The Society for the Promotion of Human Rights, Malaysia (Proham) supports the new movement Negara Ku. This is a people’s movement towards harmony and reconciliation. This is the way forward as we celebrate our 57th Independence Day and 51st Malaysia Day.

We recognise that people from all the communities in Malaysia are important. This includes Malays, Chinese, Indians, the Orang Asli of the peninsula and the people of Sabah and Sarawak. We are diverse but we are one as the Malaysian people

We recognise the unique nature of Malaysian society and the community consensus we have reached in difficult areas such as religion, language, special measures and our loyalty to the monarchy. These are enshrined in the federal constitution which ensures each Malaysian has a place in this land. It is not a singular ethnic or religious right but our collective one

We recognise the balance that the federal constitution ensures and this is further supported by the Rukunegara including the promises made to the people of Sabah and Sarawak in 1963 when Malaysia was formed.

We recognise that we face many challenges and we must strengthen the institutions and mechanisms to address grievances and conflict areas.  Proham has urged the federal government to amend the Mediation Act 2012 to incorporate a provision on community mediation so as to ensure conflicting groups are forced to sit down for community mediation as a way of conflict resolution.

Failure to do so will see contestation on the rise and this is not healthy for peace and harmony.

What is urgently needed in Malaysia is political leadership and vision to foster greater unity and harmony. We also recognise that there a forces trying to divide us in exclusive terms pertaining to protection of just one race or religion over the other.

These are politically motivated and against the principles of the federal constitution as well as against the prime minister’s assurance of One Malaysia (which is moving away from tolerance towards understanding, appreciation and acceptance of all ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic communities) and the inclusive development agenda of the federal government which is socio-economic for all communities without neglecting the Malays and other indigenous communities.

We are all Malaysians and we must ensure that all ethnic and religious groups have their place as per the federal constitution and we must strive to foster unity rather than division, healing rather than hurting, building rather than destroying. This is our joint vision and task.

Proham is confident that this movement Negara Ku is a step forward in the right direction as a people’s movement by civil society under the leadership of A Samad Said, Ambiga Sreenevasan and Simon Sipaun. We wish all success and Proham will support this new initiative  for a better Malaysia for all Malaysians.