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Of course, in the case of the MyConstitution Campaign, it was drawn up and pieced together in kopitiams
in the Klang Valley, the musty meeting rooms of the Bar Council secretariat and through cyberspace, by a group of individuals whose common denominator was probably a shared respect and sense of responsibility for the Constitution.

This is not a government endeavour; and there is no political party or non-governmental organisation that helms it. Although the committee that runs the campaign was set up under the aegis of the Bar Council, it has been left to run independently.

The campaign was born of the collective desire of the committee of lawyers, academics, students, media persons and activists to increase awareness of the Federal Constitution among all Malaysians.

It has certainly been a good start. We spread our message through the means available to all Malaysians — word of mouth and the cavernous reach of the Internet.

We make our mark through our deeds and our products, rather than any concerted public relations drive.

Our logo was fashioned from magic pens and creative ennui during an overly long meeting, after the coffee and roti bakar had dried up.

Our rakyat service advertisements spring from the creative well of the committee members — the same well that carries an appreciation of the Constitution and every Malaysian’s place in it.

Probably because of this, our logo and rakyat service advertisements carry the essence of our campaign more truly than the genius of an advertising storyboard ever could.

Our "Rakyat Guides" booklets are printed on the back of a Bar Council loan (to whom we are literally indebted), public largesse and hours of haggling over printing costs with the much beleaguered but always dependable 'Daniel The Printer'.

Where we can, we cajole or charm with food and drink our friends like Joe Kidd, and Fahmi and Fikri Fadzil, to lend their skills to our campaign for next to nothing (all right, mostly nothing!).

We hold forums where we bring people with knowledge of the Constitution to you. We hold workshops,where we try to make the content of the Constitution real for you.

We have not turned down any request to talk about or promote the campaign (although we have had to stagger them, because of time constraints).

What awareness there is of the campaign has come from our activities and from the media attention that they receive.

We are, as yet, financially unable to distribute the booklets freely although we are working on it. Yet we are determined that no one who wishes to learn should be charged for it.

So we ask for a donation of RM1 per booklet to meet our costs.

We put up the booklets on our perlembagaanku.com website, where you can freely read and download them, and we are quite happy for you to photocopy our booklets and distribute them to your friends.

We expend our personal time and effort to carry out forums and workshops, and in return we ask that you distribute our booklets and spread the message of the campaign.

In this, we are indebted to all the speakers and guests who have participated in our activities — not a single one has asked for or received payment.

This is an apolitical campaign. At the same time, we will work with the government, Federal and State alike, to achieve our goal of reaching as many Malaysians as possible, so long as they understand that the purpose of our booklets is to summarise what the Constitution says, and not what any one party believes it to say.

One of the primary motivations behind this campaign is that the Constitution has often been misquoted
or misinterpreted for political purposes.

Our purpose is simple. It is to set out for you the basics of the Constitution as simple as possible.

We are not going to give you constitutional "answers" to the current political issues that plague our country.

We have faith that all Malaysians are able to reason for themselves if they are armed with some knowledge of what the Constitution says.

Whether you are left, right, fundamental, liberal, a cynic or an idealist — the Constitution belongs to all of you. What you learn about the Constitution may well support your beliefs or it may change them.

More likely than not, what you learn about the Constitution will only show you how much you don’t know and how much is subject to interpretation.

Even that is something you need to know.

If the Constitution does not clearly say something, you won’t be fooled when someone in a position of authority says it does.

What we are ultimately hoping for is this: That you see what we see — the Constitution is the structure around which our democracy and our society has taken shape, and the shape it takes in the future will depend on how well you and I — not the government, not the judiciary, not even Parliament — but how well you and I protect it.

As one campaigner, Yeoh Tung Seng, said: “My bones in my body, MyConstitution in my country.”

The 99 campaigners of the MyConstitution campaign have been taking this campaign, one booklet at a time and one activity at a time, into every household in Malaysia. From our kitchen table, to yours.

What do we want from you in return? Take the time to read our booklets. Participate in our forums and workshops. When you’re sitting in a traffic jam or waiting in line somewhere for your number to be called, think about what we say and what we’ve written.

When you take in the local news, let yourself be analytical now that you know something about the Constitution. Indulge your curiosity and learn more about constitutional issues. Discuss it with your friends, family, colleagues. What we want from you is for you to read, think, discuss, decide.

And, well, some spare change would be nice!

• Maha Balakrishnan is a member of the Constitutional Law Committee, Bar Council Malaysia (www.malaysianbar.org.my/constitutional_law_committee). The views expressed in this article are personal to the writer and may not necessarily represent the position of the Bar Council. Contact us at perlembagaanku@gmail.com if you would like to work with us on the campaign.