I missed some old heart beats at cpiasia.net, so here's one deja-wooing:
Civil Society Award: Ordinary people, extraordinary feats
Non Governmental Organisations
Written by NGOs
Thursday, 10 December 2009 12:06
Who in civil society, over the past year, played the most important role in defending freedom of political participation and opening a greater space for social freedom and democracy?
We shall find out tonight at the 2nd Civil Society Award ceremony at the Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH).
No, the honoree is not necessarily someone or some high-profile body that is noisiest in demanding for human rights. That the civil liberty movement comprises a bunch of contentious malcontents is certainly a deliberate, mischievous misrepresentation by the powers that be.
In fact, among the winners of last year’s inaugural award was “a humble association of ordinary people living in a small kampung”.
Their story: In 2005, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and the Gombak land office had instructed the villagers to vacate their houses so that the existing 33-kv transmission lines could be replaced with 275-kv high tension transmission lines. The 5,000 residents feared that radiation from the power lines proposed to be installed near two schools, SRJK (C) San Yuk Rawang and SMK Rawang, would harm the children’s health.
The village association of Sungai Terentang, Rawang then proposed alternative alignments for the cables that would run across vacant agricultural land as well as not require resettlement of the residents.
Their proposal was rejected without any acceptable reason given. As so often happens, TNB sought to evict the residents forcibly with the assistance of TNB auxiliary police, Selayang municipal council enforcement officers and Rawang police.
When the villagers including children demonstrated, several of them were arrested. The Sg Terentang association was next compelled to take its case to the High Court where a judicial review has been approved.
Many members of the public might not have heard of the Sg. Terentang village association before. But average men and women standing up against bullying by big business in cahoots with the establishment serves to remind us all that justice has to be fought for every step of the way, inch by inch – by Pakciks and Makciks, Uncles and Aunties, and every stakeholder in this country.
Other winners last year
Co-winner of the Civil Society Award presented by the KLSCAH on Aug 28, 2008 was Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA.
The multiethnic and non-partisan GMI deservedly earned this recognition for having successfully “exposed the cynical political motives behind the ISA detentions, exposed the physical and mental torture of the detainees, and brought pressure upon the Malaysian government to release all the detainees”.
“GMI’s initial priorities were to stand in solidarity with the detainees and their families, to provide the detainees’ families with moral and material support, and to assist them in obtaining information on the whereabouts, conditions and treatment of their loved ones,’ said Aliran president P. Ramakrishnan, speaking on behalf of award’s selection committee.
One of the most vocal GMI activists is Norlaila Othman whose husband Mat Shah Satray was among the longest held ISA detainees. A schoolteacher, Laila’s involvement in activism is telling of how common folks can be unexpectedly thrown into such a role when a government wages war on its own people – or “the use and abuse of ISA continues each time the government chooses repression as its preferred way to managing dissent”, according to the judges’ citation.
The third co-winner of the award was the Kedah state quit rent review special taskforce. In January 2006, the Kedah state government had wanted to increase the quit rent imposed on the Chinese Recreational Club Stadium from RM250 per annum to a whopping RM25,142 p.a.!
The taskforce, although accused of behaving like an Opposition party and being anti-government, still managed to collect 12,000 signatures in support of their campaign. And two weeks before the March 8 general election, Kedah capitulated and announced that it would review the quit rent.
However, the fresh proposal was to have differential rates for bumiputera and non-bumiputera landowners. The recalcitrance of the then Barisan Kedah state government only goes to show that seeking justice is an ever continuing struggle demanding the utmost stamina and resilience.
Among last year’s nominees also were Suaram, R. Nadeswaran, better known as Citizen Nades of theSun newspaper, David Lim Yong Chew (in his personal capacity) of the Kedah quit rent review special taskforce and Centre for Policy Initiatives director Dr Lim Teck Ghee.
Nominees for 2009
This year, two individuals have been nominated – news portal Malaysia Today founder Raja Petra Kamarudin and activist Wong Chin Huat.
Meanwhile the nominees from organizations are:
* Sarawak Penan community
* Bersih
* Hindraf
* Committee defending Damansara school
* Jerit (Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas)
* Sisters in Islam
* Committee against the use of cyanide in gold mining in Bukit Koman, Raub.
They will be judged for actively promoting the co-operation of civil groups from different background and areas; initiating and pioneering social reforms; and promoting communication and interaction among different ethnic groups.
This year’s judges are KLSCAH vice president of Ser Choon Ing, Empower chairman Maria Chin Abdullah, Aliran president P. Ramakrishnan, Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan, columnist and art worker Hishammudin Rais, Tamil Foundation’s K. Arumugam and JIM president Zaid Kamaruddin.
KLSCAH’s acknowledgment of civil society participants and organizations is an indirect evaluation of the overall performance of a nascent civil society that Malaysians are depending on to help move the country towards a greater progressiveness. – cpiasia.net
_________________
No comments:
Post a Comment