Engaging With Civil Society

One of the great things about my job as High Commissioner is that I get to meet people from all walks of life. Not only in government and the business sector, though both are very important, but also with civil society, or what are often known as Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). We in the High Commission work with a wide range of NGOs dealing with everything from human rights through wildlife protection to climate change. Engagement takes a variety of forms, but it often involves some sort of inter-action with British entities such as the sharing of relevant experience, collaborating with the High Commission for an event and/or capacity building.

This week a group of about 25 people from 15 NGOs came to my residence to thank me for the support we have been able to offer over the last four years. I was happy to tell our guests that we had been delighted with what we had been able to do and hoped they had also derived benefit. We wanted to maintain our engagement and to build on what had been achieved so far. It was encouraging that civil society appeared to be making an increasingly important contribution in Malaysia, as had been the case for many years in the UK.

Some of the collaborative projects I and my guests highlighted were:

• a project with the Centre for Independent Journalism to produce a draft legislation framework on Freedom of Information, which may soon be reflected in state law in Selangor

• assistance with the establishment of Reef Check Malaysia and the Responsible Tourism Initiative/Annual Award show (both now a sustainable annual effort)

• development with WWF Malaysia of Malaysia's first High Conservation Value Forest national toolkit

• support for British and Malaysian scientists working to improve the understanding of tropical forest ecology in Danum Valley, Sabah, under the auspices of the Royal Society

• organization of annual climate change forums in conjunction with the Chevening Alumni Association, and panelists from broad sectors of society.

• contribution towards the establishment of the ASEAN Regional Action Plan on Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora (2005-2010) and ASEAN-Wildlife Enforcement Network

• support for Transparency International’s national conference on political financing and recent work on reforms in political financing

• work with Sisters In Islam (SIS) in organising a visit to the UK of a Malaysian delegation consist of a Syariah Court Judge, syariah lawyer, state mufti and imam to forge a greater understanding of Islamic law and practices in the UK.

• support for the Chevening Alumni Malaysia, which is one of the most active such groups of Chevening scholars anywhere in the world

• organization with KOMAS (communications centre for Human Rights) of a training workshop on lobbying.

A common theme in many of these projects is good governance. I was delighted to hear from our guests that they much appreciated our support. Even though the sums of money involved were modest, they had often helped to achieve something that would not otherwise have been possible. Reef Check said expressly that:” if it had not been for the British High Commission’s assistance, we would not be active in Malaysia today!”