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What's Being Done On . . . Civic Education for Democracy ?
Interview with Cynthia Gabriel, Executive Director of Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram), and a participant in the World Movement Q: Suaram has been quite successful in its work promoting the civil liberties enshrined in the Malaysian Human Rights Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by organizing human rights workshops, advocating for human rights, and fighting against violations of civil and political rights. Please tell us what Suaram's main activities are, and some of its main accomplishments? A: Suaram's main activities involve promoting and protecting human rights in Malaysia. Our work includes very fundamental aspects of human rights promotion, such as documenting and monitoring human rights violations, publishing an annual status report documenting human rights records, conducting campaigns on human rights issues, and promoting civic education. Suaram also spends considerable time facilitating human rights discourse and building coalitions among NGOs for longer-term democracy building purposes. Measuring the success of our human rights and democracy work can be difficult. During our first decade, however, Suaram has achieved great accomplishments by pushing and testing the boundaries to create a bigger democratic space for the advancement of human rights. We have played a crucial role in broadening perspectives on human rights within the NGO community, political parties, and the general public, although this process is a long and difficult one that needs much work. Q: How do you set the priorities for your organization, especially in connection with what you see as the leading challenges facing Malaysia today? How can civic education programs contribute to addressing those challenges? A: Suaram's three program strategies include: facilitating and helping build new initiatives in human rights promotion, making the Malaysian government accountable for its human rights record, and intervening to ensure the protection of human rights. Suaram strives to maintain its collective nature, which has been characteristic of the organization since its inception. Suaram's board, which is elected yearly at a Friends of Suaram consultation, ultimately sets the organization's agenda in terms of program, direction and decision making. Suaram realizes that the culture of rights in Malaysian society has steadily eroded under an authoritative leadership. We believe Suaram and other human rights advocates must rise to the occasion and form a link between human rights and civic education. This would help Malaysians to understand that human rights is not a foreign concept, but rather a core set of universal principles that we have to embrace. Q: How do you see Suaram's work in civic education developing in the future? In what ways does Suaram form linkages between civic education and democracy in the country? A: In Malaysia, demands for training programs and workshops on human rights and civic education have been on the rise, and many participants in our workshops have been exposed to new approaches and ideas. However, there is much room for improvement and advancement to further our outreach since we must have a consistent, long-term strategy of reaching and following-up with the groups we train. More resources, financial and otherwise, will surely be needed to develop this area of work. Given this long process, our civic education programs work towards building a more conscious and aware citizenry. Democratic participation is a key component of the syllabus of our trainings, and we hope that over a period of time, the people of Malaysia will become a more assertive citizenry that will push for greater political and democratic participation. Q: Recently, your organization held a conference called "Know Your Rights Workshop," during which participants discussed human rights principles and concepts, human rights laws, how to make human rights complaints, and human rights and gender. How can such programs help civic education groups create an open dialogue to build awareness and increase participation? A: The content of the workshops is highly relevant to all Malaysians. We need to know what our rights are, and we need to be able to identify violations of human rights and know how to redress those violations. We hope that other civic education groups will become more concerned with human rights and will start their own circles of dialogue and debate. Q: Thank you very much. We congratulate Suaram's success in bridging human rights and civic education, and we wish you the best of luck in your future work. About "What's Being Done On . . . " For three months at a time, we highlight the activities of various organizations in different global regions, and links to important resources, that are focused on a particular theme or area of democracy work. Each new theme is announced via DemocracyNews, and the information from the previous installment is placed in the archives below. We hope to receive and post information about the work you or others may be doing that is focused on these issues. Send information via e-mail to the or by fax to (202) 378-9889. |
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