Oh another rally?

I thought Malaysia and Singapore are currently hit by the haze? Haze that is so hazardous that my friend, Zuls, who will be participating in tomorrow's run in Putrajaya is currently thinking of skipping it altogether.

I thought the haze is so bad that everyone is advised to stay indoors?

Well, I thought lah.

I never knew that the Blackout 505 rally is still taking place in Kuala Lumpur. Like right now.. as I type this, people are gathering at the Masjid Negara / Dataran Merdeka area.

Which left me wondering... which bongok leader yang masih nak pengikutnya suffer and go to the streets despite the hazy condition? This bongok leader pun ada ke bersama pengikutnya in the first place.. like right now.. outdoors? Or is he still hanging around at some hotel lobby (breathing clean air indoors) while his pengikut setia inhale the bad hazy air outdoors? He's done that before you know. Melepak kat lobby hotel while waiting for the crowd to gather, before making a 30-mins appearance to address his pengikut-pengikut.

Oh well.

I have nothing against rallies. I believe in the power of voices of the people. Heck, I sendiri claustrophobic (I cannot breathe bila berhimpit-himpit ni).. so I admire those who participate in rallies. To be amongst the crowd. Taking in all the smells, the body odor, the pushings and the noises. I admire those who march in the streets, trying to prove a point.

But to do it when the haze is so bad?

I mean, would you risk your life and hurt your lungs just because you want to tell the world that you think that Malaysia's Election Commission is corrupted? Yang lagi kelakar, the results of the elections are only "wrong" at places where Barisan Nasional won. Or perhaps, they thought Pakatan Rakyat should have lost in certain areas too? (Truth be told, I dah fed up dengar argument pasal election results ni. To me, kalau sesapa tak puas hati sangat tu, maybe they should just do their own election process. I really don't mind going to the Embassy to vote again you know..)

Tapi apa pun, this rally thing is disheartening. Maybe sebab I'm not in Malaysia.. so I am looking at the country from outside.

Already, I switched on the TV in the mornings and I see this..

Street protests in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This appeared on TV recently

And this..

Woahhhh..

Istanbul featured in the news for the wrong reason

Point is.. there's so much anger these days.. Street protests menjadi-jadi.

Would Malaysia become like that?

I have friends yang pergi Brazil last week because they had some business meetings.. but had to hurry home because of the street protests. And I have friends yang re-thinking their holiday plans in Istanbul because of the street protests too.

Now would (potential) foreign investors and (potential) holiday goers postpone or cancel their plans to Malaysia if they see news about street protests in Kuala Lumpur?

Perhaps, those yang participate in rallies ni, think that they can make a difference. Protest secara besar-besaran and maybe BBC and CNN and Aljazeera will capture it. The world will sympathize.. kan?

Well, I've been watching TV every morning and frankly, I cuma rasa sedih tengok keadaan di Istanbul and Rio. I'm feeling thankful cuz I dah pergi Istanbul.. and will probably not go there again.. not in the near future.

Sedih lah. Tapi taklah pulak rasa cam nak buat petition and send to the United Nations ke.. atau nak ber-protest depan Turkey Embassy in Khartoum.

But that's the point.

Masyarakat dunia tak kisah pun. I mean, rakyat biasa takkan kisah lah. So buat lah rally apa pun, at the very most, it will deter people from going to your country for business or holiday. Yang rugi sapa?

Tapi what do I know of those rallies kan? I kan bodoh. Maybe lebih ramai yang pandai-pandai yang faham kot. Maybe Malaysia will be a corrupt-free country because of these rallies. Maybe Malaysia will score a perfect 10 in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index and 10 means that a country is perceived as very clean.

Ntah lah. May Allah bless Malaysia and keep her safe. Tu je yang I boleh buat. Berdoa.. that nothing bad will come out from these protests.

Funny kan.. in the olden days, you see countries going to war with each other to invade and spread power. Tapi in these recent times, you see people in the same country fighting each other.

Sigh..

And here's what we (Malaysians residing overseas) saw when we switched on the news channels after the General Election last month:

As a Malaysian, I wasn't particularly proud of this lah.

Oh. Well. Rakyat Malaysia knows best. Harap-harap yang protest hari ni tak jatuh sakit. Stay safe everyone..