If there was one silver lining on the dark cloud that hung over us this weekend, it was the Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia roundtable discussion with our prospective smart partners from civil society that took place on Saturday at the Rumah.
The objective of this exercise was, firstly, to identify and get to the meeting table like-minded NGOs and NGIs who share the ‘One People, One Nation’ aspiration and are willing to talk less and walk more to try and realise this dream.
We had representatives from a Muslim scholars group, independent art and music folk, religious groups, youth groups and social activist groups on hand, young and old, on hand to hear what we had to say.
People settling in before the start of a long afternoon session
Bryan & Kim Cheng
Fahmi Reza & Padmini Solomon
Munir & Kharis
Mustaqeem ( right ) and his Indonesian observer friend
Naragan & Patrick
We kicked off sharp at 2.30pm with Jaya
Jayanath
sharing a little bit of background on how SABM got off the ground in 2007, how we had reached where we are now and then taking the participants through our defining document : the SABM Charter.
Jaya then passed the baton to me.
I quickly took the participants through certain key issues and the position of SABM on the same.
Robert Foo was next to take the mike and share with the participants our ‘Say No To ISA’ initiative that we will be pushing as part of our people empowerment efforts.
Finally, Danny appraised the participants of the all-important Voter education and registration drive that SABM has undertaken.
Danny
The time for discussion originally allocated was an hour and a half. It finally took some three hours.
It was lively, fully participated, critical yet constructive. We in the SABM core-group are immensely grateful for the thoughtful contributions of ideas from all.
We received commitments from most, if not all, present, to help us take the message of ‘One People, One Nation’ to the rakyat.
We will kick off our nationwide roadshow next month. First port of call will be Penang. Look out for announcements here and at the SABM Website.
Before that, though, we will be reaching out to the political parties on both sides of the divide through a dialogue scheduled for the 31st of October. Invitations for this historical session where the rakyat take the lead in telling the politicians the direction we want to see this nation take have already gone out. It remains to be seen how many of the parties will attend.
Will keep you informed on this later.
Also, from 15th October on, the Rumah will have a full-time person on hand to help us co-ordinate our activities. That means if you’d like to pick up our SABM T-shirts and buttons you can do so by dropping by at the Rumah between 12pm – 7pm from Wednesday to Sunday. To be sure someone will be on hand, call us at 03-20950435 before dropping by.
Robert
Gomen
October 12, 2009
“… where the rakyat take the lead in telling the politicians the direction we want to see this nation take …”
That’s so cool, Bro. It has never happened before …
Yay! to the 3rd Force. Yay! to SABM.
Cheers!
Meng
October 12, 2009
I wonder, with the slogan “Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia” and “Satu Bangsa Satu malaysia”" could Najib have given thoughts to these two slogan,stole your idea and came up with “1Malaysia” ???
shar101
October 13, 2009
Meng,
Considering that the first SABM fellowship occurred on 25th August ’07 and NTR’s 1Malaysia was mooted after his website was launched in mid-2008, your conjecture is par for the course.
One thing is certain, whether similar or not, NTR can’t/won’t go the SABM route i.e. a bottom-up approach whilst empowering civil society to take charge of the nation’s future through their chosen stewards (read: elected politicians).
Just prior to GE12 in March ’08, The People’s Declaration which is essentially an Election Manifesto, was introduced and resoundingly accepted by the opposition political parties (none of the BN parties turned up on the day) so much so that a consensus was quickly made to ensure a one to one contest with any BN candidate.
The result was historically ‘tsunamic’.
The SABM Charter is a further manifestation of the political prescription contained in The People’s Declaration because it is much more comprehensive in terms of application.
For instance, the SABM voter education program will address and tap on the potential of about 5-7 million unregistered young Malaysians to advocate a change for better governance. It’s about citizens making informed choices for proper representation (and not we-tell-you-who-to-vote-for as practiced by the current political regime).
So when the SABM roadshows goes nation-wide, please participate.
Chatting on-line just doesn’t cut muster unless you’re on Mars or Antartica.
gus
October 13, 2009
Hi Guys,
Great job done
veryupset
October 13, 2009
All at SABM……
Well done…!!!
Shakuntala
October 15, 2009
SABM, you have a great first crew providing a lusty wind, to help you sail through the rough seas of lies and of power, invested for nearly 52-years in the ‘vessel’ called BN.
So sail on, undaunted, Sampan SABM…you have a mission.
The Spirit to steer a clear course will eventually come. You need masses of right thinking Malaysians to help you crack the infested masts of the BN.