Norlaila, with her son by her side, shares her experience of having her husband detained under the ISA for more than six years
The mystery woman ‘M’
Rakyat@work reports from PJ:
2400: As we parted, Benz says to me. “Tonight was something special indeed; more new faces, more new testimonies, more new insights into the rakyat’s hopes and dreams; in fact, every vigil night, there is something new and refreshing to take home.”
I couldn’t agree with him more. God is good and so are our bros and sis who are blind to race. It feels so good. See you all next week? Over and out.
2210: Vigil ends.
2200: Well, its getting late now, the latest so far. Somehow, the crowd is reluctant to leave. There’s something special about tonight. Richard Yeoh once more leads us into our national anthem, Negaraku, and boy, it sounds a lot better now. No off keys this time, ha ha, it almost sounds as if it’s coming from a CD or tape recorder.
2135: Next comes a gentleman from the PKR. He speaks of the good old days when anthems were sung with such pride and unity among all races. What a contrast to today. It’s a sad, sad story these days… when we are plagued with ‘man-made’ problems.
It’s ironic, isn’t it? While other nations battles with natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and droughts, we, in Malaysia, have to contend with problems created by ourselves.
A woman speaks of the fear of standing up to be counted. She encourages her friends to come for the vigil and shares with us how many others are being either ‘brainwashed’ by fear or living in bondage.
Another speaker, Lokman, asks that the momentum of the vigils be sustained. Have faith in the rakyat playing their part, he says. He has experienced the change and is convinced it’s already working. The good news is that many more Malay sisters and brothers are coming out now.
2110: After Norlaila comes the next surprise! Most of the crowd are caught unaware… not by the FRU but by the presence of a brave lady.
