Speeches Are Boring!
By Al-Jafree Md Yusop
“This is awesome!” Those were the exact words that came out of my wife’s mouth when we reached Jalan Tun Perak upon seeing the massive crowd getting ready to push the government for electoral reforms during Bersih 3.0 in April 2012. At one corner I can swear I saw a pink Power Ranger walking proudly, waving at the enthusiastic crowd, at another corner a group of youth reciting poetry, banging on homemade percussions while the people surrounding them were dancing to their tunes. It’s like a carnival, no speeches, no sermons, every single Malaysian that took to the street on that day was clear about one thing – a clean and fair election.
A street rally or demonstration is really about expressing yourself in a collective manner. It is supposed to be a cathartic experience for each individual. That was not the case with last week’s Bantah GST May Day rally. As opposed to the Bersih 3.0 in which more than 200,000 Malaysian took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, the Bantah GST rally only managed to attract around 30,000 people. Personally I think some of the people were getting tired of attending rallies without seeing an obvious result.
Originally the May Day was supposed to be organized by an NGO called JERIT. But on the day of its press conference two representatives from Pakatan Rakyat made a ‘surprise’ appearance. The two PR leaders were Dr Hatta Ramli from PAS and Rafizi Ramli from PKR (and no they are not related). Both Hatta and Rafizi announced that Pakatan are joining into the bandwagon, but with a different activity. Instead of walking from Dataran Merdeka to KLCC, Pakatan said that they are walking from KLCC to Dataran. The organizers of Bantah GST rally eventually decided to follow Pakatan’s plan instead. Again it seems that unofficially a rally that was initially planned by an NGO has been ‘taken over’ by Pakatan Rakyat. In the end, it’s all about political speeches given by politicians.
May Day or International Workers Day is really about the 1886 Haymarket Affair in Chicago when a group of people were rallying to demand for the eight hour working day that we all are enjoying right now. It has long been a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist, communist, workers’ group and anarchists ever since. To cut a long story short it is about the Rakyat.
My concern was supported by the statement given by those interviewed on the day. Zulkifli Jusoh, 35 from Kepong said he has been supporting opposition rallies since 2007, his first rally being Bersih 1.0 in Kuala Lumpur.
“The Bersih rallies especially Bersih 3.0 are better, the people gather, singing songs, exchanging ideas without having to listen to boring speeches by politicians,” he said.
Steven Wong, 27 an accounts executive from Cheras said there are no FRUs (Federal Reserve Unit), no water cannons or tear gas being fired.
“That means the authorities are not threatened with this rally, they (police) panicked during Bersih 3.0 and attacked us. Obviously that is not the case today,” he said.
According to Steven during Bersih 3.0 the people from all ethnicities were on the streets singing and chanting.
“And that scared the authorities; I mean the show of unity. They are not scared today because it’s just the politicians giving speeches,” he added.
However, a 57 year old pensioner, Rahman Sidek from Kampung Pandan is more positive with his opinion on the rally.
“It is important for me to support this rally, I need to know as a Malaysian I am allowed to express my dissatisfaction collectively with my fellow Rakyat, I am excited today to see people from all ethnicities coming together to voice our concern.
Pakatan leaders must realize that Bersih 3.0 was a ‘satisfying’ event for the people because they were allowed to really express themselves on the streets. A lot of people were frustrated with the later so called ‘rallies’ that was filled with unnecessary speeches. The rally is supposed to be about ‘them’, the Rakyat expressing their dissatisfaction not the leaders.
I know creativity is never part of our politicians’ virtue, be it BN or Pakatan, but they seriously need to think of a different approach to win the hearts of the people. Stephen Keague author of ‘The Little Red Handbook of Public Speaking and Presenting’ said – “In presentation and speeches, less really is more.” - Rakyattimes.com
“This is awesome!” Those were the exact words that came out of my wife’s mouth when we reached Jalan Tun Perak upon seeing the massive crowd getting ready to push the government for electoral reforms during Bersih 3.0 in April 2012. At one corner I can swear I saw a pink Power Ranger walking proudly, waving at the enthusiastic crowd, at another corner a group of youth reciting poetry, banging on homemade percussions while the people surrounding them were dancing to their tunes. It’s like a carnival, no speeches, no sermons, every single Malaysian that took to the street on that day was clear about one thing – a clean and fair election.
A street rally or demonstration is really about expressing yourself in a collective manner. It is supposed to be a cathartic experience for each individual. That was not the case with last week’s Bantah GST May Day rally. As opposed to the Bersih 3.0 in which more than 200,000 Malaysian took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, the Bantah GST rally only managed to attract around 30,000 people. Personally I think some of the people were getting tired of attending rallies without seeing an obvious result.
Originally the May Day was supposed to be organized by an NGO called JERIT. But on the day of its press conference two representatives from Pakatan Rakyat made a ‘surprise’ appearance. The two PR leaders were Dr Hatta Ramli from PAS and Rafizi Ramli from PKR (and no they are not related). Both Hatta and Rafizi announced that Pakatan are joining into the bandwagon, but with a different activity. Instead of walking from Dataran Merdeka to KLCC, Pakatan said that they are walking from KLCC to Dataran. The organizers of Bantah GST rally eventually decided to follow Pakatan’s plan instead. Again it seems that unofficially a rally that was initially planned by an NGO has been ‘taken over’ by Pakatan Rakyat. In the end, it’s all about political speeches given by politicians.
May Day or International Workers Day is really about the 1886 Haymarket Affair in Chicago when a group of people were rallying to demand for the eight hour working day that we all are enjoying right now. It has long been a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist, communist, workers’ group and anarchists ever since. To cut a long story short it is about the Rakyat.
My concern was supported by the statement given by those interviewed on the day. Zulkifli Jusoh, 35 from Kepong said he has been supporting opposition rallies since 2007, his first rally being Bersih 1.0 in Kuala Lumpur.
“The Bersih rallies especially Bersih 3.0 are better, the people gather, singing songs, exchanging ideas without having to listen to boring speeches by politicians,” he said.
Steven Wong, 27 an accounts executive from Cheras said there are no FRUs (Federal Reserve Unit), no water cannons or tear gas being fired.
“That means the authorities are not threatened with this rally, they (police) panicked during Bersih 3.0 and attacked us. Obviously that is not the case today,” he said.
According to Steven during Bersih 3.0 the people from all ethnicities were on the streets singing and chanting.
“And that scared the authorities; I mean the show of unity. They are not scared today because it’s just the politicians giving speeches,” he added.
However, a 57 year old pensioner, Rahman Sidek from Kampung Pandan is more positive with his opinion on the rally.
“It is important for me to support this rally, I need to know as a Malaysian I am allowed to express my dissatisfaction collectively with my fellow Rakyat, I am excited today to see people from all ethnicities coming together to voice our concern.
Pakatan leaders must realize that Bersih 3.0 was a ‘satisfying’ event for the people because they were allowed to really express themselves on the streets. A lot of people were frustrated with the later so called ‘rallies’ that was filled with unnecessary speeches. The rally is supposed to be about ‘them’, the Rakyat expressing their dissatisfaction not the leaders.
I know creativity is never part of our politicians’ virtue, be it BN or Pakatan, but they seriously need to think of a different approach to win the hearts of the people. Stephen Keague author of ‘The Little Red Handbook of Public Speaking and Presenting’ said – “In presentation and speeches, less really is more.” - Rakyattimes.com
