About 2 weeks ago, I posted an article entitled Animals in Us. I touched briefly on the BERSIH rally, but quickly went on the discuss about the tendency of a so-called "peaceful march" turning into a violent demonstration.
I wrote, "When a group of mild-mannered people who are not normally violent come together, that gathering might start as something peaceful. But it won't take very long before they influence each other and those same peaceful people can suddenly turn violent. The animal instinct is not easy to control."
Well, it transpired that the BERSIH rally did not turn violent. However, in the comments portion of that thread, I raised the question of whether it was reasonable for the police to adopt the "prevention-is-better-then cure" attitude; whether the police was justified to act before things turn violent? I attracted some interesting views from some visitors to this blog.
Yesterday, another rally was organised—this time by Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF). The object of that rally was totally different from that of the BERSIH rally. And again, I am not keen to delve into the details of that rally—I am sure many others would have done that by now.
I wrote, "When a group of mild-mannered people who are not normally violent come together, that gathering might start as something peaceful. But it won't take very long before they influence each other and those same peaceful people can suddenly turn violent. The animal instinct is not easy to control."
Well, it transpired that the BERSIH rally did not turn violent. However, in the comments portion of that thread, I raised the question of whether it was reasonable for the police to adopt the "prevention-is-better-then cure" attitude; whether the police was justified to act before things turn violent? I attracted some interesting views from some visitors to this blog.
Yesterday, another rally was organised—this time by Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF). The object of that rally was totally different from that of the BERSIH rally. And again, I am not keen to delve into the details of that rally—I am sure many others would have done that by now.
However, it is sad that in this particular rally, the "animals" that I talked about 2 weeks ago were unleashed as reported here and here. Perhaps as usually is the case, there were some exaggerations in the reports, but when it comes to violence, does it really make a difference if it's serious or not? After all, a police officer received stitches on his head; and properties were damaged. Thankfully, no lives were lost—so far. Who knows, maybe it will get that far in the next rally? So may I repeat: the animal instinct is not easy to control!
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