Thank you Pakatan, we'll take it from here

YOURSAY 'This is a people's power revolution in the making as it is the ordinary rakyat themselves who are seeking change.'

Janji Demokrasi - the real Merdeka event

Lucia: From Penang, I took the 4pm bus on Merdeka eve (yes, dressed in a yellow T-shirt) and went straight to Dataran Merdeka for Janji Demokrasi with my luggage and without checking in the hotel first. Such was my enthusiasm to join with the others in solidarity to our cry for democracy.

The disappointment though was the Dataran was cordoned off and there was no official countdown. The government fears us?

Every year there is an official countdown with the premier and other ministers and with fireworks let off at midnight. But this year, all because of the call of the people to come clad in yellow, the government decided not to have an official countdown there.

Zhms1956: There was no Merdeka countdown featured/covered by any of the TV channels this year. When my husband and I checked on the Internet for the actual life coverage, we saw the sea of yellow in Dataran Merdeka and understood why.

Likewise the next morning's papers did not show any flag waving revellers at the historic Dataran. It was as though Malaysia had slept through the traditional clock tower countdown. I think the government is scared and in denial.

Anonymous #70881335: Rakyat power should be the new third force in Malaysia. Non-partisan, multiracial and non-religious ... that was what we saw in the crowd on Thursday night.

The powers-that-be should take heed of the rakyat's hope and aspirations for a free, tolerant and corruption-free society. Why is it so difficult for Umno-BN to understand?

Conmen: It's not Pakatan Rakyat that really matters. What happened on Merdeka eve is a people's power revolution in the making as it is the ordinary rakyat themselves who want change.

Without the necessary change, people are feeling a sense of hopelessness. And Umno-BN cannot give us hope.

Malaysiantulin: I work with a GLC (government-linked company). You are right Kee Thuan Chye, emails and SMS were sent promising RM50 per family member to join the Bukit Jalil celebration.

What a desperate act on the part of the government. This BN government knows deep inside that its time is up.

Queenie: Spot on Thuan Chye, spot on. The bash at Bukit Jalil is naught but a ‘syiok sendiri' rent-a-crowd affair and yet the PM is giving himself a slap on his back.

Starr: The number was not immaterial but the spirit of Merdeka and democracy was demonstrated by those who turned up despite the police ban.

There's no greater unity than the demonstration of will by the rakyat for independence and freedom, all symbolised in the spirit of Merdeka and democracy as promised by the founding fathers.

After 55 years of independence, the rakyat have come to the realisation that such a solemn promise remains a distant reality, which the Umno-BN government has failed to deliver. The mass gathering on the eve of Merdeka is a fitting remainder of that broken promise.

Haveagreatday: Put into such stark contrast, Kee has forced the Umnoputras to see what their own propaganda machines have refused to acknowledge - that the rakyat has indeed cried with all their hearts, and that the promise of democracy has cried with them.

I salute national laureate A Samad Said again - the conscience of our nation - for showing to those among us who are intimidated by the threat of violence and arrest by the security wing of the Umnoputras, that really the only thing to fear is fear itself.

FellowMalaysian: The event at Bukit Jalil Stadium on Friday night was nothing else but another mass support call-up by BN to shore up its waning support.

Najib had hijacked the event in the name of Merdeka Day celebrations and used it to denounce the opposition.

BN has become the longest ruling elected political party in the world and at 55 years, it sounds too long and too disconcerting for comfort. It's time for the people to make BN call it a day.

Jesse: When the police leave the citizens alone, the event is peaceful. It is only when they bring out their thugs and water cannons that all hell breaks loose.

It's great to see a spontaneous peaceful protest and celebration rather than the contrived official events.

Good thing all the Umno, BN goons and saboteurs stayed away as well. How the clueless home minister can say that the event was meant to create chaos but prevented it from happening by the police, is beyond the comprehension of even a nincompoop.

The is a strange way of interpreting the event - the real hallmark of a corrupt autocrat and a clueless soul who claims to be a leader.

Next time, police, please stay away. The citizens do not need you to create chaos at the behest of your master.

Abasir: We know that Najib's gathering was orchestrated by the various ministries who had to meet preset quotas.

As a result, government servants, employees of GLCs, school children were brought to the venue by way of official circulars and inducements like cash, T-shirts and a day off.

Compare that to the thousands who took it upon themselves to make their way to Dataran late on Thursday's evening. One was an expensively manufactured gathering to please political masters, the other was a spontaneous show of support for a cause.