Beverly showed up, again and again

Nirmala Devi Windgaetter

Beverly is gone.

But somehow, in all the memories people are sharing, she feels more present than ever.

As the messages, photographs and stories continue to come in, I find myself realising just how many lives she touched. And how many different roles she carried so naturally.

To her children, she was first and foremost Mum. And perhaps that says more about her than any list of titles ever could. In her contributor biography in Sabah from the Ground: The 2020 Elections and the Politics of Survival, Beverly described herself first as a mother to her three children, before listing all the public roles she held. She ended that list with the words “in that order”.

To the human rights community, Beverly was many things at once – a defender of Indigenous peoples, women, children and stateless communities. She stood up for dignity, land, culture, equality and the right of people too often pushed to the margins to be heard.

Whether she was speaking for Orang Asal (Indigenous) communities, challenging discrimination and child marriage, or advocating for children and those without citizenship, the thread running through it all was the same: a deep belief that every person deserved dignity, rights and a voice.

And to those of us involved in democratic and electoral reform, Beverly was also Bersih – particularly Bersih Sabah. She spent years fighting for cleaner elections, stronger institutions and a Malaysia in which ordinary people mattered.

Reading all these memories now feels like watching an interwoven tapestry slowly reveal itself.

Every person adds another thread – mother, friend, activist, Indigenous rights defender, women’s rights defender, human rights defender, reformer, organiser, colleague…

Those threads reveal something much bigger than any single role or title could ever capture – the beautiful soul that was Beverly, at the heart of it all.

I didn’t have the opportunity to work closely with her, but every time we met, her laughter and positivity were contagious.

Many might not know this, but during the last general election, Global Bersih desperately needed runners for overseas postal ballots. They were arriving in Kota Kinabalu at the very last minute.

Beverly and her daughters stepped in. Just like that. They helped distribute those overseas postal ballots across six constituencies around KK. It is the kind of thing that may never make it into someone’s official biography. No title, no award and no photograph on a stage.

But for overseas voters who had done everything they could from thousands of kilometres away to exercise their right to vote, that act mattered enormously. They – and certainly all of us at Global Bersih – will forever be grateful to Beverly and her daughters for that.

I also keep thinking about one small, very personal memory. A few years ago, when I was at the Bersih office, Beverly and I talked about going out for drinks the next time I came down.

There was always going to be a next time. Until suddenly, there wasn’t. I guess that next time never came. And now it never will.

Perhaps that is what memento mori is really about. Remember that we must die.

This is not to make us afraid of death, but to remind us of the fragility of life. Have that drink. Make that call. Take that photograph. Say what you want to say. And when somebody needs you, show up – because we never really know which ‘next time’ will never come.

Beverly, judging from the countless lives and communities whose stories are now being woven together in your memory, you showed up – again and again and again.

Rest in peace, Beverly. Your work mattered. Your kindness mattered. You mattered.

A beautiful soul indeed.

Nirmala Devi Windgaetter is a fellow activist, friend in the movement, and one of many who will remember Beverly with gratitude.

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