14 July, 2013
Civic Centre, MBPJ
KOMAS’ 20th anniversary fund raising dinner was a reunion of senior human rights advocates as well as a gathering of young activists in Malaysia. The “star-studded” event was participated by many Guest-of-Honour and VIPs including Speaker of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly, YB Hannah Yeoh Tseow Suan; National Laureate Dato A. Samad, fondly known as Pak Samad, Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament Nurul Izzah, and Bersih Chairperson Dato Ambiga Sreenevasan.
The “Buka Puasa” dinner event was almost fully attended with guests from all walks of life who filled almost all of the 80 tables. Among them were Orang Asli communities from Perak, Kelantan, Melaka, Selangor and other states. Urban poor communities from Rawang Jinjang, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor were also amongst the guests. Anti Lynas advocates SMSL came all the way from Pahang to participate in the dinner.
The National Union of Bank Employees Union (NUBE) was also present to share in the celebration together with human rights lawyers from Lawyers for Liberty, Loyar Burok, the Malaysian Bar council and other independent members of the legal profession. Prominent human rights NGOs such as Suaram, HYO, Bersih, KL Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) were also present.
The exciting dinner event was made livelier with the long list of dynamic performers who belted out mainly self composed songs with strong social messages and also several cultural performances by Orang Asli groups, Sabah and Sarawak members and KL home grown Band Rakyat! Some other highlight performances were by Nik Jidan, Antares Maitreya and rap group Orfeus (5forty2) and popular band Ito-Blues Gang.
KOMAS Board member and MC for the night, Jerald Joseph introduced KOMAS founder and Director Tan Jo Hann who addressed the packed hall sharing about activism in the 80s and 90s till the current times. He ended his speech with the message that activism must be sustainable in all aspects from financial to structural and especially the ability to maintain the pool of young activists to continue the work of transformation and human rights in Malaysia.
YB Hannah Yeoh highlighted the role of civil society movement in governance especially to act as the check and balance for good governance. The spirited young Assemblyman drew loud applause when she announced that the Selangor Government intends to implement local government elections by year end.
Seasoned social activist Paul Sinnappan who spoke on behalf of KOMAS partners gave a spirited and emotional sharing about the importance and role of KOMAS and how it has worked closely with the grassroots partners. BERSIH 2.0 Co-chairperson, Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan totally engaged the guests especially when she challenged the audience to join together for Bersih 4.0. This was met with loud applause and a resounding “YES” from the audience.
KOMAS board member Anna Har officially announced the launch of the 11th Freedom Film Festival 2013 with the theme “Switch on People Power. She shared that this year the famed human rights film festival would be expanding its coverage to other South East Asian countries.
Political cartoonist Zunar donated his cartoon masterpiece on the theme of “sedition” was auctioned off and the proceeds were donated to KOMAS.
The KOMAS 20th anniversary fund raising dinner was a melting pot of social activists and ordinary concerned Malaysians, all gathered to celebrate and commemorate the work of KOMAS for the past 20 years. It was a night to remember, and the message was clear that human rights and democracy is a mission shared by all, regardless of social class, religion, race and culture.
It is no doubt that KOMAS would definitely be with the people for another 20 years!
KOMAS’ 20th anniversary fund raising dinner photo gallery (credit:tristupe.com/alhanafi juhar)