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This article is by Francis C. Nantha and was published in the Malay Mail. Francis emailed this piece to us, possibly under the influence of some mind-control thingamabob.
Why did Bersih 3.0 organisers not have a dispersal strategy similar to their rallying call?
The Bersih 3.0 rally — which began as a care-free outing and ended up with violence, physical damage and injuries — is once again another example as to why I hate crowds.
It really doesn’t matter why so many people had gathered together in the first place — from super discounted sales events to pious religious pilgrimages — there’s always a chance of something going horribly wrong simply because someone panics and triggers off mass hysteria.
In a matter of seconds, all hell breaks loose — resulting in all kinds of physical damage and painful injuries. And by the time some form of order is restored, it is really too late to say who was at fault in the first place — mob mentality isn’t rational.
Stupid as it may sound, a panic trigger can sometimes be something as innocuous as someone stumbling and falling against another person. While this may seem completely ridiculous as a spark for a riot, remember how stuffy and cramped you get in crowds that you’re all ready to freak out at the slightest provocation.
Which is why I don’t like being in crowds at all costs. If I see an LRT train carriage is full, I’d rather wait than force myself to be part of the squished sardines.
When I need to visit malls, I avoid weekends and instead try to go on weekday evenings — thus avoiding peak hour traffic and retaining some sense of sanity at the same time.
Rushing to be part of the crowd just doesn’t make any sense to me, especially when it is clear that there are likely to be hooligans taking advantage of the squeeze for nefarious activities like pickpocketing or physical sexual harassment.
So, when some Bersih 3.0 leaders insisted on defying the court ordered restraint obtained by the police force and egged on their supporters to continue the march to Dataran Merdeka, what did they really think was likely to happen?
Did they really think nothing untoward would occur, especially since there wasn’t any form of crowd guidance in the first place?
Heck, even devout pilgrims on the Haj have been known to stampede despite being strictly guided as to where they should go. When you ask an disorganised crowd of people to walk to Dataran Merdeka and further, disregard barriers set in their way, can you really think NOTHING would go wrong?
Sad to say, the weekend chaos has only reinforced my belief that the police should be allowed to act as an independent enforcement authority they are and not be dragged into irrational politics.
Look at how they have kept order at other crowded events like highly-charged football matches, despite fervent opposing supporters sometimes even frothing at their mouths.
Did the Bersih 3.0 organisers really let the police do their part in maintaining order or at least cooperate to ensure the rally participants followed the rules?
Is blaming the police after chaos had erupted really right when all the evidence had shown in advance just how wrong things could go?
And sadly, how could the Bersih 3.0 organisers dare to say the rally had finished by 3pm when they had no organised dispersal of crowd — in the same way they had mobilised the people’s arrival in the first place?
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Posted on 30 April 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
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