{"id":1605,"date":"2012-10-20T01:14:40","date_gmt":"2012-10-20T01:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/?p=1605"},"modified":"2012-10-20T01:14:40","modified_gmt":"2012-10-20T01:14:40","slug":"konsert-bersih-8t-inside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/?p=1605","title":{"rendered":"Konsert BERSIH 8T: Inside"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the 13th of October 2012, I went down to Konsert BERSIH 8T at the Kelana Jaya Stadium. This would also be known as #BersihRocks on Twitter. Again, as an observer, I went incognito, not in yellow. I figure if they start carting away people in yellow, I should still be around to take pictures.<\/p>\n


\nThis is Part 2; Part 1 is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\nIt was raining when I got here, and the guy on stage was James Nagason<\/b>. I can see why it rained. Sorry dude you got some pitching to fix.<\/p>\n


\nIt was 6:15PM and the crowd was mostly at the back, where the stalls were – the action was all there.<\/p>\n


\nHis guitar wasn’t in tune either.<\/p>\n


\nGarrison<\/b> set the mood for the evening – proper, rebellious, punk rock.<\/p>\n


\nThen it was random-noise-rock outfit Maharajah Commission<\/b>.<\/p>\n


\nFeaturing folk guitarist Azmyl Yunor in a different mode.<\/p>\n


\nThe crowd was mostly up on the stands, next<\/b> to the stage! So everybody was looking to the side instead.<\/p>\n


\nI also sauntered backstage and found Adam Adli being interviewed and Mat Sabu being photographed with.<\/p>\n


\nSoon it was dark, and a few short films were screened, including one amusing video about how to ensure your vote is secret via randomization, by Tindak Malaysia<\/a>, featuring Annie Ooi (Aunty Bersih)<\/b> and Patrick Teoh<\/b>.<\/p>\n

I can’t find the video on Youtube, but when I do I’ll update this.<\/p>\n


\nMichelle Hoo<\/b>, producer, composer and lyricist of the Bersih tribute song, Tears Of Malaysia<\/i>.<\/p>\n


\nHere with the group that sang the song.<\/p>\n


\nKoh Jun Lin of Malaysiakini has a distinctive style that lets everybody know that he is a photographer, complete with kneepads. I guess he was ready for tear gas and water cannons. There was none of that, that evening.<\/p>\n


\nThen, it was time for awesome acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Ray Cheong<\/b>!<\/p>\n


\nFrom above.<\/p>\n


\nCheck out the sea of yellow!<\/p>\n


\nClick the picture for a full-resolution view.<\/a><\/p>\n

Forget what Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat have to say about the attendance numbers – you can count for yourself the number of people on the field. Bear in mind that there were still many people seated on the stands to the left and right of the stage, not forgetting the people who’d rather be at the carnival-like atmosphere at the stalls behind! Of course, the BERSIH 2.0 committee, who gave out receipts to acknowledge donation, would know the exact number.<\/p>\n


\nFahmi Fadzil, emcee and learned scholar of the music performed that evening.<\/p>\n


\nThis rock concert allowed this mother to bring her kids in prams, a better outing for them than a sunny tear gassy day.<\/p>\n


\nDudes not in yellow. No biggie, just keeping a note on faces.<\/p>\n


\nDum Dum Tak<\/b>, proper straight punk rock, gets a Chinese uncle skanking, and his wife slapping him on his shoulder. Real cute moment that was.<\/p>\n


\nAtama<\/b>, also on the BERSIH 2.0 Steering Committee, goes on stage and shows us hip-hop mixed with Sumazau. WOW!<\/p>\n


\nDo the Sumazau, he tells us. Hishamuddin Rais and many others join along!<\/p>\n


\nNik Jidan<\/b>, an excellent folk singer sings songs about (literally) fallen political aide Teoh Beng Hock and Asalkan Bukan UMNO.<\/p>\n


\nHe is joined by Vijay, Assistant Coordinator of Jom Pantau<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\nAzira Aziz turns a year older today! How old, I don’t know, but she can’t be a day over 16 from her cartoony ears.<\/p>\n


\nHui Se Di Dai<\/b> usually plays Chinese rock but the guy who loves his Jaguar played a Rastafari classic.<\/p>\n


\nRepublic Of Brickfields<\/b> with iconic Aru, sang an obvious cover – Get Up, Stand Up<\/i>. Stand up for your rights!<\/p>\n


\nSpotted in the crowd, following the instructions at the gate not to bring in any party logos, were Tony Pua and Teresa Kok. Apparently Fahmi Fadzil gets confused for Tony Pua sometimes. To add to that, I had to double-check if that was indeed Teresa Kok and not Elizabeth Wong, but that’s just me being not so familiar with how they look.<\/p>\n


\nThere is one unmistakeable man, though – National Laureate, Dato’ A. Samad Said, and co-chairperson of BERSIH 2.0.<\/p>\n


\nHe wrote a poem for this concert, and recited it that night.<\/p>\n


\nThen came another familiar face, co-chairperson of BERSIH 2.0, Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan.<\/p>\n


\nThe other BERSIH 2.0 Steering Committee members were up on stage as well.<\/p>\n


\nShe gave a short speech…<\/p>\n


\n…and also announced that the group would be singing a song!<\/p>\n


\nNik Jidan joined them on stage to provide musical accompaniment.<\/p>\n


\nRandom dude with flowers for Ambiga.<\/p>\n


\nI can’t remember which cartoonist presented this to them.<\/p>\n


\nThen it was time for the final act of the night – Ito, Julian Mokhtar & The Gang<\/b>! I guess they didn’t want to call it Blues Gang<\/b> because not the whole original lineup was there.<\/p>\n


\nFor example, on the right, on guitar, was Ito’s son!<\/p>\n


\nIto, of course, is a vital component, with his trademark raspy voice…<\/p>\n


\n…and so is Julian Mokhtar, a blues shredder with his beautifully shaped, polished, and probably very custom guitar with scalloped frets.<\/p>\n


\nBlues solo!<\/p>\n


\nThey ended the night with the classic, Apo Nak Di Kato<\/i>.<\/p>\n


\nThen, it was a big percussion jam session.<\/p>\n


\nThat was not all – they brought in BERSIH 2.0’s 8 demands, as well as fire eaters!<\/p>\n


\nIt all looks yellow to me. By this time I was shooting JPG, having run out of space from shooting RAW.<\/p>\n

If you have decided you want to do more for Malaysia, be a Polling\/Counting Agent!<\/b><\/p>\n

Sign up for the training here<\/a><\/b>. It is open to all citizens of Malaysia – you don’t need to be a member of any political party or the Election Commission, to participate in making sure the elections are free and fair! I’ve gone for the course myself, and learned so much about the electoral system.<\/p>\n

More reading:
\nKonsert BERSIH 8T: Outside<\/a>
\nDemocratic Promise<\/a>
\nBersih 3.0<\/a>
\nVote For Cleanliness!<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the 13th of October 2012, I went down to Konsert BERSIH 8T at the Kelana Jaya Stadium. This would also be known as #BersihRocks on Twitter. Again, as an observer, I went incognito, not in yellow. I figure if they start carting away people in yellow, I should still be around to take pictures. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-pictures","category-rants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}