Even war correspondent 'intimidated' by violence

For this 10th Middle Malaysia podcast, on World Press Freedom Day, media consultant Oon Yeoh speaks to online columnist and video journalist Zan Azlee about his experience in covering Bersih 3.0.

Zan says that in all his travels and all the assignments he has been on, he had never felt as intimidated as he was at Bersih 3.0 in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday.

And this is coming from a freelance journalist who has been to Afghanistan (right), Lebanon and South Thailand to shoot documentaries.

Zan figured something was amiss by early evening when he noticed that many police officers had taken off their name tags. And then he saw gangs of them beating up protestors.

He talks about how journalists got assaulted for shooting pictures and videos of police brutality. He himself was manhandled, hauled in and briefly detained by the police.

Like ‘kucing cari tikus’

After he was released, as he walking towards his car, Zan noticed a number of people lying unconscious on the street as ambulances came to pick them up one by one.

As he reached his car, a bunch of men approached him and asked to be interviewed. They wanted to talk about the brutality they had witnessed. One man told him that the situation was like "kucing cari tikus".

In reflecting upon what he had witnessed and experienced, Zan says he feels a mixture of anger and sadness. Angry because of how journalists were treated and sad at how protestors were viciously beaten by gangs of rogue policemen.

But not one to be cowed, he says he hopes Bersih 4.0 happens sooner rather than later.