Location: Aotea Square, Auckland, New Zealand
Time: 28th April 2012, 1pm +12 UTC
Number of participants: 330 people
Description of events:
Many Bersih supporters surprised us by arriving much earlier than the stipulated time of 1pm. They were eager to help in anyway: propping up banners, blowing up balloons and collecting signatures for our Memorandum to the NZ High Commission to demand our right to vote from overseas. Some manned our “Bersih Juice” (pineapple juice) stand, which was a clever ruse to get passersby to stop and read our Bersih literature. Soon enough, a crowd of 180 gathered and Pamela Wong led us in some jolly chanting. Throughout, people were encouraged to sign the Memorandum and Myoverseasvote.Org website was promoted. Passing cars honked in support of fair elections; this always elicited cheers from the crowd.
Eddie Wong, our emcee, gave the first speech, remarking that even 110-year-old zombies in Malaysia have more voting rights than us Malaysians overseas. Lydia Chai spoke next, citing Bersih’s 8 + 3 demands and reiterated Bersih’s concerns over the amendments to the Election Offences Act. Other speakers were Pamela Wong and Tan Tee Seang who spoke from the heart. Speeches were then opened up to the floor and one person received an applause when he said, “My girlfriend is at Dataran right now, and of course I’m worried for her, but this is what we must do!” Upon the speeches wrapping up, as a mark of respect we sang the New Zealand national anthem in Maori then in English. Then we sang Negaraku (http://youtu.be/Ts2u-HRdu20) and took a group photo. At this point, the crowd had swelled to 250 or 300. Some had travelled from as far as Tauranga and Hamilton to be with us. It was a fantastic vibe with everybody talking as if they knew each other or were part of a big family. More than once, a member of the older generation told me that their generation let us down because they were too scared. To which I replied, “But we have the internet; you didn’t.”
