PETALING JAYA, April 20 — Projek SAMA was officially launched today as an organisation advocating institutional reform to enhance political stability and accountability in Malaysia with four core aspects — strengthening constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy, rule of law, and federalism.
The NGO was founded by former Coalition of Free and Fair Elections (Bersih) figures such Ngeow Chow Ying, Thomas Fann, Beverly Joeman, Rama Ramanathan, Datuk Dr Abdul Halim Yusof, and Wo Chang Xi as well as Professor Wong Chin Huat who is still involved with the group.
Ngeow said that the NGO was formed “to talk about certain ideas, to give the general public a narrative that they can take on their own and amplify,” during her opening speech here.
“First is institutional reform, because structurally, we have some problems and we have to talk about that,” she said.
In light of the numerous race, religion and royalty (3R) issues that has circulated less than a month ago, Projek SAMA said it aims to pave the way for citizens to discuss ideas rather than igniting fire in 3R issues.
“In the absence of ideas, identity politics thrive,” said Wong, who is also a political scientist at Sunway University.
Fann, in his speech, reminisced a time where children were innocent and carefree and how things have changed now as kids participate in spewing hatred and ultimately urged that this needs to change.
Currently Projek SAMA is also working on women’s representation in parliament and state legislative assemblies, a part of its institutional reform efforts.
Also present at the launch were Bersih chairman Faisal Abdul Aziz, Bersih executive director Ooi Kok Hin, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) chief executive officer Tricia Yeoh, Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) chairman Ahmad Fahmi Mohd Samsudin, Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia chairman Stanley Yong Yew Wei, and parliamentary expert Maha Balakrishnan.
Foreign dignitaries in attendance included Canadian High Commissioner Wayne Robson, Belgian Ambassador Peter Van Acker, Deputy Head of Mission of the Ukrainian embassy in Malaysia Mykhailiuk Denys, Singapore Deputy High Commissioner Shivakumar Nair, and European Union delegation First Counsellor Joanna Wasiewska.
Earlier this month, Projek SAMA participated in the “Maaf Zahir Batin 365 (#MZB365)” campaign to urge Malaysians towards reconciliation, amid worsening communal provocation in the country along with other NGOs such as Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim), the Kuala Lumpur And Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) and others.
The campaign leans on a tradition from Hari Raya Aidilfitri last week, when Muslims would exchange greetings of “Maaf Zahir Batin”, meaning “Please forgive my wrongs, both thoughts and deeds”, with the “365” indicating it will run for a year rather than just the month of Syawal.
