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Contributed by Chan Weng Keng

Roundtable Talk on Democratisation After 50 Years of Merdeka: Challenges and Way Forward (in conjunction with the '50:44 Merdeka Celebrations: Remembering the Peoples who Built this Nation')

Every person lives a life. Somewhere along this journey, that person chooses to relate experiences he or she has been through, so that lessons can be learned and pitfalls avoided.

A nation is similarly like that. We choose to relate the stories of our experiences that we have gone through after 50 years of independence.

In a sense, independence can be taken to mean a compilation of these stories, since the transfer of powers from British colonial rule 50 years ago.

However, how these stories are transmitted to the citizenry is all the more important as finding the correct solution to problems facing a nation If only some stories are told, while others left out or not given equal prominence, the big picture becomes lop-sided and the value of those experiences could be diminished. What is left out become 'untold stories' according to a coalition of civil society organizations (CSOs) including the Human Rights Committee of the Bar Council (HRC), set up to celebrate '50:44' independence day in terms of 50 years of struggle for human dignity and human rights, especially the forgotten stories (see www.50-44.org).

Such struggles are related under a broad spectrum of topics ranging from citizenship, democratisation, gender, sexuality, migrant workers, refugees, freedom of information and expression, environment, children, youth, disabilities, race, religion, indigenous peoples, federation, to development. They are slotted in under a main celebration which will be held during the period of 6th -16th September 2007 to remember the "Malaysia Day" at the Central Market Annexe in the form of forums, conference, road shows, theatre shows, workshops, book launches, film screening, memorials and others.

The HRC is co-organising with SUARAM (Suara Rakyat Malaysia) and AI (Amnesty International) in addition to spearheading the initiative on democratisation. In this regard, the Deputy Chair of HRC, Andrew Khoo, and two other members, Richard Wee and Haris Ibrahim will be actively involved in a roundtable talk on democratisation after 50 years of Merdeka. They will be addressing issues of democratisation in terms of the Federal Constitution, the Judiciary and a recent initiative, the People's Parliament respectively as well as coming up with some answers to what can be done to accelerate democratisation in Malaysia. The other participants in this initiative will be representatives from diverse groups and interest.

Among the focal questions, anticipated to be the subject of serious and thorough discussions will be whether after 50 years of independence:

• is our democracy moving forward or otherwise?
• have the various constitutional provisions on basic freedoms and liberties been considerably weakened over the past 50 years, especially under the emergency laws which have long outlived its purpose?
• what lessons can be learned from the past 50 years, and how can we identify, and overcome the major obstacles to democratisation in Malaysia?
• if democratisation has indeed been eroded in Malaysia, what can the citizenry do to reclaim lost freedoms and restore democracy?

As a member of the Bar or a citizen, if you are interested in the above questions, you are cordially invited to attend this roundtable discussion on 6 September 2007 (Thursday) [9am-5pm] at Annexe, Central Market, Kuala Lumpur.

Admission is free. Please fill in the registration form for the organisers to prepare lunch and refreshments. For other information, please contact myself (HRC 03-20313003), Yohen (AI 03-79552680), or Yap Swee Seng (SUARAM 0122015272).

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