On 3rd November, 2007, a motley bunch of anak Bangsa Malaysia organised a forum at the Dewan Sri Pinang. You can read about that event HERE.
Speakers and participants at that forum arrived at a consensus on four major points as imperatives if the concept of Bangsa Malaysia or One People, One Nation is to become a reality :
- No more race-based political parties
- No more incompetence in Parliament
- Civil society taking ownership of governance of the nation
- No more racial delineation
Since mid to late January of this year, that initial motley bunch grew into a group of earnest and dedicated anak Bangsa Malaysia who are determined to see this nation began the long journey to break down the race-based communal barriers put in place by those with their own agenda, retaining always our diverse cultures and yet united in heart and mind, taking full charge and ownership of our nation, and collectively working to ensure an honest and equitable distribution of our nation’s wealth through the establishment of an affirmative action program that will bring justice and equality to every anak Bangsa Malaysia.
On 16th September, this year, the SABM initiative was formally launched whereat we made public the Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia Charter.
If you have not seen this document, the same, in PDF, is linked below.
The SABM Charter goes beyond the four points of consensus formulated at the Penang forum in November, 2007.
For those of us involved in the SABM initiative, it represents the complete “One People, One Nation” message that we hope to be able to take to the rakyat.
We have decided to go back to Penang as our first step in what we know will be a long journey.
In an earlier post entitled “SABM Roadshow heads out to Penang”, I had announced that we would be in Penang on 15th November, 2009 to host a 1/2 day youth workshop, anchored by Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat ( KOMAS ) in the morning and a forum in the afternoon.
Details of both the workshop and forum appear below.
See you in Penang on the 15th next month.
__________________________
Youth Workshop : Ada Apa Dengan Bangsa?
Venue : Hu Yew Seah Hall, 43 Madras Lane, Penang
Date : 15th November, 2009
Time : Registration is from 8.15 – 845am on 15/11/2009. The workshop is from 9.00am – 1.00pm after which lunch will be served.
Age Qualification : The workshop is intended for those between the ages 17 -25
Objective : To get particpants to explore our identity, who we really are, and what we believe in as Malaysians. Let’s talk to each other, have fun and understand the real issues in our multiracial society, and view Stereotyping, Racial Discrimination and Race Politics from a human rights perspective.
If you’re aged between 17 – 25 and would like to participate in the youth workshop, send your details ( name, i.c. number, address, telephone contact number, and what you are presently doing ) to events@sayaanakbangsamalaysia.net
_____________________________________________________________
Forum : Bring Along A Friend
Venue : Hu Yew Seah Hall, 43 Madras Lane, Penang
Date : 15th November, 2009
Time & Program :
1.30pm – 2.00pm : Registration
2.00pm – 3.00pm : Screening of “Sepeluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka” & discussion with producer Fahmi Reza
3.00pm – 6.00pm : Presentations :
1. Human beings, all born free and equal
2. The founding of the nation : The truth
3. Nation in distress?
4. Did we let it happen?
5. This is my home. I care. I want to make it better
6.00pm – 7.00pm : Q & A and discussion
7.00pm – 7.30pm : Break & refreshments
7.30pm – 8.40pm : Screening of “Gadoh”
8.45pm – 9.15pm : Evaluation & closing
Presentation panellists :
1. Goh Keat Peng ( Executive Officer of Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sihkism & Taoism )
2. Dr. Azmi Sharom ( law lecturer, University of Malaya & newspaper columnist )
3. al- Mustaqeem ( Middle East Graduates Centre )
4. Fahmi Reza ( Producer of “Sepuluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka” )
5. Jayanath Appudurai ( SABM coregroup )
6. Haris Ibrahim ( SABM coregroup )
Why is the forum entitled “Bring Along A Friend”?
Quite simply, because that’s what you’ll have to do to attend the forum.
This is how it works.
Attendance is by invitation.
So you’ll have to e-mail us for an invitation, both for yourself and a friend of yours.
Now if you’re a Malay Malaysian, you’ll also have to register a non-Malay Malaysian friend, besides registering yourself for the forum. Conversely, if you’re non-Malay Malaysian, we will require you to also register a Malay Malaysian friend.
As with the youth workshop, if you’d like to attend the forum, send your and your friend’s details ( name, i.c. number, address, telephone contact number, and what you and your friend are presently doing ) to events@sayaanakbangsamalaysia.net
The People's Parliament 
rajan
October 30, 2009
Harris !
A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES BEGINS WITH THE FIRST STEP.
ALL GLORY COMES FROM DARING TO BEGIN
Heres WISHING YOU and Your TEAM ALL THE VERY BEST
rajan,
Thanks
rajan
October 30, 2009
Harris ,i forgot to add
Little drops of water makes the mighty ocean.
Size is not the matter ,the impact is !
Tommy
October 30, 2009
Harris,could you have some supply of t-shirts for sale in Penang on that day?
Would appreciate if possible, thanks.
Tommy,
SABM T-shirts and buttons and any other merchandising material we have then will be on sale.
God knows we need the funds.
Thanks
SH Tan
October 30, 2009
Does that mean if we cannot get a friend of another race, we cannot register and attend?
Tan,
In a multi-cultural nation of almost 27 million, if one does not have anither friend from another cultural background to bring to the forum, the nation must really be in a sorry state.
Yes, Tan, that is the purport.
mei
October 30, 2009
Wow! what an awesome event this is! Are you having one in KL too? If so, will definitely tell all my friends about it. God bless you Harris!
mei,
KL / Selangor presently scheduled for January, 2010.
God bless you, too
Shakuntala
October 30, 2009
We are definitely a divided nation among ourselves. We have existed apart,without caring.
We have got used to the idea of paying attention to our own cultures. Yes, we are a nation in distress, we allowed the partitions to get wider and wider.
At the helm, the BN government preached without end and still is, the idea of peaceful co-existence without inter-action.We swallow those control pills, and allow this sorry state of affairs to carry on.
But now it is definitely time, for a wake up call.
Malay-malaysian intellectuals,malay-malaysian champions of democratic principles,thinkers and all who desire change, belonging to this group of the community, ought to set the ball rolling and declare that we are all born equal and free in dignity and rights.
Here’s your chance to say…
That Almighty God meant us all to be, only ONE HUMAN RACE.
That there are no special rights or previleges in Paradise. … Paradise is not up there in the clouds, it is, as He said, here on solid ground where we are meeting our happiness and sorrows, together, as ONE HUMAN RACE.
And that right human relationships and human rights are indisputably linked, one to the other.
Good luck SABM….for your Penang road-show.
Shakuntala,
Thank you
shar101
October 31, 2009
For the benefit of anyone interested, here’s the link for a location map to the Hu Yew Seah hall –
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=5.41684,100.326719&daddr=&hl=en&geocode=&mra=mi&mrsp=0&sz=18&sll=5.416414,100.326698&sspn=0.002985,0.008583&ie=UTF8&ll=5.416414,100.327926&spn=0.002985,0.006132&z=18
Note: a) Scroll out to get a larger view of the vicinity. b) It appears that it is a one-way street and you need to enter via Jalan Macalister to reach the venue.
anna brella
October 31, 2009
In my mind’s eye, I can still see that brave makeshift little SABM sampan being steered courageously and defiantly through those mighty waves of mind-numbing human ignorance with only the power of gumption from caring rock-solid AABM like you to guide its unchartered course.
That lone sampan appears to me to be the only lighthouse-like bright spot and beacon of hope for change in that pyschologically suffocating and depressing sea of mindless, puerile, self-serving greedy politics that has for far too long been a predominant dark feature clouding a hapless Malaysia.
So the best of luck to you and the other ABMs on these good, ignorance-busting SABM roadshow journeys.
If the SABM movement is short on funds (as you mention here) is there a bank account or some other safe conduit set-up to receive contributions from potential well-wishers? If yes, can you post it here please.
“Imagine Power To The People” John Lennon
anna,
e-mail me at thepeoplesparliament@gmail.com and I will send you banking details.
joe fernandez
October 31, 2009
If we are not to think along race lines, why do the organizers want us to bring a friend of another race?
Aren’t they still thinking along racial lines?
Glenn
November 12, 2009
my IC does not state whether i am a malay malaysian or a non-malay malaysian. So how do you intend to verify who is of what type of malaysian? is it of particular importance to separate malaysians into sub categories and why choose malay and non malay? why not male malaysian and female malaysian? all this race base form of identification process needs to be done away with. Will the organizers themselves be doing what they ask of the participants? Is the philosophy used here… identify as separately different races as many pairs as possible and then only unite?
fizli
October 31, 2009
Hero Cina la lu Hariis…terror
Hornbill
October 31, 2009
Haris, I know you have no ambition to become an MP, but have some sympathy for those MP who really are in the game not for themselves especially the Pakatan MPs who don’t have access to the stolen riches that BN MPs have: see Another insult to our parliament where Sim listed the onerous tasks of a genuine MP.
Hornbill
October 31, 2009
Sim said: “The same applies to Gabriel Adit in Sarawak and Jeffery Kitingan in Sabah.” Sim is a East Malaysian. He should know what is going on there.
Hornbill
October 31, 2009
Sorry forgot one part about this horrible Badrul: “Actually I am glad this fellow has decided to leave PKR.
It is part of the house-cleaning exercise that a growing evolving party like PKR has to go through.
The same applies to Gabriel Adit in Sarawak and Jeffery Kitingan in Sabah.”
nstman
November 1, 2009
A day will come when we can call ourselves One, not the FAKE ONE. A day will come when race becomes irrelevent. Will it come true? Perhaps in a thousand years AD. Perhaps. But at least we have people like Zorro and Harris who dare to dream, who dare to tell the naysayers to suck it. HARRIS FOR PM.
Bambi
November 1, 2009
Why make it so exclusive that if one is a non-Malay Malaysian, to also register a Malay Malaysian friend?
I echo Joe’s sentiments re the racial lines issue.
The name of your program is BRING ALONG A FRIEND and yet you impose such rules which discourage people from attending but what happens if our Malay friends cannot attend? Then WE also cannot go. How can that be anak bangsa Malaysia when we still accent racial differences! That in itself is a farce and contradiction to the whole program.
Bambi,
Have you heard of the phrase ‘fight fire with fire’?
We are trying to undo almost 40 years of race-based divide and rule. In order to break that race-based mould, we have to, in the short term, work within then confines of that mould.
Trust me when I say that those involved in this initiative are as eager as you to be able to break away from the race-based dimension that we have been subjected to for so long.
Why not just come for the forum and not prejudge the effort simply based on assumptions made in respect of the method adopted by the planning committee in the hope of getting as many of those whom we feel most need to hear what we have to say about making ‘One People, One Nation’ a reality.
Please give our effort a chance.
shar101
November 1, 2009
To Joe Fernandez and Bambi:
Unlike Haris, I’ll be blunt.
Both of you see something good and tangible in the SABM initiative, and do not wish to share this with your malay friends.
Latent racism, izzit?
Bambi
November 1, 2009
Thanks for your response and clarification.
Why don’t you change the wordings in the poster? Then others will respond positively.
I support and will go to this event regardless.
Best wishes
Bambi,
You have my word that the thinking behind the wording will be explained in due course, if it does not become apparent.
I will bring your suggestion to the coregroup, but please do not take it the wrong way if, for now at least, we retain the wording as it presently is.
Look forward to your participation on the 15th
anna brella
November 2, 2009
“Now if you’re a Malay Malaysian, you’ll also have to register a non-Malay Malaysian friend, besides registering yourself for the forum. Conversely, if you’re non-Malay Malaysian, we will require you to also register a Malay Malaysian friend.”
With respect to the organisers: I can see why joe fernandez and Bambi may, and in my view understandably, be a little confused about the above condition stipulated for participation in this SABM forum.
I think the part about the prospective Malay-Malaysian (presumably restricted to ethnic Malays only so excluding those who have converted to Islam or those who are only arbitrarily classified as being Bumiputera/Malays based on the weird definition in the Constitution?) forum attendee being requested to bring along a non-Malay Malaysian friend/colleague is clear enough to me and presumably, to most others reading this.
However, the reasoning behind the condition put upon a prospective non-Malay Malaysian forum attendee in having to bring along only a (presumably again, ethnic) Malay-Malaysian friend is, I have to say, somewhat unclear to me, and possibly others.
If the prospective non-Malay Malaysian forum attendee happens to be a Malaysian Chinese, a Malaysian Indian, a Malaysian Punjabi or a Malaysian Dayak/Kadazan/etc. then why should s/he not be able to bring along either an ethnic Malay Malaysian or a Malaysian from some other ethnic grouping other than the one that s/he belongs to?
My apologies to you Haris, and also to the forum organisers and their no doubt good SABM intentions, if I am not aiding your good efforts by perhaps throwing this potential spanner into the forum works.
“Imagine Power To The People” John Lennon.
anna,
Would it be too much to ask that you bear with us and that, in good time, the rationale for this will be made known?
Sharon
November 2, 2009
Haris:
With all due respect to you and the organising commitee, much as my family and I would like to attend the event, we are sad that we cannot do so as we have not met the expectations of the SABM. The handful of non-Chinese friends that we have cannot be dragged to attend such events. They would rather spend their Sunday afternoons sleeping or with their families at the mall. Like your response to SH Tan in the the earlier thread, we are ashamed of ourselves for mixing with the wrong company. However, our hearts are still with you and your initiative and will support you in whatever way we can. You guys have a succesful and wonderful event.
God bless.
Saya, pun Anak Bangsa Malaysia, regardless.
Sharon,
I will shortly put up a post to explain the rationale of the requirements that we have stipulated to get an invite to the forum.
I hope that you and your family can re-think your position after you have read the explanation.
God bless
farida
November 2, 2009
People,
Let’s not have knee-jerk reactions. Knowing Haris as you do, and having read the SABM Charter (I hope), surely you know this is not an SABM lapse into discrimination!
Why not make a guess as to why SABM asks this of you.
It’s thinking out of the box that is sorely needed now.
Go the distance and try to explain why.
See if you’re on the same page when Haris does give you the rationale.
anna brella
November 3, 2009
Haris, thank you for your time and response to my post.
I am always, prepared to listen to anyone who speaks good sense so I have no problem trusting in what you say on this matter.
In any case, I have no real axe to grind or locus standi on the matter. It is just that I sometimes get a bee in my bonnet when I see obfuscation or miscommunication of any kind which in my view always carries the risk and potential for creating unnecessary, and even dangerous, misunderstandings and barriers between mostly irrational human beings.
“Imagine Power To The People” John Lennon.
diskopi
November 3, 2009
great! this should be a real groovy show in penang.
multi-racial people attending workshop together is one of the way that we, the people, can contribute to the creation of our collective memories as bangsa malaysia and not just a separate collective memories of melayu, cina, india, iban, kadazan, orang asli etc etc.
bringing along friends of other race is really a great idea! its a really strategic step to the creation of bangsa malaysia creating our collective memories together. syabas SABM!