Smashed, scarred and now uprooted and gone without a trace - Photos by Kinta Kid
Now, who did this?: Bro Vincent Corkery, former director of St Michael’s Institution, inspects the site
… and the rakyat are still coming
On the third day, the Democracy Plaque vanishes… Another metaphor for our lost democracy.
Kinta Kid reports from Ipoh:
The plaque under the now famous Democracy Tree has been removed. According to an eye witness account, it was removed at around 7.00am today, presumably by the Ipoh City Council’s enforcement department. A view of the site indicates that a tractor was used to remove the structure.
If the culprits think they can remove the quest for democracy by removing the plaque, they are sadly mistaken. Democracy is now deeply embedded in the hearts of many Malaysians by now, and no tractor can uproot that spirit.
But with positive indications in favour of justice, such as the Speaker now being allowed to appoint his own counsel and Mahathir’s remarks about the illegality of the new Perak government, it may not be long before the plaque is returned to its rightful place.
The legend of the Democracy Tree lives on…
They will not be satisfied until they have killed the raintree.
That’s how low they will go to even kill the tree that is only a symbol.
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Bro Anil,
Why not we have campaign to snap photograph under the tree and publish in your website and see, how frequent people vistiting.
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Victor
Yup according to the constitution..how relevent that is now in Bolehland i dont know the Head of State is the DYMM Agong not the PM as such the wife of the PM is not reffered to as “First lady”
Note in Uk for example it is the PM Tony Blair and Mrs Blair. The term first lady is only used mainly for the USA and republics. The last I checked malaysia is not a republic or is it??
ANIL please verify this bit of info
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Anil, thank you for the lat and long of the tree;
“Latitude 4°36′21.45″N
Longtitude 101° 4′45.88″E
- Anil”
However, in another post, you stated is was across the road from the State Government building and in the pictures of the tree I’ve seen, it is very near to some residential houses;
“It’s along Jalan Istana in Ipoh, across the road from the rear entrance of the Perak State Government building, not far from Wisma DAP. – Anil”
Thank you.
LJM
Well, those houses are close to the rear entrance of the Perak State Government building complex. – Anil
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lol ok. Sorry to keep pursuing this but I really would like to know that I have the exact tree pinned in my google earth. Wouldn’t do to pin and submit the wrong location into google earth. This would only mislead people who search for the tree. The lat and long you gave earlier mark a spot that isn’t across the road from the State Government bldg. Hope you don’t mind if I ask you again for a confirmation? Thank you again.
LJM
Could someone help LJM verify the Google Earth coordinates for the Democracy Tree? – Anil
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K_Y, I don’t mean that asking politicians from both BN and PR to get on with their jobs serving the people is nonsense. What i mean was saying that PR people “get to cry foul to generate more cheap publicity, can again blame it on BN/UMNO and/or proclaim that this is the state of democracy in the country.” is nonsense. I’m sorry I did not point out that part that irk me.
PR has been oppressed by Barisan N… since those 3 frogs jump to them. They can’t do this, they can’t do that; but Barisan N can do so many illegal things that p… us off. It’s pretty obvious who has damaged the plaque; unless some PR ppl has PHD (permanent head damage) … and they are the one who damaged it (which I doubt so). PR’s crying foul is not to generate cheap publicity. Even if PR didnt kick a fuss and say that BN is the one who WWE-ed the plaque, most of us would have an inkling of who has done it.
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FBN
I support PR too. I wish them well and I hope they will succeed in their struggle. The BN bits – oppression, discrimination, bending of the rules, double standards, etc …totally agree that’s why I hope PR won’t develop any of those tendencies (since some see it as a possibility.. even necessity –for the more radical ones …to fight BN at their own game) ..ok, that’s not the main issue here so I will move on.
I think, in our minds, the focus is somewhat different…with regards to this particular posting/issue.
I am just saying that PR should not have concentrated on actions like building the plaque. Since it is an illegal structure (no permit) and Nga said “oh we won’t bother to apply since it won’t be approved anyway …instead, we will force the issue and build it anyway to see what happens (to my mind, this is breaking the law + knowing full well that BN will take the bait – under Najib, this is typical, he’s not at all a good strategist – as observed by many commenting on blogs like Anil’s that Ipoh City Council suddenly became super efficient …illegal structure removed “immediately” while illegal warungs, mamaks …huge eyesores …there for years..for example).
Anyway since they did build the plaque, ok.. but I am very sure they expect it to be damaged or destroyed …as we can clearly see in anil’s other posting as well ..they even directed a CCTV at the thing knowing full well that something will happen to it. When it finally came true, Mr Nga and others asked for donations to rebuild the thing. How many times must it be destroyed till they say ..ok , no more? Each time it gets damaged, they will get publicity …isn’t that cheap publicity (considering their likely motivations, as described earlier)?
PR is made up of diverse groups, parties and interests …I am not actually questioning the whole of PR …but just the people who are doing this …
If you noticed, at the end of my first posting, I acknowledged that the Assembly did take place beneath the tree (hooray!) and the tree is now the symbol. Even if they chopped it down, you will remember what happened there, I will remember what happened there …as will many other Malaysians like us …we don’t need a plaque explicitly spelling out the whole thing..
Lastly, to my mind, Nga visits the place …he spends time going around collecting donations … he spends time checking the CCTV footage…he spends time physically checking on the “status” of the plaque. How many extra people/constituents could he have attended to if he didn’t do all those things?
Publicity and perception is an important part in politics, no doubt …so go get publicity regarding people he actually helped, causes he actually championed and the concrete steps that he has taken to ensure good governance and transparency…in fact, he can also remind people about what happened under the tree and what BN did on that day (alongside their people ..like the FRU, police, Assembly Sec, etc) that made us a laughing stock amongst “democratic” countries…
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