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Friday, January 18, 2013

Parents don Bersih's yellow for RM100 school aid

Parents don Bersih's yellow for RM100 school aid

A group of parents at a Chinese secondary school in Seremban caught the eye of the crowd when they turned up in bright yellow Bersih T-shirts to receive the RM100 school aid from the federal government.
Photographs of the 15 parents who coloured the aid award ceremony at Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Chan on Wednesday evening are circulating widely on social media.
NONE"I wore the Bersih T-shirt to make a point to the powers-that-be that the gift of money won't necessarily make us bow down and agree with them," one of the parents, Wong Chai Soon, told Malaysiakini yesterday.
"Instead I received the cash with great trepidation, as I worry what the nation would be like in the future."
According to Wong, the idea to wear the yellow Bersih T-shirts at the event was sparked by a friend of his and this later spread to others in the group.
"I received an SMS from my friend and forwarded it to others. I also asked my friends at my office to wear yellow."
Asked about the reaction of the teachers and other parents to their yellow initiative, he said no one seemed to take affront.
"Some looked at us, some spoke to us. Those that I knew agreed with us. The teachers, they were just normal. Maybe they were too busy attending to the many parents there."
'Bersih Mama'
The RM100 aid to parents with schooling kids - the second time in as many years - was one of the provisions of Budget 2013 tabled in Parliament by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak last year.
NONEThe campaign to wear yellow when collecting the cash aid was initiated by a group of mothers who called themselves 'Bersih Mama'.
In a statement on Wednesday, the group called on parents to make use of the occasion to reiterate poll reform movement Bersih's demand for clean and fair elections.
"Currently, what is most needed by the people in this country is not RM100, RM250 or RM500 in financial aid.
"If this country has no fair and clean election, it would not be truly democratic," it said.
Besides Wong, many other parents have heeded the call and uploaded on the Internet photographs of them wearing yellow when

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