One Million Marchers, One Single Purpose

Some preliminary thoughts on the 1-million people’s assembly. 500,000 came while 5000 IPF members were having a picnic with embattled Najib. The 500,000 came voluntarily, the Najib crowd is a rent-a crowd gathering. No wonder he looked ashen-faced. 

 Najib's mammoth crowd. according to Rais Yatim, 50,000 people. 

 

It does not matter what UMNO calls the 1million assembly. Its curtains down for UMNO this time. While the 10 point demand is important, the most valuable outcome is the fortification of the people’s resolve to kick out the corrupt UMNO government. This 1- million assembly isn’t at all about Anwar so the description of the assembly as Taharin Square is just another day in UMNO’s usual disparaging response.

Participants in the historic 1 million gathering came very early. Yesterday night as I came back from a ceramah in Sabak Bernam, I stopped over at the Sungai Buluh Restoren Jejantas. There were an unusually large number of vehicles in the parking bay. In the surau, there were many people sleeping and resting. How come so many people- I asked at this late hour?( it was 2am)

When a friend asked a passer-by, where are these people from- he said there are from Perak and some from Penang. They have come to participate in the 1million man rally at stadium merdeka.

The whole country it seems is galvanized and geared up to participate in the 1 million person assembly. That is all that matters now as we inch closer to GE13. Najib’s time is running out.

Like many others, I went quite early to the stadium. Parked my car at one place and took a ride with a friend through the Lake gardens to pass through Masjid Negara. People were already assembled at the premises of Masjid Negara. There were so many of them.

As we drove past the KTM round-about en route to Jalan Tun Perak, more people were already making their way towards Stadium Merdeka. I could see police personnel and other uniformed personnel (perhaps from City Hall)  at the Dataran Merdeka. I saw a sign as the masjid Negara stating that no assembly is allowed at Dataran Merdeka.

Marchers came from several directions. From central market, from Jalan Sultan, from the national mosque. A large group came all the way from Amcorp Mall in Petaling Jaya.

By the time I reached Jalan Petaling, the street was already crammed with people. We negotiated our way through the serpentine crowd up Jalan Hang Jebat. 

these were some of the pictures I took before the entire stadium was filled to the brim and many more were outside. Readers can look at the photos taken by professional photographers like those taken by Malaysiakini. 

 

Steet Thuggery at its best- Rais Yatim.

What can we learn from this mammoth gathering? Many things which I am sure the astute observer can list down.

The majority of the marchers are young people. So we know whom the young people will vote.

Here is the thing that has never been appreciated by UMNO and BN. This ultimate gathering as with the pervious assemblies regarding Bersih, brought the various communities together. This is a portent combination not going to be liked by UMNO and BN. Suddenly Malays realized they can bond together with Chinese and Indians and discover they are after all normal people. Non Malays get to fraternize with Malays and discover too, the Malays are normal people- sharing the same aspirations and are fired by the same motivations, to see this country elect a good government.

All this while the various ethnic groups have been frightened into believing that togetherness is a non-achievable objective. We have been deceived into believing, that we cannot coexist peacefully respecting our differences but focussing on common objectives.

The 1 million gathering has shattered the myths created and perpetuated by the UMNO media complex. Let us fortify our resolve to evict Najib and UMNO from Putrajaya.