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!”

Bearskins, Bagpipe and British Weather

In the second week of June each year British High Commissions and Embassies around the world celebrate the official birthday of HM Queen Elizabeth II. I say official birthday because The Queen’s real birthday is in April! But June is usually nicer weather! This year she was 84 and still going strong!

These celebrations are universally known as the Queen’s Birthday Party, or QBP for short, and is effectively our National Day. There is no set format for the party, except that it is required to mark the occasion in an appropriate way and to toast the good health of Her Majesty. In Kuala Lumpur, the High Commissioner has traditionally held a large reception in his official Residence, attended by all the main contacts of the High Commission. This is an opportunity to say thank you to all our Malaysian friends for their help and support during the year.

 

This year, we decided to combine the QBP with UK Armed Forces Day, which also falls in June and to bring in a touch more military flavour than is normal. A local airline kindly agreed to fly out two Grenadier Guardsmen, who looked splendid in their bright red uniforms and black bearskin hats (they really are made of bear’s skin!), as they mounted guard outside the house. Many of the ladies attending the party were happy to have their photographs taken alongside these two hunky young men! We also had the services of two Gurkha bagpipers, who are currently serving in Brunei with the Sultan.

Guest of honour for the evening – and proposer of the toast to The Queen - was Dato’, Mustapa Mohamed Minister of Trade and Industry, a good friend and someone I have very much enjoyed working with during my time in Malaysia. In response I was delighted to propose a reciprocal toast to HM The Yang di-Pertuan Agong. All 750+ guests raised their glasses, and we were entertained to the singing of the British and Malaysian national anthems by a local schoolgirl with a beautiful voice. Traditional fish and chips and a selection of delicious British cheeses were also served. A Liverpudlian member of my staff was particularly pleased to see that one of these was “Creamy Lancashire”!

Among the guests were Ministers and senior officials, MPs, captains of Malaysian industry, representatives of civil society, British businessmen and other members of the large British community. No-one seemed too put off by the fact that it rained throughout the party, prompting me to remind everyone of a saying in my home country of Northern Ireland: “If you can’t see the hills, it’s raining…If you can see the hills, it’s going to rain!” Typical British weather!!!

God's Little Acre

Col. Jacques Lemay, UK Defence Advisor and WO Chris Hardman, Assistant

Defence Advisor at the plaque to commemorate the fallen in "God's Little Acre"

Each year for the last four years, I have spent the second week-end in June in Perak. Why? To attend a memorial service held in Batu Gajah to commemorate those who lost their lives during the Malayan Emergency. Why Batu Gajah? Because it is there, in a small cemetery near the Church of the Holy Trinity that are to be found the graves of first three planters to be killed in June 1948. That cemetery is known as “God’s Little Acre”.

For me this has become a very special week-end. It is an opportunity to remember not only the planters who died, but also the miners, policemen and soldiers who fell to defend Malaya. Many of these men were British, Australian or New Zealanders. And increasing numbers of Commonwealth servicemen and their families come each year to participate in the ceremonies. But it was neither the Brits, nor the Aussies, nor the Kiwis who are responsible for organising these memorial services. They were initiated by Malaysians who wanted to honour the dead and protect their memory.                                                      I lay a wreath at "God's Little Acre" memorial

So the week-end is also a chance to say thank you to those Malaysians: to the Malaysian Palm Oil Association - Perak, who have a special Little Acre Sub-Committee and to Dato’ Thambipillay, former Chief Police Officer Perak, who has been a prime mover in Batu Gajah for thirty years.

Gurkha bagpipers and buglers with standard bearer from the

Royal British Legion in Thailand

Services are also held over the week-end to mark other events when Commonwealth forces came to the aid of Malaya/Malaysia:

- at the Cenotaph in Ipoh outside the main railway station, which was re-dedicated three years ago, which commemorates those lost in the First and Second World Wards, the Emergency and the Indonesian Confrontation;

- at the Malaysian Rangers regiment camp at Suvla Lines, which contains the graves of 28 Gurkha soldiers who died during the Emergency and Confrontation; and

- at the Sikh Community Centre, which commemorates the Battle of Kampar in 1942, when British and Indian Army soldiers fought a valiant holding action against the attacking Japanese Army.

My week-end was made this year by meeting Arthur, a former British serviceman, who fought with the Royal Marines in Crete and the Western Front. On being de-mobbed after the end of the Second World War, Arthur joined the police in Palestine, where he saw further action. In 1948, like many of his colleagues, he moved pretty much straight from the Middle East to Malaya, at the outbreak of the Emergency. I found Arthur chatting away animatedly to Dato’ Sri Yuen Yuet Leng, former Chief Police Officer Perak, author of “Nation before Self” and one of Malaysia’s heroes from that period. They were both looking at photos from another mate from those days, who had with him an album with lovely sepia photographs of the three of them in the days when they fought the “CTs” (Communist Terrorists). It was a privilege listening to their memories.

Col.Jacques Lemay giving speech at the Sikh Community memorial service

to honour in particular those who fell in the Battle of Kampar.

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Emergency in 1960. It is good to know that these memories are still being preserved. To quote the words read at British memorial services across the world:

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn;

At the going down of the sun and in the morning;                                                             

                                                          

We will remember them.