I arrived as usual at Tung Shin Hospital at about 12.30 pm to meet up with my team members. We can already see a crowd gathering quietly at Menara Maybank, which was my designated post. I took them for lunch and also briefing regarding our duties and responsibilities. Also pass out the kits, vests, AED and walkie talkie ( standard gear ).
The small team at Menara Maybank
After lunch, we walked to Menara Maybank, reaching at about 1.30 pm. The team was small ( compared to previous ). Maybe some viewed GST issue as not as crucial as Bersih with tear gas and water cannon threats. Anyway, two of the team decided that it was too far to come gather at Maybank, so they went patrolling at other sites and walk around. I understand that one member was walking from KLCC and another member was patrolling around Dayabumi.
The crowd, everyone wants to know the crowd. When I went patrolling at about 2 pm, tehre was already ( my guesstimate ) around 30-40 people at Dataran, because I could see that Dataran Merdeka was full and I had to push my way through to patrol. There were still people at Jln Tun Perak and Jln TAR who were hoverng and not walking yet. Of course the folks from KLCC was still hearing speeches at KLCC. I must say that the folks from KLCC took quite a while to reach us. I was told that one group came down the other way ( I think jln TAR ). I know that one group came through in front of my station in Tun Perak ( the Michael Jeyakumar group and the Arunacheram group ). At the peak, I think there is closer to 80,000 in Jln Raja, in front of Dataran. The atmosphere was almost carnival like, as the crowd sang songs and shouts and of course the very noise ( I hate ), vedivolars ( the loud horns ).
I slowly moved my base from Menara Maybank to in front of the wisma UAB as the crowd walked towards Dataran Merdeka.
The weather was hot and humid till about 3 pm, when it cooled down and the sky was overcast, for the rest of the afternoon. It threatened to rain, but only drizzled slightly at about 4.45 pm.
Medically speaking, we had nothing much to do. It was exciting to be there and yet boring as I stood there watching people walking pass. My patrolling team was patrolling in Jln Raja ( Dataran Merdeka ) and we were in touch with walkie talkie. I think a VIP had to be attended to for shortness of breath. One girl had a "fit" and was send to hospital. Another had cramps.
At about 4.15 pm when the sky was threatening and lightning could be seen, I radioed HQ to advise that the Rally be slightly shortened as Dataran Merdeka and Jln Raja were open areas and lightning is always a threat to human bodies in open areas.
Let me share one of the posters that was carried by a participant as they walked pass me, coming from KLCC. I thought that it was good, but I had no time to take a pic as she was waving.
It read, -
" Najib, go straight to jail.
Do not pass go
Do not collect GST."
I thought that it was good, well thought of and to the points. She must like monopoly.
Who said that hawkers were losing business? Take a look at the two hawkers doing a roaring business, selling ice drinks, and small eats. They were very happy. The Malay man in front with his car boot open was setting up to stalls, one from the boot of his car and the other, in the center road partition. It shows that if you are prepared to work, you will earn a decent living. If you are just the lazy, complaining type, then hawkers in Jln TAR "tak boleh cari makan". It is all up to you.
Whether the organisers took my lightning warning or not, I do not know. It is not important. The Rally ended at about 4.45 pm and we dismissed. There were untoward incident. We were all happy for that.
As I said in my earlier post
NO GST ...................UNLESS.
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