Sarawak council members try to get to the heart of national unity

Two grassroots leaders from Sarawak appointed to the Cabinet's unity council are confident their work on the ground with youth and women will help them in their efforts to forge national unity.

Audrey Goh and Mohamad Ariff Azahari realise it will going to be tough going, but are confident they can help the unity cause with their grassroots base and their understanding of what matters to these communities.

The inclusion of “ordinary” people such as themselves, apart from politicians, academics and other well-known personalities, is what makes the newly formed National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) unique, they said.

Goh is a life member of the Sarawak Federation of Women's Institutes (SFWI) and Mohamad Ariff is the Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam) youth development committee chairman.

"It is good that the council includes those with titles before their names, but it is also promising that there are lay people like us," Goh said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the setting up of the NUCC last month in the aftermath of the 13th General Election, when national unity among Malaysians was put to the test several times, especially on issues affecting the sensitivities of the various communities.

The NUCC replaces the National Unity Advisory Panel, which ceased after the Emergency Ordinance was repealed two years ago.

It is made up of five working groups covering legal and national harmony policies, nation-building and cross-cultural understanding, inclusive development, youth and unity, and national integration.

Headed by Employees Provident Fund chairman Tan Sri Samsuddin Osman as president and social activist Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye as deputy, the panel includes PAS central executive committee member Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa, former deputy education minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, former Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee, activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir and Jagir Singh, president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism.

Goh and Mohamad Ariff are well placed to understand issues that matters to the women and youth communities of Sarawak.

Goh recalled that as a child, she often went to meetings with her mother, Datuk Ursula Goh, at the SFWI office in a wooden house in Miri.

"One of their core activities was cooking, so I was constantly fed by all the 'aunties' there.”

Ursula was the co-founder of SFWI and former area president for the Associated Country Women of the World for Southeast Asia in the 1980s.

Goh, a soft skills trainer by profession, now acts as a facilitator for the organisation by conducting training and development and organising capacity-building workshops for women at the grassroots level.

Her work is focused on enhancing women’s entrepreneurial skills in tandem with the changing needs of women.

The SFWI women, who are skilled in cooking, are now taught to leverage on their cooking and catering skills in order to become more financially independent, Goh added.

"This is to help them contribute to a better lifestyle for their families, instead of being dependent on the incomes of their husbands and fathers.”

Mohamad Ariff’s involvement with youth is mainly to nurture talent.

"In the youth development committee, we conduct programmes to tap the talent of youth through music, extreme games, busking for charity, all in the name of unity.”

To foster unity, Mohamad Ariff suggested more forums, cross-cultural activities and team-building programmes that will allow people of different races to work together and understand the importance of unity for economic growth and nation-building.

He said forging unity would always be a work-in-progress, as social engagement was not something one can quantify.

"There is no social return on investment. For instance, you cannot say that because of an anti- drug programme, a drug addict will stop his habit or change his attitude. There is no way of determining, no way of being sure.”

He said youth representation was also important as they were netizens who took easily to the alternative media.

As such, he said it was important that the council take a bottom-up approach instead of coming up with rules and regulations for people to follow.

As Goh puts it: “It’s not about us telling people what they have to do, instead, it must come from them.

"People must have greater participation in policies that affect them."

Mohamad Ariff agreed, saying that council members must equip themselves with knowledge of the country, people and culture to understand the sensitivities and aspirations of the people at grassroots level.

Goh said while there were enough academic papers done on how to tackle unity which “tickled the head”, what was needed was for the heart to be evoked.

"When the heart is not evoked, reconciliation and transformation cannot happen." She said one of the main issues that needed to be discussed by the council was the “Allah” ruling, which was a major grievance among the people.

In October, the Court of Appeal bench allowed Putrajaya's appeal on the ban of the word “Allah” from Catholic weekly “Herald”.

The decision sparked an outcry among Christians and other non-Muslims in the peninsula and in Sabah and Sarawak.

"If we are talking about rehabilitation, this must be one of the main areas to focus on for now.”

In Sarawak, however, the “Allah” ruling was not a major issue, as Putrajaya has been lenient in allowing the use of the word, she said.

Mohamad Ariff said unity among the people of Sarawak was still strong because of the foundation built in the past decades, but added that the “Allah” ruling had repercussions among Christians.

"This is worsened by the intention of a non-governmental organisation from the peninsula wanting to spread its wings here, mainly because of the ‘Allah’ issue.

"But we don't need or want them here, even our state leaders have made that clear."

Mohamad Ariff declined to name the NGO, but it was clear he was referring to Malay rights group Perkasa, whose secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali said last month that the group planned to extend its foothold in Sarawak.

Syed Hassan claimed that the Sarawak chapter has a membership of 3,000.

Mohamad Ariff said it would be a “danger to national unity” if that particular NGO's ideology spread to Sarawak.

He added that while Malaysians were generally caring and peace-loving, there was 10% who continued to instigate and fan racial and religious issues.

"Our job is to tone them down."

Goh, whose mother is a Kadazan from Sabah while her late father was Sarawakian, noted that people in Sabah and Sarawak appreciated each other’s practices and cultures.

"We delight in those differences and we see it as colourful facets in our cultural environment that spice up and enrich our lives," she said.

When asked about previous efforts by the Government to promote national unity having failed to produce the desired results, Goh said she was initially apprehensive whether the NUCC would be another propaganda tool.

"But I am convinced that it can bring some good, given that unknowns like me have been included into the council.”

As for Mohamad Ariff, a trainer by profession, he believed that national unity was worth striving for, and the failure of previous efforts was no reason to give up.

"It is going to be a challenge, but just because it is difficult, do we stop trying? No, we try harder." – December 15, 2013.