - anti-Pengerang Rapid project group - Save Jalan Sultan group - Suhaizan Kaiat (PAS Johor representative) - Tijah (Peninsular Orang Asli) - Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA) - Ambiga Sreenevasan (BERSIH 2.0 co-chairperson) - Wong Tack (Himpunan Hijau's chairperson) - Lim Guan Eng (Chief Minister of Penang) - Mazlan Aliman (ANAK chairperson) - Ito (rock group Blues Gang singer) - A. Samad Said (national laureate and the other BERSIH 2.0 co-chairperson) - Mat Sabu (PAS deputy president)
I got to nearly in front of the stage, and this is what the crowd looked like. Click the picture for the full-resolution version.
Another view of the crowd. Click the picture for the full-resolution version.
Many Guy Fawkes masks were seen around.
Not sure who the Chinese guy in the middle is, but he looks familiar.
Thunderous applause from the crowd.
This guy in particular takes it higher!
Anwar Ibrahim took the stage.
He dissed the ruling government by saying he wanted a government that was peka (responsive and conscious) not pekak (deaf). The whole array of who's who in the opposition was there - Saifuddin Nasution, Dr. Wan Azizah, Azmin Ali, Karpal Singh, Mahfuz Omar, Lim Kit Siang, Nurul Izzah...
The often targeted and beleaguered Tan Sri Dato' Seri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, Chief Minister of Selangor, was also there.
Berak Pun Kena Cukai (defecating is also taxed), says this placard in the distance, with Raja Petra Kamarudin's face on it.
Anwar Ibrahim calls for a proper Merdeka. This time you can also see, from the right in yellow, Tian Chua, Nurul Izzah and Fuziah Salleh.
If we all took our cameras out as proof and to be a witness, we can defeat the biased media.
The crowd responds to Anwar's 7 calls of Merdeka.
There is something about the faces of Niz Aziz, Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh that lead me to want to draw caricatures of them.
One more with more fists.
Oh and Lim Guan Eng, too, looks caricature-able.
BERSIH 2.0 steering committee member Hishamudin Rais is seen in the crowd.
Tan Sri Abdul Kadir bin Sheikh Fadzir (formerly from UMNO, who formed his own party, IKATAN) is seen without his trademark bowtie! I've seen a picture of him at the PERKASA launch but I can't find the blog link now. I wonder how things have changed for him!
Nik Aziz gave a speech, despite sounding a bit frail. He is, after all, 82 this year.
PAS secretary-general Mustapha Ali is seen peeking out from behind Anwar Ibrahim.
They ended with the crowd singing the national anthem of Malaysia, Negaraku.
We left, to see happy street vendors, having done brisk business. Pau habis! (To translate, the buns were finished, or as a pun, a total wipeout.)
This was hanging on a fence.
The rally-goers waved goodbye to the police. Some even shook hands. It was a general sense of camaderie... and all the cops I saw had name tags.
Hopefully, the tear gas we tasted in BERSIH 3.0 was the last batch that the Federal Reserve Unit ordered. Nevertheless, the experience of handing out salt and helping fallen people, while running from tear gas and water cannons, escaping into many back alleys, was a memorable experience (thankfully, I did not have to experience and remember being arrested or beaten up.)
National Stadium, the other stadium that doesn't get so much attention because it is under renovation.
The MRT station that was being built next door, caused a little landslide. This is just one of the reasons why people are protesting against the MRT going under Jalan Sultan, that there would be risk to very old buildings.
If you have decided you want to do more for Malaysia, be a Polling/Counting Agent!
Sign up for the training here. It is open to all citizens of Malaysia - you don't need to be a member of any political party or the Election Commission, to participate in making sure the elections are free and fair! I've gone for the course myself, and learned so much about the electoral system.
On the 13th of October 2012, I went down to Konsert BERSIH 8T at the Kelana Jaya Stadium. This would also be known as #BersihRocks on Twitter. Again, as an observer, I went incognito, not in yellow. I figure if they start carting away people in yellow, I should still be around to take pictures.
It was raining when I got here, and the guy on stage was James Nagason. I can see why it rained. Sorry dude you got some pitching to fix.
It was 6:15PM and the crowd was mostly at the back, where the stalls were - the action was all there.
His guitar wasn't in tune either.
Garrison set the mood for the evening - proper, rebellious, punk rock.
Then it was random-noise-rock outfit Maharajah Commission.
Featuring folk guitarist Azmyl Yunor in a different mode.
The crowd was mostly up on the stands, next to the stage! So everybody was looking to the side instead.
I also sauntered backstage and found Adam Adli being interviewed and Mat Sabu being photographed with.
Soon it was dark, and a few short films were screened, including one amusing video about how to ensure your vote is secret via randomization, by Tindak Malaysia, featuring Annie Ooi (Aunty Bersih) and Patrick Teoh.
I can't find the video on Youtube, but when I do I'll update this.
Michelle Hoo, producer, composer and lyricist of the Bersih tribute song, Tears Of Malaysia.
Here with the group that sang the song.
Koh Jun Lin of Malaysiakini has a distinctive style that lets everybody know that he is a photographer, complete with kneepads. I guess he was ready for tear gas and water cannons. There was none of that, that evening.
Then, it was time for awesome acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Ray Cheong!
Forget what Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat have to say about the attendance numbers - you can count for yourself the number of people on the field. Bear in mind that there were still many people seated on the stands to the left and right of the stage, not forgetting the people who'd rather be at the carnival-like atmosphere at the stalls behind! Of course, the BERSIH 2.0 committee, who gave out receipts to acknowledge donation, would know the exact number.
Fahmi Fadzil, emcee and learned scholar of the music performed that evening.
This rock concert allowed this mother to bring her kids in prams, a better outing for them than a sunny tear gassy day.
Dudes not in yellow. No biggie, just keeping a note on faces.
Dum Dum Tak, proper straight punk rock, gets a Chinese uncle skanking, and his wife slapping him on his shoulder. Real cute moment that was.
Atama, also on the BERSIH 2.0 Steering Committee, goes on stage and shows us hip-hop mixed with Sumazau. WOW!
Do the Sumazau, he tells us. Hishamuddin Rais and many others join along!
Nik Jidan, an excellent folk singer sings songs about (literally) fallen political aide Teoh Beng Hock and Asalkan Bukan UMNO.
He is joined by Vijay, Assistant Coordinator of Jom Pantau.
Azira Aziz turns a year older today! How old, I don't know, but she can't be a day over 16 from her cartoony ears.
Hui Se Di Dai usually plays Chinese rock but the guy who loves his Jaguar played a Rastafari classic.
Republic Of Brickfields with iconic Aru, sang an obvious cover - Get Up, Stand Up. Stand up for your rights!
Spotted in the crowd, following the instructions at the gate not to bring in any party logos, were Tony Pua and Teresa Kok. Apparently Fahmi Fadzil gets confused for Tony Pua sometimes. To add to that, I had to double-check if that was indeed Teresa Kok and not Elizabeth Wong, but that's just me being not so familiar with how they look.
There is one unmistakeable man, though - National Laureate, Dato' A. Samad Said, and co-chairperson of BERSIH 2.0.
He wrote a poem for this concert, and recited it that night.
Then came another familiar face, co-chairperson of BERSIH 2.0, Dato' Ambiga Sreenevasan.
The other BERSIH 2.0 Steering Committee members were up on stage as well.
She gave a short speech...
...and also announced that the group would be singing a song!
Nik Jidan joined them on stage to provide musical accompaniment.
Random dude with flowers for Ambiga.
I can't remember which cartoonist presented this to them.
Then it was time for the final act of the night - Ito, Julian Mokhtar & The Gang! I guess they didn't want to call it Blues Gang because not the whole original lineup was there.
For example, on the right, on guitar, was Ito's son!
Ito, of course, is a vital component, with his trademark raspy voice...
...and so is Julian Mokhtar, a blues shredder with his beautifully shaped, polished, and probably very custom guitar with scalloped frets.
Blues solo!
They ended the night with the classic, Apo Nak Di Kato.
Then, it was a big percussion jam session.
That was not all - they brought in BERSIH 2.0's 8 demands, as well as fire eaters!
It all looks yellow to me. By this time I was shooting JPG, having run out of space from shooting RAW.
If you have decided you want to do more for Malaysia, be a Polling/Counting Agent!
Sign up for the training here. It is open to all citizens of Malaysia - you don't need to be a member of any political party or the Election Commission, to participate in making sure the elections are free and fair! I've gone for the course myself, and learned so much about the electoral system.
On the 13th of October 2012, I went down to Konsert BERSIH 8T at the Kelana Jaya Stadium. This would also be known as #BersihRocks on Twitter. Again, as an observer, I went incognito, not in yellow. I figure if they start carting away people in yellow, I should still be around to take pictures.
Here's the TindakMalaysia booth. Although I went straight into the stadium to see who was playing, I realized the crowd was really at the back, where the stalls were.
Also note the rules at the entrance. Above is the donation box. Entry was with a minimum donation of RM5, and you get stamped on your hand with ink that seems pretty indelible!
Food vendors were having brisk business.
All sorts of shirts in yellow were sold.
The Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia booth. I was looking for the Cleaning In Progress one but they didn't have it. :(
For those who want a break in color, there's green and the classic black and white.
More, from SUARAM, among others.
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. That is why I try to do what I do here, to document this. Neutrality and being free of bias is hard to expect of a human, though, so I'd rather have fairness.
If you have decided you want to do more for Malaysia, be a Polling/Counting Agent!
Sign up for the training here. It is open to all citizens of Malaysia - you don't need to be a member of any political party or the Election Commission, to participate in making sure the elections are free and fair! I've gone for the course myself, and learned so much about the electoral system.
Remember the entrance rules above? Well these stalls are outside.
The stadium was being uncooperative, so they had to bring in their own power generator.
Clean Sweep, by Oon Yeoh, is a compilation of high-quality photographs from the Bersih 3.0 28th April 2012 rally. I have that book. It smells nice, too.
Balloons by Kill The Bill.
Phone casings! I didn't have to look for one for my Asus Padfone because of the nature of my phone, sliding into a tight holder in the Asus Padfone Station.
You could register as a voter here, too! Not a very busy booth, which is a good sign - I assume everyone has registered!
These guys seem a bit lost. However there's nothing with them peddling their wares here.
Mr. Ballot Box signing.
Nik Jidan is one folk singer/songwriter I've not heard of before, and it's a shame - he's great!
Alternative print publications. It's a shame that none of the ruling component parties showed up - no UMNO, MCA, MIC, MDP, PPP, Gerakan, or their publications. What, don't they want free and fair elections?
People will only have confidence in you, if you've won the election fairly. It's a good move, politically, to show your support, to prove that you aren't afraid to win fair and square.
A wall of expression.
Cartoony expression.
On the far side.
Mama Bersih. Interesting.
Their artwork.
It was still early, so the signatures had not filled up yet.
Ronasina, a cartoonist I'd never heard of before. I love his cartoon style and detailing!
More of his stuff.
It was getting dark, and I seriously almost stepped on this, which was on the floor.
Caricature artists.
Books!
The A. Samad Said corner. You could get your copy autographed!
Above: Zunar's cartoon books (well it looks like the ones that were not banned...) Below: Johnny Ong, cartoonist for UMNO-nomics.
Left: Music CDs from various local acts. Right: I'm not sure if this is a PAS booth.
Sisters In Islam had a booth too!
This looks to be the DAP booth.
And of course, the Himpunan Hijau group.
Pictures from inside the stadium, and the event itself, will come after this!
