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Project Stability and Accountability for Malaysia (Projek – SAMA)

An initiative to advocate for institutional reforms to advance political stability and accountability at a time our nation steers through democratization into the uncharted waters of hung parliaments and coalition governments.

Vision

A Malaysia in which political competition is driven by policy, competence and integrity, and not ethnicity, religion and language.

Mission

We advance and promote political stability and accountability through institutional reforms in four main areas : –

Constitutional Monarchy, in which all Rulers stay above partisan politics to act as the unifying force for all Malaysians and enable elected leaders to govern.

Parliamentary Democracy, in which diverse interests and values in society are well-represented, and government backbenchers and opposition lawmakers play effective roles in lawmaking, policy-shaping and governance oversight.

The Rule of Law, in which laws protect human rights and advance the well-being of citizens and residents, and are applied uniformly and fairly, without bias or political interference on the Judiciary, the Prosecution and law enforcement agencies.

Federalism, in which powers are meaningfully dispersed between the Federal, Regional/State/Federal Territory and Local governments, which are elected and accountable, to enable optimal variations best suited for Malaysia and its diverse components.

What we do

  • We provide thought leadership on political issues, by formulating pragmatic solutions and breakthrough framing.
  • We facilitate dialogues that generate insights, build trust and foster collaboration.
  • We conduct in-depth research and produce easy-to-read materials.
  • We engage Malaysians through conventional and new media.
  • We monitor political stability and accountability in Malaysia.

In 2024-2025, we will focus our works on:-

  1. Igniting broad based discussion on democracy and institutional reforms in Malaysia.
  2. Advocating and campaigning on reforms such as
    1. (a) Fixed Term Parliament Act,
    2. (b) Recognition of Shadow Cabinet,
    3. (c) Representation of women in politics,
    4. (d) Empowerment of the opposition and government backbench,
    5. (e) Legislating equitable Constituency Development Fund (CDF), and
    6. (f) Public financing for political parties.
  3. Creating space and environment to allow for stakeholders to share ideas, opinions and perspectives safely and respectfully by having private meetings, focus group discussions, forums and other events.
  4. Expanding stakeholder networks and establishing effective communication channels.
  5. Engaging actively with media to promote reform ideas, and to frame narratives by issuing press statements, producing media kits, conducting media crash courses and appearing in media interviews.
  6. Commissioning research reports and publishing policy briefs.
  7. Producing easy-to-consume materials on reform ideas.
  8. Monitoring political stability and accountability in Malaysia.

The Team

Chow-Ying NGEOW

Convener of Projek SAMA. Chow Ying is a practicing lawyer who started her activism in the abolition of death penalty movement in Malaysia and across the region. Along the way, she became more involved in various issues such as electoral and institutional reforms and was elected to serve as the Treasurer of The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) from 2018 to 2023. In her anti-death penalty activism, she represented her organisations in many national and international occasions. In Bersih, she was instrumental in managing the team and program.

Beverly JOEMAN

Co-covener of Projek SAMA. Beverly is now working as the Project Coordinator on APPG on the Rights of the Child. She has a big heart and is a passionate human rights defender. Apart from Child’s rights, she also works closely with grassroot Indigenous Peoples’ communities in Malaysia, under the umbrella of JOAS; networked extensively with IP NGOs in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand; and represented JOAS at the BHR Forum & EMRIP in Geneva, as well as Land Rights Now in Amsterdam, and IP movements in Manila, Jakarta, Da Nang and Bangkok. Beverly previous job in CSO Platform for Reform armed her with extensive knowledge and expertise in institutional reform. She was also the former Vice-Chair (Sabah) in the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) from 2016 to 2023, and a Supreme Council Member of the Kadazan Society Sabah (KSS).

Thomas FANN

Thomas started his activism in organising Bersih Rally in Johor in year 2012. He then became involved in Bersih’s Steering Committee, and the commander in chief for the national wide rally, Bersih 4 and 5 in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Thomas believes he has a role to play in nation building for Malaysia and he is committed to contribute to his fullest. He became the Chairperson of Bersih from 2018 to 2023. During his term, he has transformed Bersih into an institution that provide thought leadership and a trusted organisation by political parties. He founded another NGO called ENGAGE and is its current Chairman. He also co-founded Citizens Against Enforced Disappearances (CAGED). He was also a cluster leader in the Malaysian Government’s Electoral Reform Committee in 2018-2020.

Rama RAMANATHAN

Rama was a former Steering Committee member in the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) from 2015-2018. He co-founded Citizens Against Enforced Disappearances (CAGED) and is its main spokesperson. Rama is a writer and contributes many articles to Malaysiakini and other news portal. He writes extensively on the rule of law. He observed many court proceedings on the enforced disappearance and death in custody cases and writes about it. Rama was trained as an engineer, retired as a global quality control leader and now works to catalyse change in society. He blogs at write2rest.blogspot.com.

Prof Chin-Huat WONG

Chin Huat is a political scientist, scholar, analyst, activist, commentator, columnist, observer and lecturer. He is now the Deputy Head (Strategy) of the Asia Headquarters for UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) at Sunway University. A long-term advocate for electoral and wider institutional reforms, he was a founding member of Bersih in 2006-2013 in which he was arrested 3 times. He was instrumental on many other causes such as the boycott campaign of writers against the takeover of Nanyang Press by the Malaysian Chinese Association in 2001, just to name one. After the change of government in 2018, Chin Huat was invited to be a cluster leader in the Malaysian Government’s Electoral Reform Committee in 2018-2020. Chin Huat is an opinion leader who always think of solutions. He advocates for healthy competition of ideas and policy to counter identity politics, he believes that politicians are professional and shall act and be treated as such.

Dato’ Dr Abdul Halim YUSOF

Dr Halim was the former Deputy Chairperson of Bersih in 2020-2023 as well as a Steering Committee member in 2013-2014. He is a consultant orthopeadic and spine surgeon in a private hospital. Dr Halim’s involvement in civil society started years ago when he was still a student. Despite his busy schedule, he is always contributing his ideas and views, especially providing a different perspectives on ethnic relation issues. Dr Halim is well respected. He is gentle, yet resourceful and connected to many communities.

Chang-Xi WO

Chang-Xi is a research analyst at Sustainable Development Solutions Network Kuala Lumpur Office. Before joining SDSN, he read law at the University of Malaya and worked as a research assistant to Professor Chin-Huat WONG on projects related to a series of remedies to deter party hopping in Malaysia and a state-level Top-Up Women Additional Seats (TWOAS) to address low women representation in Malaysia’s legislative chambers. Working under the Designing Institutes for Good Governance team in the Kuala Lumpur Office, his current interests are on the topic of Parliamentary Institution, Local Democracy and Electoral System, and provision of public funding and regulating of finances in political activities.

Benedict WEERASENA

Benedict is the Research Director at Bait Al Amanah (House of Trust) and a Fellow at Center for Market Education. With several publications on politics, economics and policymaking, his research interests include public finance, development studies, international political economy and education policy. His latest policy papers on foreign worker dependency and private higher education were published in ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute’s ‘Johor: Abode of Development?’ in 2020. Benedict has participated and presented in various international conferences and economic updates in Beijing, Jinan, Hong Kong, Bologna, Singapore and Jakarta. Graduating with a Bachelor of Economics degree, first class honours from University Sains Malaysia, he is a recipient of the Conference of Rulers’ Royal Education Award and Gold Medal Award for Best Student in Economics 2015/2016. He previously worked with the National Higher Education Research Institute (IPPTN), researching on university autonomy and shadow education.