Saturday, July 9, 2011

Yellow is the new Black


Today would surely be somewhat short of historical for most of us here in Malaysia.

And with how the day started, I didn't expect it to be that thrilling.

Today was the 9th of July, where the Bersih 2.0 rally was scheduled to be held. I was informed ofthis weeks ago through tweets from politically-active friends( who have themselves gone on to march in today's rally) As such, the events leading up to the rally were no surprise, though the road blocks were quite infuriating. And though supporting the cause silently to this day, I knew I would never have gotten permission to attend the actual rally. So the Saturday morning was spent as usual. It was when I opened my twitter to get updates that something more closer to home hit.

The twitter newsfeed was congested as how it has been this few days on bersih. I was regularly updated by tweets from the friends attending the march, Jo Fan and Chun Yeen. Soon, a shocking tweet was posted by Chun Yeen. Jo Fan had been arrested! Friends on twitter who saw were equally concerned. What were the chances of one of our friends getting caught over thousands and thousands of marchers. What more he is just merely a student like me, a st
udent with great passion for our country.

Here was where it started. Posts were made to Jo Fan's wall wishing him safety and also to give thri prayers. Friends all helped to contact his parents and acquire his details whe
n Chun Yeen
needed it to help bail Jo Fan out. Friends even all started changing their profile pictures to striking colours of yellow to show their support.

Facebook yellow-fied

What I noticed too was that all this action came from fellow CHS-ians whether alumni or current students. And it just made me feel a surge of pride for my schoolmates. To see how everyone was showing Jo Fan their support and how we are all aware of the political situation of our country is just so ...membanggakan XD We all stood in solidarity today. Despite whether we knew Jo Fan as close friends or acquaintances, we all gave our thoughts
to him, be it by liking a post regarding him, sending our wishes or helping to get his parent's contact numbers, Jo Fan's arrest though unfortunate, shows us that we all care for our nation and also for those who choose to represent us when we can't speak ourselves. Our generation would surely bring change to our country, with our passion, Bersih's 8 demands might come true after all.

This is a shoutout to Jo Fan, Chun Yeen, Mun Chung and the rest of our generation who chose to risk injury and arrest to represent us in this plea for free and fair elections. And to Jo Fan, we hope you come back safe.


(from left) Chun Yeen, Mun Chung and Jo Fan

Awaiting news of you being set free.