Doing our part - Solidarity Demonstration for LL4G

When i first read about the demonstration, i straight away told myself that it's impossible coz i have class,it was 2 days prior to the demo. That night i read the news on MV Rachel Corrie, the ship that continued to sail to Gaza in spite of Israel's attack on Gaza aid flotilla. That ship is named after a 23-year-old U.S. peace activist who was crushed to death in 2003 by an American-built bulldozer operated by the Israeli army. I clicked on a link to an interview with Rachel Corrie
2 days b4 she was murdered. After watching that video i was like... what am i doing here, looking around my comfortable room feeling totally useless. i should do more for Palestine.

The day before the demo, further details of the demo was published on fb. This time there's a strong desire inside me wanting to join it. I always condemn the Arabs for not doing enough for Palestine. Now there's sth that i can do and not doing it makes me feel like the Arabs. Alhamdulillah i have a friend with similar thought to accompany me. we decided to go. it was a difficult decision to make.

We had to consider a lot of things. Attendance, missing class, our parents, giving others the wrong idea that we care less about our studies, the risk of getting caught and losing our scholarships and bla... bla...bla...Even after considering all that i was still with my stand to go coz solidarity seems to be a more important issue at the moment.


we asked permission from our parents late that evening. i had a difficult time getting the permission but i got it in the end, not a solid one though. we adjusted a few things with related friends so that everything can be done as scheduled in our absence.

On the day of the demo, i got sms fr my parents. that morning asking me to change plan bcoz the demonstration is illegal, no permit. I just couldn't be bothered by the sms, i was so determined to go. I called my mom, telling her that we'll act smart, we'll go away if 'ade bende2 pelik jadi' and how important joining this to me and bla...bla...bla... My mom mmg tak bagi, she was very upset but i told her that we're going, pray for us. frankly speaking i don't know whether it's ok to go against my mom like that but continuing wit da plan made me feel better.

we set off from our college in melaka at around 8 am ,reached kl around 10.30, had breakfast, parked the car at my house and walk to lrt taman melati.At around 12.15 we were already wandering around lrt ampang park looking for tabung haji. At first we were like nape xde org pun kat tabung haji ni. rupenye kitorg kat bahagian belakang. kat depan org boleh kira ramaila. we each bought a mafla and enjoy tgk macam2 org kat situ.

Around 12.45 akhawat started to walk to surau PNB for solat zohor. time ni dah mule bermesra dgn akhawat lain. saya amat terharu dgn sorg makcik ni yang pegi toilet sekali. dia tunggu sume org sudah n gerak sekali back to surau smbl taaruf dgn semua. mane nak cari situation camni? dahla tak kenal. this is the power of ukhuwwah. i love it.

i'd been feeling a little unwell since reaching kl. mase kat surau makin teruk pulak. after solat, we walked back to tabung haji, on da way ade kedai, i bought myself potato bun n panadol. kat tabung haji, org tgh dgr khutbah. i ate my bun and took 2 tablets of panadol hoping i'd be fine for da demo. around 1.50 org mula solat.

At around 2, the crowds started to gather in front of tabung haji. at first takut jugak, dah la ade polis. tp tgk ramai2 turun jd semangat balik and so i joined the crowd.

while the crowds were gathering in front of tabung haji fliers on list of things to boycott was distributed. drinking water were also being passed around. then we started walking. Ikhwah first followed by akhawat. i was so scared of being separated from my friend. dah la kitorg berdua je. other people mostly datang ramai2.

i was so happy to see many people around. it felt great to be a part of the demonstration.

creative demonstrators made their own stuff for the demonstration. i like this one. mini mavi marmara

the policemen near the US embassy were equipped with shield and long stick.

Si comel pun boleh tahan mase demo ni. duk tgh jln tu tibe2 dgr dis one cute little gal said "ala tak aci", sebab banner org lain besar, tenggelamkan bendera palestin yg die lukis atas some paper that if i'm not mistaken smaller than A4 paper. then the girl membebel apetah, sgt cute. the mother pujuk die saying ' takpe2, Allah nampak. nak ambil her pic tp tak sempat. these r few pics of si comel lain yg smpt amik. saya termalu sendiri tgk kanak2 ni sbb diorg lg semangat. saya tak wat poster pun... dahla nak dtg pun fikir byk kali...

There was also a helicopter flying around. take pics kot...

alhamdulillah i was fine throughout the procession. another wonderful experience there was jumpe org yg dah kenal as well as kenal org baru.

we took lrt back to tmn melati around 3.30. i called my mom to tell her that we r safe. she's no longer upset,alhamdulillah. traffic was congested while driving out of kl n to seremban. We reached our college around 8pm. so 8am-8pm-almost 12hrs. The journey was really tiring n risky too not forgetting i took another 2 tab of panadol on the way back coz my temperature went up again. but it's nothing compared to what the palestinians r facing. all in all, it was absolutely a worthwhile experience.

from hani shahanom