In my first foray into the local NGO scene, I was lucky enough to have found the serendipity and blessed enough to have discover the beginner’s luck.

To put it simply, it has been a rewarding and fulfilling experience that possibly made the NGO experience highly addictive to me, for the rest of my life.

It is of great pleasure to be able to work with Y4C. Y4C, short for Youth for Change, is a newcomer in the Malaysian NGO scene, yet the quality of the programs organized has never been a reflection of their inexperience. In just one year, they managed to build up remarkable connections with other NGOs in Malaysia, gathered a massive volunteer base, and most importantly, organized activities that have never been done before by other NGOs. The latter played a pivotal role in getting me to sign up as a volunteer.

During the recent by-election in some places in other states, they organized trips to the locations of the election. They ran into trouble with a political party affiliated with the ruling party, who thought they were some opposition groups and subsequently stalked them to monitor their every actions. It takes lots of audacity to be at that position, I reckoned, but they managed to stay together and get back safely. This is exactly what makes civil society movement so exciting - the defiance that you get to display, together with like-minded people around the country.

I did not have the time to go on the trip, plus I was rather afraid of things back then. But that incident inspires me a lot. A friend of mine claimed that the trip was indeed an “eye-opening” experience, opening her eyes to the true state of “democracy” of the country.

The first project that I worked on is the Young Voter’s Campaign. It was organized based on the premise that more than 4.9 million Malaysians above the age of 21 are not registered as a voter in the country, most of whom are young people congregated around urban areas like the Klang Valley.

I knew I wanted to do this. The alarming figure will consequently bring another dimension to electoral unfairness. That is, the true voices might not be reflected in the electoral results in this so-called democratic country.

Malaysians generally have a lot to complain. Traffic jams, rotten education system, racial discrimination, social inequality, poor public transportation system, corruption, lack of transparency, poor public delivery service, and of course denial of basic/fundamental human rights allocated under the Federal Constitution. The problem? These people however, never show their resentment through the cross on their ballot paper, or at least do not see the need to do so due to the general perception that the ruling party will always win ( through various means of course, like the control on media and the election commission, the mobilization of government’s machinery, huge campaigning budget (read: tax payer’s money), and of course, a never ending list of ( ) promises [never mind the EMPTY bracket].)

The next thing I know is, I wrote a little write-up about myself, and was called to their meeting subsequently.

I was overwhelmed with the familiar nervous disposition I used to have when I first joined the team because of the same ol‘ reason: I was afraid of what it could mean if I voice my opinions and give my ideas. I really do.

I was a little perturbed by virtue of my (not very young, but relatively young) age and my lack of experience. Being the youngest person to participate in this activity, the worse things that could happen is when people dismiss you as being young and think you should be hanging out at Friendster or My Space or playing (insert name of latest computer games) instead of doing this.

Nevertheless and thankfully, things turn out to be totally different and I instead get the nicest people that I’ve ever met to take me really seriously, who clearly displayed and conveyed through their every actions and behaviors, that every idea is equally important, regardless of your age and experience.

That itself made me stay on. It is also great for me to see people who are so passionate about civil society movement, coming together and making sacrifices and commitment to champion the cause that they really felt strongly for. What I see is the purest and most genuine form of passion and motivation, because money is completely out of the picture (since it is plain volunteering). While I am glad to meet such people, I am even more excited to know that there are so many passionate people in the country championing for various noble causes - perhaps a spark of hope for a better country in future?

I too am intrigued that meetings are really, really productive. And by saying that, I am saying there are sheer effectiveness in the conduct of these meetings, where there will surely be results or some form of finalization, unlike in situation where there could possibly be no outcome after a few hours of being in the boardroom in the corporate world.

It also occur to me that the NGO movement in Malaysia is like an interconnected huge “underground” web where everyone is so united, so together and seem to know each other. Throughout my involvement with Y4C, I met people from Bar Council, film director, columnist, people from CIJ, AWAM, Suaram and other NGOs, as well as some political figures, something that I wouldn’t imagine would happen to me few months before. Thanks to Y4C.

Meeting new people has always been my passion, especially meeting like-minded and more matured people. I benefited a lot through my meeting with other volunteers. Jien Sing, for example gave me a lot of info about American universities. He went to University of California Berkeley, one of the elite schools in US and the world. These information are extremely crucial for me to know since I will be applying to US schools end of this year. Joyce Tagal, the expert in US application is also someone I am utterly thrilled to meet. I’ve read her blog for a very long time but have never met her or seen her. Not forgetting wonderful people who made my life more enriching. People like Lai Ming, Su-Ann, Roseline, Regina, Patrick, and other wonderful people are really fun to have as a friend. I have also finally spoken to Tony Pua. I previously have seen him and had emailed him but never spoke to him in person before. Not forgetting people like Khai Loon and Yee Ling who’d gave me many learning opportunities and taught me many things.

My most critical contribution to the team and ultimately to the cause, albeit it was rather insignificant, is doing copywriting work in the project. Rudimentarily, my responsibility is to write a leaflet to educate the public about voting right.

The challenge? To make things comprehensible for the general public.

The leaflet team met up during weekends, write lots of drafts, discussed, send emails, show friends to proof read, etc, etc. The leaflet is there to inform the public about their rights, and more importantly, what should they be taking into consideration when putting that crucial cross on that ballot.

Of course, we can’t say things like, “Article XX of the federal constitution states that every citizen must vote….”. That itself is a total turn off. I did read the constitution, and mind you, it is an agonizing process. Reading the Malaysian constitution is the last thing in mind for the general public. Upon much deliberation, we’ve come up with 7 different issues that we believe the public should take into account when making the political decision. They are: freedom of press, freedom of association, embracing diversity, separation of power, government transparency, competent governance, and most importantly, fair election.

Bearing in mind that we can’t write things like “Freedom of press is allocated under Article 10 of the Constitution of Malaysia. In Reporters Without Borders’ annual Press Freedom index, Malaysia ranked…..”, and that nobody wants to read something that sounds like a legal statement, convoluted with jargon and terms that aren’t that accessible to the general public, we finally reached a note of concordance to firstly tell people what are their rights with respect to each of the 7 issues outlined in a fairly simple way.

For “Freedom of Press” for instance, we said, “A free press is like your eyes and mouth……You are intelligent enough to judge for yourself… You don’t need someone else to censor …..” Basically, we used highly anecdotal and relevant context in order to convey our thoughts effectively.

After knowing their fundamental rights and what they are entitled to, we then tell them the consequences of voting blindly without caring for the particular issue. Lastly, we illustrate the benefit that the people will get if they care and are concerned.

Just some example, for the “Competent Governance” part, we have this:

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Competent governance
A competent government strives for progress and an open and just society. A competent government is also efficient and able to please the people. And you are entitled to that.

If you don’t care…

• You might need to wait for a long time to get your passport done – you might miss your flight!
• You will not be able to speak up even when you feel you need to – that is like taping your mouth with tapes.
• You might be discriminated through government policies because you are of Race X or Gender Y or Sexuality Z

If you care…

· Everything is done efficiently. This improves the competitiveness of Malaysians. – And you don’t have to miss your flight

· You can tell the government what you think and provide them constructive feedback to improve – they will take your interests into account to provide you with what you want (that’s reliable public transport, fair education system, livable environment etc)

· Everyone is treated equally, it is a fair and just society

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One of my biggest personal accomplishments is to overcome my personal fear – the fear of going out to the street and talk to people/distribute stuffs in outreaching activities. The notion of outreach programs in this campaign left me in uttershock. Questions started popping out. I was really not receptive to the idea of talking to random people on the street.

People would probably think I have lost my sanity. The worst thing is of course, being treated rudely by some people. I guess I was too into my youthful idealism that Malaysians are friendly (which is not really the case) and so naively believed that everyone is as nice as how I treated people. Sigh, what has befallen mankind…

Far from my sluggish beginning, I am now proud to say I have managed to overcome that street phobia. I have learned to stay true to myself and be indifferent to what others might think about me. I have come to learn to take pride in whatever I do. Whether or not people think I am being jerk for talking to people whom I do not know is totally another issue.

There are situations where I was ignored completely, and there are situations where I was thought to be some bogeyman or salesperson. A friend of mine, who also volunteered, said something very enlightening. He advised everyone that we (volunteers) should not bear reservations on the fear of altering our own “friendly Malaysians perception”, but instead should open up our eyes to see the real world.

That itself is insightful, and perhaps is the reason behind my determination on doing this till the end of it, apart from opening my eyes to see for myself the true reality of the Malaysian way of life. Of course, some people are kind enough to listen to you. Some offered to help! Some gives constructive feedback, some teases their friends for not voting! Anyhow, as I am writing this now (two months after the outreach activities), I reckoned it was not a bad thing either. It actually indicates the diversity of the human race, the various behaviors and attitudes of people. That diversity shapes the world like it is today, add sugar and spices to our everyday lives.

Throughout my volunteering period, I had on several times went on to the activities without informing my dad about it. Uh-oh. (Insert horror theme from X-files with the sound of lightning strike)

Yes, I know, that is not a very good son of me (for not telling him about it). If I did, he probably (like he did before) exaggerate and tell me things like getting arrested, as if all people who work with NGOs will be arrested. This undermines my ability to make informed judgment of what is happening in the “real” world. I felt offended. This is also the reason why people are reluctant to join NGOs - the fear of getting arrested following the introduction of oppressive laws introduced by the government.

I am clearly aware of how people get arrested and how the ISA and other “draconian” laws work. Event like the Young Voter’s Campaign is neutral, non-bias, and has educational purposes (in fact, taking over the educational role from the authorities who seemed to prefer people to not vote in general election). I personally do not foresee any trouble with the authorities by involving with it.

Moving forward, I do not think I will stop doing what I did, even though it did not augur well with my dad. After all, my life is all about myself. I am in charge of making decision for myself, not he making decision for me. Furthermore, the cause that I champion for is too great for me to rest in the laurels and merely hope things will happen itself in the country.

What’s next?

Be on a constant lookout for opportunities to champion for greater cause and issues that I felt strongly for.