A Protes I Will Miss

They say, before a boxer or a fighter delivers his killing blow to his opponent, the boxer would first deliver a 'diversionary' punch that would

1. distract his opponent's attention,
2. weaken the opponent, or
3. cause the opponent's confidence to inflate and making him think he's indestructible.

If the diversion works and the punch lands on the desired spot, then hell, that's a bonus! If the punch is blocked and fails in its objective, then it is still considered a success as the opponent's attention is diverted and his guard drops momentarily. It is within that single time frame when this happens, is the moment when the boxer would muster all the strength he has and deliver a telling blow that ought to bring the fight to end.

This same strategy is also said to have been used by military strategist throughout the ages and perhaps was a leaf taken from Sun Szu's Art of War Doctrine which states "Should the enemy strengthen his van, he will weaken his rear; should he strengthen his rear, he will weaken his van; should he strengthen his left, he will weaken his right; should he strengthen his right, he will weaken his left. If he sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywhere be weak." To be honest, I don't know. I was never a military strategist, nor have I been a fighter. The only art of self defence I managed to learn by myself is a Malay silat called "Silat Langkah Seribu." Perhaps I will touch on this later as I do not distract you from the main issue.

Tomorrow at 3pm, Protes will be holding a protest against the oil price hike in Malaysia which has led to the increase of several essential consumer items such as flour, oil and a few more. And this in turn has led to the rising prices in flour-based items and even caused cooking oil shortage. Though the protest to be held somewhere near the KLCC tomorrow will in no way - to borrow a phrase MB likes to us - affect the price of pork belly in the market, it will nevertheless still be held as a sign of the rakyat's displeasure on the matter.

When the first protest was held sometime last year at the same place as tomorrow, webtv8 and I were able to attend and record the entire event. Perhaps, due to another protest march held at the same time and place - The Condemnation of the Prophet's (s.a.w.) Caricature in several European countries - there were no untoward incidents even though the police did try to intimidate with their helicopters flying dangerously low especially in view of the tall buildings in the vicinity. Still, the protesters held on till the end and then disbursed peacefully after that. However, tomorrow may see a different kind of ending to the protest, especially in view of the much anticipated upcoming election. And sadly, I may have to give it a miss on the accounts of my leg, though I am very sure my brothers-in-arms at webtv8 will be there in full force. I ask my friends here to pray for the safety of the protesters tomorrow. Irrespective of the outcome, I take it as a blessing already, insyAllah.

To me, the protest tomorrow may be likened to the strategy mentioned above. Though it may have never been planned to be such, the opportunity of striking such blow came our way when the blundering DPM said the opposition and the rakyat should use places such as Bukit Jalil to hold our gathering. We will be holding to his words even if the police once again deny the permit for a gathering, as they had for the November 10, ISA Virgil, and even the protest tomorrow.

For tomorrow, if the protesters succeed to the end without police provocation, then they would have made their voice heard again to the world, especially to the people in KL. And should there be police provocation and blood is drawn as it was in Batu Buruk, it would be the spark for a bigger turnout on February 23, insyAllah. The momentum built hopefully would carry through to the General Election which many say will be in March. Which ever way you look at it, it is the rakyat who will win in the end.

As for me, my leg should heal sufficiently to run around for the event on February 23, as I did on November 10, and the first Protes march earlier.

Now, back to the 'Silat Seribu Langkah', should anyone not be aware of such art, then I will gladly impart my knowledge for a nominal fee of...shall we put it at RM,500? Hey! Its a one in a lifetime deal! No? Well, ok, you don't know what you are missing.

UPDATE 9pm: For further info on the protest, please visit squeak, squeak, squeak and Roslan SMS.