Highlights from Aliran Monthly
http://www.malaysia.net/aliran/

Driving for Democracy

Reformasi "takes over" the Kesas Highway

by Anil Netto

On the Kesas highway near Shah Alam,

3.30 pm, Sunday, 5 Nov 2000

When we entered the Kesas highway that afternoon, we noticed the warning lights above the highway flashing "keadaan jalanraya di depan sesak; sila ambil simpang keluar." (road ahead congested; please take the next exit). Thinking to ourselves "how sesak (congested) can it really be," we drove ahead anyway. Minutes later - wham! we found ourselves in the biggest traffic jam we had ever seen.

Four lanes of traffic inching along - and then, motionless. Hundreds of people had already got out of their cars and were walking along the side of the highway; so we got down to take a look at what was happening. Many of them were looking down from the side of the highway near Shah Alam at the road below us near a large EON office, which led to a junction down below.

Their landrovers parked at the junction blocking traffic, police were stopping vehicles turning left from the road in front of EON. When they stopped a vehicle, someone leaning over from the highway where we stood yelled, "Oi, ta' ada bonus-lah. Bagi dia masuk. ("You won't get a bonus for this; let them through.) The more they turned away traffic, the more the crowd above heckled them. Finally, the police, probably realising the sheer futility of obstructing so much traffic, let the cars pass. The crowd on the highway above cheered. It was their first victory that afternoon.

Above us, a helicopter clattered helplessly, its pilot probably trying to guess the size of the crowd. A group of youth responded by defiantly waving their party banners and flags back at the chopper. I gazed straight ahead: it was hopeless - four lanes of highway choked with stationary traffic. Someone said we were still 5-7 km away from the "action" - the ceramah dubbed "The 100,000 Gathering: Restore the People's Rights. Everyone it seemed was heading that way. I had not seen anything like it before.

The police, it seemed, had anticipated the huge turnout and had cordoned off the private property at Jalan Kebun (between Shah Alam and Kelang), where the ceramah was due to be held, the night before.

History being made

We were nowhere near the ceramah site. But no one seemed to mind too much. Something miraculous had happened and we knew we were witnessing and we're indeed a part of history being made. A horrendous traffic jam had suddenly been transformed into an impromptu highway reformasi demonstration! People all along the highway were revelling in Malaysia's longest demonstration - surely something for the Malaysia Book of Records and relishing this overwhelming display of People Power. The People had "taken over the Kesas highway.

I spotted someone who looked familiar: Rustam Sani, the Barisan Alternatif's media bureau head, walking briskly up the highway after abandoning his car. "I like the feeling here", he said happily. "The crowd here seem friendlier and they seem to recognise me."

Young men were standing on top of the two-feet high concrete road dividers waving keADILan and PAS flags. We heard reports that thousands of cars and vans had choked all highways leading to Jalan Kebun, near Shah Alam despite stern warnings from the authorities to stay away.

In the hours leading to the rally, hundreds of security personnel staged a major show of force to block the rally, which was declared illegal. Organizers, who had twice applied for a permit to use the National Stadium only to be refused permission, decided to go ahead with it anyway, on private property.

Later, police used water cannon and fired tear gas into the "frontline" demonstrators, forcing opposition party leaders to leave the scene as soon as they had finished their speeches.

More than 50,000

How many people actually turned up that Sunday afternoon? Internet websites said 10,000. The mainstream newspapers naturally said it was much less than that. The truth is no one can really be sure. From any one location, it was impossible to see the entire crowd and all the traffic along all the roads leading to Jalan Kebun. So how to estimate? The only people who could see the whole crowd were those folks in the helicopters. And they had to fly up and down, hither and thither, for kilometres. That says something about the size of the crowd.

I look at it this way: if a crowd of 50,000 people at a football stadium were to disperse after a game, I doubt that the volume of traffic on the road would be as much as it was on the Kesas highway and other approach roads that afternoon. So my own guess is that the crowd would have been more than 50,000 that Sunday if all locations (the police cordons had split the crowds) and approach roads were considered.

Then there were the thousands of others who drove around on a wild goose chase, thinking that the venue had been changed at the last minute due to the police cordon. Some ended up in Shah Alam, others in Kelang; still others headed for the National Mosque. Many others were diverted or stopped at police road blocks. Others probably shied away due to the stern police warnings.

The evening before, police had detained six demonstrators in a chilling warning of what reformasi supporters could expect if they turned up. Newspapers and television had quoted the authorities as saying that those who take part on Sunday would be harshly dealt with. As a result, I didn't think that more than 5,000 people would turn up. But all those warnings and threats apparently did not deter the crowds.

Were there 100,000 people? Who knows? It seemed like an outpouring of humanity - and it was. Wan Azizah later remarked that the crowd was in the region of 100,000. Sounding jubilant after the gathering was Saari Sungib, chairman of the event's organizing committee. "We would like to claim we got 100,000. "This is the first time in the history of Malaysia that the people could walk all over and sit on a major highway," he said.

Smiling, Laughing, Praying

That they did. Never has there been such a Malaysian traffic jam in which so many people were smiling and laughing. One family spread newspapers on the road and were eating, of all things, durians. Heck, why not. About half a dozen Muslim men were praying on a mat placed on the road between two cars. They were standing, bowing and then crouching, their foreheads touching the mat. Probably asking God to save Malaysia, I thought. A young Malay lad walked around with a tray selling drinks strapped around his neck, like he was in a football stadium. Another couple sold copies of the opposition Rocket newspaper from the back of their car - a Malay gentleman selling Malay editions of the Rocket. I could only marvel at how times had changed.

The back of a van opened and this guy took out a box full of VCDs: "The Sham Trial of Anwar Ibrahim: an explosive documentary by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He was selling them at RM10 each. They were quickly snapped up.

Others chanted "Reformasi! and "Undur, undur; undur Mahathir!" ("Resign, resign; resign, Mahathir!) Two little children stuck their heads out of a car window and yelled and waved furiously. Strangers greeted each other with the "thumbs-up" sign.

Someone shouted "takbir!" A group nearby, punching their fists in the air, responded: "Allahu Akhbar!" ("God is great") He sure is.

Everywhere people were telling each other excitedly, "Reformasi has taken over the Kesas highway" or words to that effect. It sounded highly symbolic: many grumble about highway tolls, arguing that Mahathir's privatization policy has not benefited ordinary Malaysians, who have to pay ever-increasing road tolls and utility rates. Today, the people had taken over one highway, for an afternoon at least.

The crowd was largely ethnic Malay, many with entire families in tow. Where were the non-Malays, I wondered. Busy shopping at Suria, KLCC or MidValley Megamall? But small groups of young Chinese and Indian Malaysians - some university students, others activists were making their presence felt.

Not everyone looked happy though. When asked what was happening, one Malay man replied sourly, "Nampak macam pesta sahaja (Looks like a carnival). " Others remained in their vehicles, caught up in something they didn't quite understand. Some vehicles made U-turns and drove back down the wrong way of the highway in between stationary cars, heading for the nearest exit. But the vast majority stayed put.

No matter that most of the reformasi supporters could not be at the actual ceramah (forum) site. There, the leaders of the four main opposition parties - Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail of keADILan (the National Justice Party), Fadzil Noor of PAS (the Islamic Party), Lim Kit Siang of the Democratic Action Party, and Syed Husin Ali of Parti Rakyat Malaysia (Malaysian People's Party) - were delivering speeches. As soon as they had finished, police fired tear gas into the crowd.

Azizah, in a wheelchair due to a recent leg injury, was immediately surrounded by a human shield, lifted out of her wheelchair and whisked to safety. One tear gas cannister was apparently aimed at her, she claimed later, but struck an aide who fell injured.

"As we were telling them [the crowd] to leave, the police ambushed us," Azizah was quoted as saying. "The crowd was very quiet."

Courage despite the odds

As the crowd from the ceramah site returned along the Kesas highway with banners draped around them, they were greeted with thunderous cries of Refomasi! by those on the other side of the road who had been unable to reach the rally. I spotted PAS' Mahfuz Omar, his eyes red as a result of the tear gas. The crowd was trying to hoist him up on the divider to deliver an impromptu speech, but he declined. "Come over to Taman Melawar tonight," he pacified them. "We are having a ceramah there tonight."

On an overpass, a group leaned over and thumped a metal billboard hanging from the side. They could not possibly have read what was ironically written in big bold letters on the board they were banging: "Malaysia Mil ik
Kita: Teruskan Tradisi Ini" ("Malaysia is Ours: Continue this Tradition") Hong Leong Assurance.

Amid the euphoria emerged news of the price some had to pay. More than 120 people had been detained and rights activists said they only had the names of about 40 of them that evening. Reports emerged of police allegedly beating up detainees as they led them away, smashing car windscreens and puncturing car tyres.

Photographers recording these incidents had their rolls of film confiscated. More disturbing reports of tear gas cannisters being dropped from a helicopter, frightened children trying to flee the tear gas fumes, a man losing his vision as a result of being directly sprayed in his eyes were later posted on the Internet.

That afternoon, Malaysians displayed tremendous courage despite the odds, despite the intimidation, despite all the negative propaganda. For keADILan, which spearheaded the event, the turnout was a tremendous boost. Long in the shadows of PAS, it proved that it does have substantial support across the country. Thousands had converged along the highway from other states on the peninsula. I spotted keADILan secretary-general Mohd Anuar Tahir strolling along the highway. "The previous night nearly all the budget hotels around Kuala Lumpur were heavily booked," he told me.

It was a psychological victory for the Barisan Alternatif (Alternative Front) as well after months of cementing inter-party ties. More significantly, it was a victory for People Power and a sweet moment for all who cherish justice. Ordinary people saw for themselves what they could do given their strength in numbers.

One thing was clear that afternoon. Those who felt that reformasi would fade away with time had been proven wrong in a way that could not possibly have been more emphatic.