It was yet another cloudless sunny morning at Brickfields Asia College (BAC) but one could tell that something peculiar was up today. Having ditched their staple apparel of shorts and sandals, the students of UKT Year 1 arrived all dressed up in their smart casual attire, and rightfully so.
The MyConstitution workshop was to be held for the very first time at BAC in the air-conditioned refuge of the auditorium at level four. The main objective of the said workshop was to educate and raise awareness among the budding law students regarding the single most important document in our country. That’s right, guys; we’re talking about the Federal Constitution here.
The seminar was headed by Syah, a young lawyer and legal firm partner who was particularly cheerful despite it being nine in the morning.
The workshop kicked off with a little game where a series of supposingly controversial statements, ranging from the abolishment of the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the death penalty to allowing people from undergoing gender change, were thrown to the students. They were then given the option to either agree or disagree with the statements presented.
The students were equally divided in their stance as they made their decisions. A handful of reluctant students were called out to deliver and share their reasons as to why and how they came up with such conclusions. Their judgements appear to be either derived from the school of logical thinking or from their respective religious upbringings.
“The point of today is to think of the issue thoroughly and arrive with opinions which can be discussed and used to convince others,” said Leong, the co-conductor of the seminar, as he clarified the purpose of the previous game.
The students were then assigned into ten groups. Syah had a smirk on his face as he ensued to announce to them the first exercise of the day: reconstituting Earth 2.0.
He told us to liken the situation to the high-budget but underwhelming disaster movie, ‘2012’, where once again the only ones to survive every tsunami, earthquake and tectonic-related catastrophes are the Americans. Our goal was to pick six people out a list of twenty five candidates to lead the charge in building a new world and ensure the continuity of both mankind and humanity.
The students were given a meager time allowance of thirty minutes to come up with their respective group names and unanimously pick the six chosen ones. Voting was strictly prohibited; democracy failed to exist within the four walls of the auditorium on that fateful Thursday morning.
Each and every group was then asked to present their choices and their grounds for doing so before the audience. Students took into account the race and gender factor as they select the best six. One particular group elucidated their logic measuring the usefulness and resourcefulness of the candidates' respective skills; none of us could care less about the author of children’s books or the spiritual healer and adviser. This method of reasoning was echoed throughout most of the other groups.
Oddly enough, three groups opted for the beauty queen to be placed onboard the shuttle. These groups gave legitimate and perfectly understandable reasons concerning her superior genes, enhanced reproductivity abilities, entertainment quotient and 'certified hotness'. Yet, none of the groups were as bizarre as the sole group that decided to pick the orang Asli leader. Their rationale for doing so was due to his unrivalled skills in trekking rough and foreign terrains and the various other basic survival techniques he has acquired growing up in the jungles.
The most popular choices of the day proved to be the single mother with two children, followed by the odd-job labourer and the Indian farmer. It seems that nobody could resist the ‘get one mother, free two children’ deal. It was bad news for everyone else in the law profession though, with only one group deciding to go for the lawyer among the other candidates.
Leong noted that the main importance of the exercise was to demonstrate the significance of being able to discuss and debate conflicting opinions openly in a safe environment as opposed to immediately declaring it “Sensitive!” and shut down all subsequent discussions. The students could not agree more. Open discussion has led to better decisions and greater compromise during the aforesaid exercise.
“If anything, this exercise also shows hope in humanity; that the six people chosen will be able to get Earth 2.0 ready for a new beginning,” explained Leong. “The need of today’s programme is to show that we can agree to a basic set of values to govern the new world.”
Moving on, Syah proceeded to discuss about the necessities required to have a quality life. He then presented a simple, and perhaps primal, question to the students: what is needed for a quality life?
A myriad of opinions were given: security, happiness, food, education, peace, expression, money, healthcare, utilities, love, shelter, etc. A suggestion by a student of the fairer sex to include shopping malls onto the list drew laughter and much amusement from the crowd. Alas, this is Malaysia indeed.
Further answers include family, friends, companion, entertainment, privacy, religion, sleep, clothes and justice, nevertheless. A wise fellow student gave a mention of the internet and all across the hall, a sea of heads can be seen nodding in unison as they showcased their mutual agreement.
Though the exercise aforementioned might seem a tad juvenile at first glance, Syah explained that the criteria that made up a quality life closely relate to the core principles of human rights.
“The issues pertaining to human rights should be of concern to each and every one of us in our community, even if you are a Nasi Lemak 2.0 seller,” explained Syah, with a tongue-in-cheek reference to the recently released local movie about a man’s quest to create the ultimate Malaysian national dish.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), drafted by the United Nations in the year 1948, is the foundation of all enacted human rights articles worldwide. Its effect and influence were given explanation and put in simpler words to the students through various examples and illustrations.
“The original right, the right that began all rights, was the right to life,” said Leong, in regards to the utmost fundamental element in the issue of human liberties. “All the human rights enable you to maximize your development so that you can become the best person that you can be.”
The seminar ended on a high note with a poignant reading of the Proclamation of Independence Federation of Malaya by Leong. A food for thought, perhaps, to the students as they rose from their seats and headed towards the exit.
All in all, the MyConstitution workshop has been a success. The seminar was pulled off in a rather triumphant manner and much gratitude and appreciation was owed to the volunteers - Syah, Leong, Firdaus, Shawn, Joanne, Devan, Derek, Chris, Ian and Joachim. The event was realised through their efforts and hardwork behind the scenes.
Ignorance is certainly not bliss when our fundamental liberties are at stake, but rest assured that this is unlikely to happen as the ongoing MyConstitution campaign gathers up steam and goes from strength to strength.
Article by Nigel Lim. Photos by Ian Choong.
Nigel Lim is a UKT Year 1 student. He is normal.
