We Have Made A Promise

To Participants of Action Proposal #003 and Fellow Malaysians,

Under the Malaysia Civil Right Actions Group's Action Proposal #003, we have collectively decided to pursue the Option 2 which is to work our way up to remove Syed Hamid from the Cabinet. We have 43% of participants choose the Option 2, compared to 25% for that of the second highest score option; Therefore, the mandate to execute the Option 2 is clear.

When you cast a vote in the Action Proposal #003, you have made a promise to your fellow Malaysians that you will play your part to carry out the selected option. You might be just one of the 131 participants, but there are 130 participants who are counting on your promise.

From the Action Proposal #003' s poll, we know we have 57 fellow Malaysians choose the Option 2. We have 33, 25, and 12 fellow Malaysians selected Options 3, 1, 4, respectively. Assuming half of those who select Options 3, 1, and 4 decide to go along with the Option 2 as the majority decision, we shall have 57 + 1/2*(70) = 92 participants for the Option 2. With each participant required to do two actions to work toward Syed Hamid removal from Cabinet and persuade 2 friends to do the same (as what is stated in the Option 2), we shall have 92 * 2 * 3 = 552 actions working toward removing Syed Hamid. That is 552 "darts" in the MCRAG's lingo. We have collectively make 552 promises.

While each of us is of adult age or even multiple times of young adult age, our civil society is at its infantile stage. An human infant, in her process of learning how to walk, needs incrementally building up her confidence and trust toward her potential capability to walk; For instance, the first time standing on two wobbling legs is a big boost of the confidence, even though there will be numerous setbacks along the way. Similarly, our infantile civil society needs to incrementally build up its confidence and the trust between her constituent members. Every promise that we keep will enhance the confidence. Keeping 552 promises will be a confidence boost to the civil society just like standing on the wobbling two legs for the first time is to the human infant.

Keeping the 552 promises is more than enhancing the trust among us. Imagine what would happen if we could enhance the say-do effective rate (i.e. the ratio of what you do and what you say you want to do) from previous 31% to 85%. Imagine what would happen if we could enhance the focus rate (i.e. a measure how much we heed the majority decision) from previous 15% to 70%. If we keep the 552 promise, we will attract more capable fellow Malaysians from this vast land and beyond to write better action proposals with more creative ideas because there is confidence that the action proposals will be executed with high say-do and focus effective rates. The better action proposals in turn will attract more participants to the civil right movement. Then we will have a virtue cycle. That is longer term vision, but it is doable.

The strength of the civil society does not so much depend on the youthful burst of righteousness, but on the steady hands of those, who duly execute actions that can contribute to the collective change of the society, who also know his actions will be aggregated with those of others. Civil society is built less on altruism, but more on the down-to-earth concerns of the common men and women. That down-to-earth concerns include, among other things, the individual rice-bowl; Each rice-bowl is affected not only by an individual, but also by the nation macro environment which has keep us having average per capital income in the league of those in Botswana, Libya, and Mexico. Without changing the nation macro environment, each of us needs to work three times as hard and as smart as the average Malaysians in order to enjoy purchasing power of average Hong Kong people or Singaporeans. In other words, instead of working three time as hard, you might get a better rice-bowl by allocating a small portion of your energy on the nation macro environment.

Each of us have made a promise, not to the author of the action proposal (nor any future action proposals' authors, for that matter), but to your fellow Malaysians especially the participants. Now is the time to see if each of us keeps the respective promise, and thus works toward building the trust among us, and thus toward stronger civil society.

Let's throw 552 "darts" to hasten the demise of Syed Hamid's political career as Home Minister. His behavior is a disgrace of the nation.

Action Proposal #003: Regroup For Another Strike

Language Versions: Bahasa Malaysia; Chinese中文

Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK) has been languishing in jail for 28 days since he was arrested on September 12. Many people have shown their supports for releasing RPK; Numerous calls, articles, public vigils, comments, forums, public displays, and even resignation from Cabinet are all working toward releasing RPK. However, the fact is that RPK is now still surrounded by four concrete walls enclosing a 8-by-8 feet space; RPK, now 59 after his last week birthday, is day-in and day-out in solitary confinement with food bad enough to cause stomach upset.

What are the missing ingredients for freeing RPK? The nation prominent writers, religion leaders, well-known bloggers, opposition leaders, and intellects have done more than their "fair" share in showing their outrage on RPK incarceration. Taking a quick survey, you could find news and articles written by our leaders and prominent intellects; We have Bakri Musa's "Beware! Cavemen Working!" and "Pak Lah Desecrating Ramadan"; Farish Noor's "Eidul Fitri In Prison"; Azly Rahman's "Hadhari, human rights, hypocrisy" and "Set Raja Petra free – this true defender of Islam and the rights of many"; Lim Kit Siang's "ISA for RPK and show-cause letters to three newspapers while 3-year Umno suspension for Ahmad Ismail – is this the Abdullah justice and rule of law?"; Malek Imitiaz Sarvar's "Let us not forget RPK and other ISA detainee" and "We must not lose faith. The fight has not ended, it has just begun"; Zaid Ibrahim's "Open Letter to PM"; Lim Guan Eng's "Don’t review ISA, bin it!"; Muslims Professional Forum's "The Qur’an guarantees Freedom of Expression, so Free Raja Petra and all ISA detainees"; Abdul Aziz Mustafa's "Majority Melayu dan rakyat tolak ISA"; Transparency International Malaysia's "Statement on Raja Petra and ISA"; Marina Petra Abdullah's "Straight From The Heart". Above articles, which are just a portion of all writings in support of RPK, amounts to 15 thousand words and probably hundred hours of work. It seems obvious that those articles are necessary conditions for helping release RPK, but it is also obvious that they are not sufficient conditions for releasing him.

So, with the best of our intellects coming out with the sharpest articles, we still cannot successfully pressure BN-UMNO Administration to release RPK. With the highest level of the opposition leaders and religion leaders condemning the incarceration, we still are no match with BN-UMNO's state machinery. Does it mean if the cream of our nation has stood up and we still do not succeed in freeing RPK, then we the common people should either throwing in the tower (and call quit) or just wait-and-see? After all, each common people cannot author article with quality matching those of intellects such as Bakri Musa, neither can each common people exert influence come close to opposition leaders such as Anwar Ibrahim. Shall we the common people quit?

Hope is still there because of our democracy system - albeit one with many potholes. While we need the best of our intellects to provide us guidance, each common person's vote is actually as powerful as that of one top intellect or one first tier leader. Every shrewd BN-UMNO MP scares more of ten Makciks (older women) calling in with unpolished language saying that "Kerajaan is dah kurang ajar; itu zalim sangat bagi Raja Petra lockup untuk dua tahun. Kalau Raja Petra tidak dibebas, anak-anak and cucu-cucu saya akan kutuk kamu; Saya tidak akan undi mu"; These calls are more effective than one top intellect calling in lecturing that "Raja Petra incarceration is the travesty of justice of the highest degree; Our democracy is at risk". The shrewd MP scares more of the ten Makcik calls because the calls imply the dissatisfaction have gone to the grass-root, and his/her political career will soon end in a humiliating manner. The vote is common people ace card. Democracy is after all for common people.

Civil society exercising its threat of votes is in full display in the last week US $700B bailout plan. Despite both the Democrat and Republican top leaders had agreed on the first round of the bailout plan, the torrential constituents calls with 20-1 against the initial plan have pressured sufficient congress men and women to votes against the initial plan and at the same time against the wills of their respective party leaders. The original plan failed to pass as the result. Those congress men and women are kind? No, they scare to lose their seats because they know they will sure lose the votes of those expressing views against the plan.

Therefore, we the common people should not throw in the tower yet or sit at the sideline. We shall regroup, re-plan, and find ways to prevail.

It is prudent to look into how we have done with our previous Action Proposal #002 before we re-plan our next step. From the poll, we have 253 people voted the options, compared 153 people in the first action proposal. Out of 253 people, 121 people (47%) have chosen Option 2, i.e. "Wear Free-RPK T-Shirts to PM Hari Raya Open House". However, we have only 38 people, out of the 121 people who commit to execute Option 2, actually executed the Option 2. We have say-do (i.e. what you say and what you do) effective rate of 38/121= 31%. We have focus-rate (i.e. a measure how much we heed the majority decision) of 38/253= 15%. Fortunately, the 38 people turn out to be exercising very superb leadership by inviting also their friends and family, and make the total participants of Option 2 to be around 183! Keep in mind that those participants might spread out over the entire Open House period; While Hindraf group who attended the Open house in a group get the most headline, other participants who silently walk with Free-RPK T-Shirt at various time frame might have the different type of effect. Some people with half-empty perspective might bemoan the 31% say-do effective rate, I think we should rather focus on the half-full perspective and figure out how we could turn the 121 people and even more to do what they say they would like to do next time.

We observe the small hardcore group of 38 people is highly effective. We also observe the potential of mobilizing about 250 people for future action proposal. If we call the top intellects and Pakatan Rakyat leaders as the top tier leaders, we could call the 250 people as the second tier leaders. The second tier leaders have access to Internet and each of them has potential to influent 4-8 friends to join the cause. This Action Proposal shall focus on the you as second tier leaders because you are capable of strengthening the root of local activism, a pivotal role to eventually freeing RPK and future civil right actions.

From the comment feedback, we hear that the second tier leaders also have kids to feed and they don't like the analogy of the 1-2-3-Step as "Prepare the gun, aim the target, and shoot". So, this action proposal shall ensure the rice-bowl and safety of the second tier leaders intact. We should keep in mind of our strength in number, our creativity, our connectedness through Internet, and our ideal while also aware of our weaknesses such as vulnerability to state power and our unstructured nature. We shall then define our playing field (or "battle field" if you will) in a way of our advantage.

Dear the second tier leaders,

Here is Action Proposal #003 expressed under the 1-2-3 Step scheme:

Step 1: Layout the analysis and options (Oct 10 - 10 PM Oct 17)
We would like everyone to comment the feasibility, impact, and risk of the following options which are extracted from many blog sites:

--------------------Option 1 ---------------------------

Option 1: Execute "900-unit" Accountability on MP

This option requires each of us to do these

1. Meet your MP, then express your concern of our civil right being at stake due to RPK incarceration.
2. During the meeting, please also ask a specific set of questionnaire (See below)
3. Influence at least two more friends to come along with you in the meeting

The questionnaire are:

########

1) Do you support the arrest of RPK under ISA without trial?
Choose one of the answers:i)Yes; ii)No; iii) I don't know

2) If yes for Question 1, what would you do if I am arrested under ISA without trial?
Choose one of the answers:i)Nothing, because that must be your fault because the Home Minister decides so; ii) I will figure out what is going on as your MP; iii) I don't know

3) If no for Question 1, what would you do?
Choose one of the answers:i) Nothing; ii) I will check with my party leader and find out some actions; iii) I don't know

(If the answer for Question 3 is "I will check with my leader and find out some actions", please make sure to ask when you can call back to check the status).

#########

Please make sure you give your MP a copy of the answered questionnaire. Then please also send the result of your questionnaire to shiouloh@gmail.com, mentioning which MP involved and your intention to be anonymous or not. Stretching your imagination, it should not hard to imagine how we are going to make use of the answers. We will first publish the answers in a table in popular website; Then create news, write articles to analyze it, and shine the spotlight on it. Also a good asset for the next election. The usage of it is probably limited to only our imagination.

We have been demanding accountability. However, as you know, a boss cannot get accountability from his employees by just telling that he want accountability; Insteads, he need to create the mechanism for the accountability to work. Here is our first step to keep our MP to be accountable.

The effect of this option is give a sense of mass mobilization to keep MP accountable thorough the tabulated answers. We might be able to get about 300 meeting conducted based on our past record. Another future effect might be derived from how we make use of that answers -- a candidate for future actions. Why 900-unit accountability ?- it is derived from 250 potential second tier leaders with 20 % improvement plus two friends for each of them.

Risk Analysis: No risk; You meet your MP out of civic duty.

--------------------End of Option 1 ---------------------------

--------------------Option 2---------------------------
Option 2: Throw 1800 darts to hasten the demise of Syed Hamid Albar
This option requires each of us to do at least two of the following items:

1. Call PM office (03-8888 8000)
2. Write to prominent writers/bloggers
3. Call or meet a MP (Contact info is here)

Under this option, each of us also is required to influence two more friends to do the above.

In your meeting or email, please express your lost of confidence to the Home minister; You also feel ashamed as a citizen for having him in the Cabinet because of his utter incompetence in the case of explaining "arrest you under ISA for your protection" and dire mistake in arresting MP Terasa Kok without proper investigation. Then please express as a concerned citizen you would like him being fired by our "beloved" PM. The goal of writing to prominent writers/bloggers is to tell them the collective outrage and urge them (i.e. the 1st tier leaders) to write a more influential article to condemn Syed Hamid. Let's shine the spot light on Syed Hamid's incompetent with all means not limited to the case of RPK incarceration.

The goal of this collective action is to see if we can create a crack to eventually cause the demise of Syed Hamid. With 5 month left as PM, AAB (or his forth-floor boys) might find public outrage of Syed Hamid is actually a golden opportunity to show his gut and fire Syed Hamid as the scapegoat. It is quite common in politic of other part of the world where top leaders choose scapegoat from his lieutenants as a way to survive the blame. Firing Syed Hamid also provides AAB a chance to regain his reform (not that we want to give many hope on this) without much to lose. Why 1800 "darts" - it is derived from 250 potential second tier leaders with 20% improvement from previous action proposal; do the math. Lame duck premiers, such as Mikhail Gobachev in his last months in office, normally like to show his "people side".

Once Syed Hamid is removed, then our request to release RPK is easier fulfilled because BN Administration can then blame on Syed Hamid's incompetence. The story flows pretty good for the government.

Risk Analysis: no risk; we just execute our civic duty. The decision to fire Syed Hamid is still that of AAB. Remember to cheer AAB if he does eventually fire Syed Hamid and show he is the "man" -something he much crave for after being beaten up inside UMNO. We don't hate him, do we?

--------------------End of Option 2---------------------------

--------------------Option 3 ---------------------------
Option 3: Provide "900-unit Support" for Imams to come out to support RPK.

This Option, which acquired second highest votes in the last action proposal, requires each of us who are of Islam faith to hold a talk to at least one Imam or immediate Islam teacher expressing your concern on RPK arrest under the guise of insulting to Islam; And also tell your Imam that you do not love less of your fellow Muslims simply because RPK exposes the ill of the fellow Muslims. Beside you action to meeting with Imam, this option also requires you to influent at least two more friends to do the above. If you are not a Muslim, this Option requires you to convince at least three of your Muslim friends to hold the aforementioned talk. Use the articles links mentioned in the beginning part of this proposal if applicable.

Initial effect analysis: Based on our previous poll, this action shall result into roughly 900 actual conversations. This collective action shall reduce the credibility of the government case for incarcerating RPK under ISA.

Risk Analysis: No risk; you just talk to your religion teacher.

--------------------End of Option 3 ---------------------------


--------------------Option 4 ---------------------------
Option 4: Organize RPK Parties to quadruple future dart throwers (i.e. 1000)
This Option requires each of us to organize a party for your respective friends who might share the same concern for RPK or justice or civil right in general. Of course, the organizer need to coordinate some goodies for the party. Come on, we need ideas from bloggers here for an interesting party! Beside the fun part, just make copies of RPK articles and links mentioned above that you feel strongly about and start giving them out and start discussion.
The effect of this Option will not be immediately contributing to RPK release. However, we need party like this to support each others and establish sense of comradery; it is good place to create team from your existing friends. If each of us, after the party, could invite 3 more friends to sign up for the Malaysia Civil Right Actions, then we could easily quadruple the number of future "dart throwers" to 1000.
Risk Analysis: No risk since the party is among your friends. Also, friendship is strengthened when we have common cause requiring each others; Near-complete self-sufficiency in modern world give a false sense of independence among us.
--------------------End of Option 4 ---------------------------

--------------------Option 5 ---------------------------
Option 5: No action for now

You might want to choose this option if you think the other options are not appropriate or effective or other reasons.

--------------------End of Option 5 ---------------------------

In the Step 1, you are urged to comment and debate on the feasibility, impact, and the risk of the above options. Through the comments, we also expound our cases to execute one option over another as a collective action.

Step 2: Collect consensus (Oct 10 - 10 PM Oct 17)

Please cast you vote on the aforementioned options here by 10 PM Oct 17 (Friday) here: http://malaysiacivilright.blogspot.com/(At the left top column).

When you cast your vote, you are making a promise to your fellow Malaysians: I do my part and you do your part, and at some point we will "meet". You are not making a promise to the author of this proposal.

If you cannot make a commitment (for whaever reason) for those actions, you should just vote "Option 5: No action for now".

Step 3: Everyone executes the Option with the highest score (Oct 18-Oct 23)

Please come back to check the scored votes after 11 PM October 17 (Friday) at http://malaysiacivilright.blogspot.com/ (At the top of the column); We will close the poll by then.

In order to make the maximum impact, you are highly recommended to execute the action with the highest score even though you have not voted the highest score action. That is how we act collectively for maximum effect. (You of course are still encouraged to execute the other actions not voted in if you have additional time and resources).

The voted option should be carried out between Oct 18-Oct 23 , and thus allow you to come back to this site for taking a Post-Action poll which shall give us an objective feedback of our collective effort and provide us means for improvement.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Dear Fellow Malaysians and Potential Second Tier Leaders,

Unlike the majority first tier Leaders, you have down-to-earth concerns such as your kids to feed, your securty, and your future when you involve in civil right movement. These latest action proposal is adjusted to suit you. The actions also appeal to your leadership among your close friends.

Our first tier leaders have done their part, it is time for us, the potential second tier leaders, to act within our capacity. This action proposal tries to play a part by coordinate us for maximum effect.

We would like to appeal for volunteers to do these two coordination-related tasks:

1. Translate this action proposal to Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese, and Tamil.
2. Compose future action desription with detail and send to us to be compiled together. An action/option description mentioning only "nominating RPK to nobel peace prize" will not cut it; We need detail telling each of us what to do and leverage on our capacity such as those indicated in the polls.

Please subscribe to the Malaysia Civil Right Action Group to receive action reminders. We now have more than 70 people sign-up. If you concern your current email exposure, please sign-up another new email account (for free) for receiving the action reminders.

Let's roll!

Regards.

Action Proposal #002: Clean The Gun For A Sharper Shot

(Oct 10 2008 Update: This Action Proposal #002 has expired, please check the main page for currently active actions)

14 days have passed and we the people still cannot get Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK) out of jail. Worse still, we know from his wife Marina that he will be in solitary confinement for three months before he is allowed to interact with his jail-mates. His family subsequent visits to Kemunting Jail will only allow him to talk over the phone with screen. On top of that, he will be religiously rehabilitated per reported by JAKIM. While international pariah state Myanmar junta has put its dissident Aung San Suu Kyi in house arrest, we have Malaysia UMNO-BN Administration who treats its dissident as hard core criminal considered dangerous to even his jail-mates.

With the maiden attempt to mobilize people to voice up their outrage through the connectivity of Internet, the Action Proposal No. 001 has modest impact with 56 people actually execute the voted action which results into roughly 120 calls to Prime Minister office. With the comments and the subsequent post-action polls, we learn a few important factors for effective collective civil action. Among those factors are access to big readers base through MT, access to Bahasa speakers, and clarity of instruction. We found also people like (with 95% say yes) the 1-2-3 Step which allows people to participate the decision making and arrive at group decision.

We have combed through the blog sites to find ideas for actions suitable for group participation which will strengthen civil society in the process of help freeing RPK. The 1-2-3 Step can be summarized as analyzing our situation and capability, collect consensus, and then act. Analogically, the 1-2-3 Step can be summarized as prepare the gun, aim the target, and shoot. Here is another instance of the 1-2-3 Steps incorporating the action ideas that can help freeing RPK:

Step 1: Layout the analysis and options for collective action. (i.e. Prepare the "gun")
We have done some analysis on our and BN-UMNO's strength and weaknesses in Action Proposal No. 001. We will not repeat the analysis here. Instead, here are a list of five options we would like everyone to comment its feasibility, impact, and risk:

Option 1: Bring out more Imams to come out to support RPK.

This Option requires each of us who are of Islam faith to hold a talk to at least one Imam or immediate Islam teacher expressing your concern on RPK arrest under the guise of insulting to Islam; And also tell your Imam that you do not love less of your fellow Muslims simply because RPK exposes the ill of the fellow Muslims. If you are not a Muslim, this Option requires you to convince at least one of your Muslim friends to hold the aforementioned talk. This action, if voted in, should be carried out between Oct 6-Oct 8, and thus allow you to come back this site for taking a Post-Action poll which shall give us an objective feedback of our collective effort.

Initial effect analysis: This action, based on the previous poll result and assumption of better communication with Malaysia Today, shall result into roughly 300 actual conversations. This collective action shall reduce the credibility of the government case for incarcerating RPK under ISA.

Risk Analysis: No risk.

Option 2: Wear "Free RPK" T-Shirts to PM Hari Raya Open House

This Option requires each of us attending PM Hari Raya Open House while wearing standard "Free RPK" T-shirt or plain T-Shirt with self-painted "Free RPK" word on it in case you cannot get a hold of the standard "Free RPK" T-shirt. There were 200,000 people who visited PM Open House in Putra World Trade Centre last year. We should wear outer T-shirts to be taken out at the moment of PM presence to achieve more dramatic effect. When you vote on this option, you should assume this is conducted in Putra World Trade Centre. Location: Putra World Trade Centre (Confirmed); Data: Oct 1 (Confirmed); Time: 11:30 AM-4:30 PM (Confirmed).

Initial Effect Analysis: Our voices will be made loader with embarrassment caused to the PM with local and foreign media presence.

Risk Analysis: With the spirit of Hari Raya and media eyes everywhere at the Open House, the authorities dare not to act high-handedly as long as we maintain our orderly manners.

Option 3: Tell your BN MP you want RPK be release or else...

This option requires you to find out your BN MP phone number and make a call to him/her, and then expressing your concern of our civil right being at stake due to RPK incarceration. If you are not under BN MP, please choose a neighboring BN MP as your target. Then make clear that you want RPK be released, or you will work very hard from now on (yes, everyday) to tell everyone in the constituency to vote him/her out in the next election. This action, if voted in, should be carried out between Oct 6-Oct 8, and thus allow you to come back this site for taking a Post-Action poll which shall give us an objective feedback of our collective effort.

Initial Effect Analysis: This action, based on the previous poll result and assumption of better communication with Malaysia Today, shall result into roughly 300 actual calls. With 120 BN MP, each MP shall get about 3 calls over the periods. Each MP knows for each call they receive, there are many more behind ready to dig him/her in the next election if he does not show his disapproval of arresting RPK. Exercising the vote and the threat of exercising the vote is one of the most potent tool at the people hands.

Risk Analysis: No risk

Option 4: Flood PM office with phone calls

This option requires each of us to make at least two calls to PM office. PM Office Phones are: 03-8888-8000 / 03-8888-8032. We keep this as one of the options for you to choose because it is was voted as the highest score in Action Proposal No. 001. This action, if voted in, should be carried out between 9AM Oct 6- 9PM Oct 8, and thus allow you to come back this site for taking a Post-Action poll which shall give us an objective feedback of our collective effort.

Initial Effect Analysis: This action, based on the previous poll result and assumption of better communication with Malaysia Today, shall result into roughly 300 actual calls to PM office over the stated period. That is about 18 calls per hour if most call are done in day time.

Risk Analysis: No risk as long as you make a valid complain.

Option 5: No action for now

You might want to choose this option if you think the other options are not appropriate or effective or other reasons.

You might want to allow people to comment on the above options before you proceed to Step 2. Please subscribe to http://groups.google.com/group/malaysiacivilrightactions so that we could send you reminder for completing the Step 2 and future action reminders. You can also subscribe through the link at the top of this blog site.

In the Step 1, you are urged to comment and debate on the feasibility, impact, and the risk of the above options. Through the comments, we also expound our cases to execute one option over another as a collective action.

Step 2: Collect consensus (i.e. Take aims at the target)

Please cast you vote on the aforementioned options here by 10 PM Sep 30 (Tuesday) here: http://malaysiacivilright.blogspot.com/(At the left top column).

When you cast your vote, please assume you are committed to execute the action that you plan to vote. Otherwise, you should just vote "No action for now".

Step 3: Everyone executes the Option with the highest score (i.e. Release the Trigger -"Shoot")

Please come back to check the scored votes after 11 PM Sep 30 (Tuesday) at http://malaysiacivilright.blogspot.com/ (At the top left column); We will close the poll by then.

In order to make the maximum impact, you are highly recommended to execute the action with the highest score even though you have not voted the highest score action. That is how we act collectively for maximum effect. (You of course are still encouraged to execute the other actions not voted in if you have additional time and resources).

Once you have done executing the highest score action, please come back to http://malaysiacivilright.blogspot.com/ (At the top left column) for Post-Action poll so that we could improve our next collective actions.

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Dear fellow Malaysians,
If you feel powerless to effect change, I highly recommend you to view this you-tube from Din Merican; The You-Tube illustrates in a very touching and vivid way how our collective fate is at stake with RPK incarceration and how we could change our collective fate.

We would like to acknowledge the more effective contribution done many men and women at the front lines. They are at the trenches risking their well being and freedom in defending the people. Our proposal as created under Malaysia Civil Right Actions Group is designed to help RPK and civil right advancement in a small but specific way - i.e. through activities that are requiring common people, who are free and unstructured in nature, to act and assert their right collectively.

Timeline for executing the above 1-2-3 Steps scheme is:

• Step 1: Now - 10PM Sep 30 (Tuesday)


• Step 2: Now - 10PM Sep 30 (Tuesday)


• Step 3: Duration varies depending on Option chosen; See the duration in the Step 1's Options
  

If you subscribe to the Malaysia Civil Right Action Group, we will send you reminders of the three steps which require your actions.

As we collectively learn and perfect the 1-2-3 Steps, we could expect to effect more effective actions. At one point we will be able to execute "Ready, Aim, and Fire" in rapid succession. We might be even able to execute parallel "Ready, Aim, and Fire" while still ensuring sufficient focus.

Today we are a weak civil society as shown by our inability to defend the basic human right of such iconic citizen - Raja Petra Kamaruddin. Our ability to defend the civil right, i.e. the right for simply being a citizen, for ordinary people is almost nil. We need to change that.

Today we the civil society defends the civil right of our iconic figure. If we succeed, then tomorrow we can defend the civil right of ordinary men and women.

Let's roll!

-----------------Status Copied Here ------------------

Updated Sep 26:

Status: Kick start the Action Proposal #002's Step 1.Actions Needed: Everyone to read, comment, and debate the Action Proposal #002

Updated Sep 28:

Malaysia Today has posted this Action Proposal #002. You might want to check its comment sections for analysis related to feasibility, impact, and risk of all Options before finalizing your vote.

Update Sep 29:

Status: Option 2 might have highest score; Location and time updated in Action Proposal #002 for Option 2.Action Needed: Start cast you vote if you have not done so. Everyone get prepared for Option 2. Sign-up for the google group (link on top) to get action reminders if you have not done so.

Updated on Sep 30 (1 PM):

Status: There is clear indication to assume Option 2 is foregone "winner".Action needed: All preparation should base on this assumption. If each of us can get three more friends to attend, we will have 238*4 ~= 1000 people to wear the "Free RPK" T-shirts. Of course, we also have other groups such as Hindraf who attend the open house. You might want to bring a few more T-Shirts for impromptu participants.

Updated on Sep 30 (10 PM):

Status: Step 2's Poll closed. Option 2 has been selected collectively! 253 votes casted, reflecting 67% increase of participation compared to the previous Action Proposal. Hari Raya Aidilfitri is confirmed to be on Oct 1; The Open house is confirmed to start at 11:30 AM. More detail in the StarOnline.Action needed: Let's try our respective way to execute the Option 2. From your votes, you have said "inaction is not an option".

Updated on Oct 2:

Everyone to take Post-Action Poll (This is part of Step 3)

Updated on Oct 8:
Action Proposal #002 completed

A Call for Synchronized Action To Help RPK (Action Proposal No. 001)

(Sep 26 2008 Update: This Action Proposal #001 is expired, please check the main page for currently active actions)

Kudos to RPK for upholding his ideals and principles consistently.

It pains me to think someone who upholds justice with peaceful means is arrested without trial. I think the nation is crying for you. We cry, but we shall be calm, and find ways to prevail.

I would like to propose a synchronized action to help RPK as well as to advance the people power for a stronger civil society. Before I layout my proposal, I would like to acknowledge the more effective contribution done many men and women at the front lines - those who are at the trenches risking their well being and freedom in defending the people. My proposal below is designed to help RPK and civil right advancement in a small but specific way.

I would like to start with characterizing our opponent, and help us have a clearer picture of who are we dealing with. While we might be passionate and emotional as the event unfolds, we should maintain our cool heads in analyzing our opponent. I wish our comments on this call-for-action article will also be cool-headed.We shall define our opponent as the current BN-UMNO regime.

We shall define ourselves as Anak Bangsa Malaysia who subscribe to the 1998 Permatang Pauh's Declaration. Among us, we have two rather distinct groups, one is more structured Pakatan Rakyat as political opposition, and another is more loosely organized people such as bloggers, readers, and common people. This call-for-action will be focus on later "us" who are less organized. We shall use "Our Opponent" to refer to BN-UMNO regime as a way to conduct cool-headed analysis and actions.

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The Objective of Proposed Synchronized Action

The objective is to reduce the ferocity of the ruthlessness of the ruling regime in strangulating the right of the people. Saving RPK, an iconic figure, will be the rallying cry to achieve the objective.

All the subsequent analysis, including the strength and weakness of our opponent, shall be done based on the above objective.

The Strength of Our Opponent
Our opponent has the tight grip of state instruments; Our opponent strongest strength is its near complete control of police force for countering the political opponents as well as the dissidents from common people. That strength is in full displayed when Our Opponents detain RPK under ISA, and completely shut up the most influential blogger of the nation. The other yet exercised state instrument well inside Our Opponent pocket is the authority to declare state of emergency. Our capability to counter the above two state instrument is indeed very limited up to this point.

Many might have despise Our Opponent's making use of racial and religious sentiment. However, all truth be told, we might have to recognize Our Opponents' gut in making use of racial sentiment as one of their strongest strength. Even if we might think AAB himself have not subscribed to racial politic, I think we should assume Ahmad Ismail incident which attracts 13 division heads' support for his racial remark, shows, in no-uncertain term, that they are high level leaders, with enough political power, in UMNO-BN, who are ready to "divide and conquer" whenever the situation is ripe. Some of those leaders in Our Opponent camp are ready to sacrifice the people well being and future for mere political end -- this statement should not be read as condemnation but as a way to recognize the reality. Our capability to counter the UMNO-BN strength in making use of race and religion can not be overly estimated even with the presence of Internet. An example of the Our Opponents strength is that they are still capable of marshaling state religious institutions to blast RPK before they rein in with ISA arrest; We might not want to under-estimate the influence of those religion institutions on general public, especially those without access to Internet.

The Weaknesses of Our Opponent
I think the most glaring weaknesses of Our Opponent is the lacking of idea for rallying the people. Good proposals and ideas from Our Opponents are few and far in-between.

In the past 51 years, Our Opponent had slowly lost its ideal and vision. While it is not clear whether the money political causes the lost of ideal or the lost of ideal causes money political, it is clear that we can hardly find a leader from Our Opponent to expound hope and visions for the people. It should not be a surprise that public gatherings by Our Opponent can no longer be glued together with ideal and hopes, but by fear and defensiveness, as shown in ITuM protest, series of "post-mortem" meetings after March 8, and recently, Ahmad Ismail's press conferences and on-going "road tours".

What motivate Our Opponent
Without ideal and vision, Our Opponent can only be motivated by very few things: The greed for power and money. The greed of power includes the unstoppable desire to hold on power with despicable means such as ISA arrests and lies. The greed for power and money exhibits both the strength and weaknesses of Our Opponent.

Our Strengths
Our strongest strength is that there are many of us, which amount to hundred of thousands, if not millions.

We have one abstract but highly valuable strength, and this is our ideal and vision, as inscribed in 1998's Permatang Pauh's Declaration, and as re-iterated and expounded innumerable time in different words in the cyber space. Those ideal and vision, while cannot be realized over-night, are powerful "thing" that glues us together. The ideal and vision are bound to produce creative ideas if we were given appropriate ecology to nurture them.

Another strength in our pocket is our connectedness through the cyber space. Amazing Internet is a heck of good fault-tolerance system; Attempt to shutdown Malaysia Today fails to remove our connectedness. Instant communication in cyber space is both additive and empowering. We are also connected not only within the border of Malaysia; We are connected everywhere in the world. The power of such connectedness can hardly be over-estimated.

Our Weaknesses
While there are many of us, each of us is highly vulnerable to state power. This weaknesses is self-evident as shown in the arrest of RPK and Teresa Kok; The arrests are easily executed despite RPK as highly popular and respected blogger, and Teresa Kok being the people representative with formal mandate. Our vulnerability is even more visible when we realize that all we can do to save the detainees is through begging the authority -- because ISA is not subject to judicial review and no judge can undo the ISA detention without himself violating the laws of the land.

In the cyber space, we are not structurally organized. Our distributed nature is the source of our creativity, but it is also our glaring weakness in asserting focused pressure. Without the mean for focusing pressure, we are quite helpless in asserting our civil right.

The Call For Action

Taking account the above analysis, I have created the 1-2-3-Step to help release RPK:

Step 1: Post Call-For-Action Proposal and Comments

I, serve as the author of this proposal, posted this article.
Everyone please analyze and post your comments on the action options contained in the Step 2. Please feel free to comment any other areas in the article.
However, you are not allowed to change the actions list because the changes will invalid the vote result. However, I or someone can in the future raise another proposal to cover good actions not currently listed.

Step 2: Please votes on the following actions:

Option 1: Flood PM office with phone call around the clock

This option requires us to make calls to PM office. PM Office Phones are: 03-8888-8000 / 03-8888-8032. Let's coordinating the calls so that it goes round clock for 2 days. Use the first letter of your first name; And mapped it to the hour starting from 00:00 AM. That is, the hour 00:00 is for those with first name starts with letter "A" to make the calls. 01:00 for letter "B", and so on. Let's start the calls at 1 PM Sep 22 (Monday), and our last call at 1 PM, Sep 24
Effect: There should be some psychological impacts if we have thousand of calls. PM secretary might tell AAB: "Lines are flooded with demand to release RPK the whole day; Statistic shows we have 10,000 calls today..." . It will be even better if the phone system is simply shutdown accidentally or deliberately (by the PM staffs)-- then we can report it here and possibly make it a news.

Option 2: Send synchronized emails to PM Office
This option requires us to send email at the exact time. The PM office email is ppm@pmo.gov.my. We need to send email at exactly 10 AM Sep 23.
Effect: The sheer number of emails should have some psychological impact. The secretary might report to PM: "I received 20000 emails all within 5 minutes, and they all ask for releasing RPK. Can I just delete all of them?".

Option 3: Flood calls to Deputy IGP Ismail Omar's office
The option requires us to call the Acting IGP Ismail Omar through Bukit Aman phone number 03-2262-6222. When you call, you of course will be directed to his staff but you probably should start with "May I speak with Tan Sri Omar directly please, ..." to show that you mean business. Let's coordinating the calls so that it goes round clock for 2 days. Use the first letter of your first name; And mapped it to the hour starting from 00:00 AM. That is, the hour 00:00 is for those with first name starts with letter "A" to make the calls. 01:00 for letter "B", and so on. Let's start the calls at 1 PM Sep 22 (Monday), and our last call at 1 PM, Sep 24

Option 4: No action for now
You might want to choose this option if you think the other options are not appropriate or effective.

Please cast you vote here by 11 AM Sep 22 (Monday) here: http://malaysiacivilright.blogspot.com/
(At the right hand column).

When you cast your vote, please assume you are committed to execute the action that you plan to vote. Otherwise, you should just vote "No action for now".

Step 3: Everyone executes the action with the highest score
Please come back to check the scored votes after noon Sep 22 (Monday) at http://malaysiacivilright.blogspot.com/ (At the right hand column); I will close the poll by then.
In order to make the maximum impact, you are highly recommended to execute the action with the highest score even though you have not voted the highest score action.

My fellow Malaysians,
This is time for action with the 1-2-3 Step above, let's roll!
The clock is ticking while RPK is languishing in the jail!
You need to believe the future is in your hands before you can shape your future.


Note 1: If the above format of asking for synchronized action works well in cyber space, we could make use of it's framework for other purpose going forward.
Note 2: The above action alone is not likely to release RPK; So, executing the action above should not be an excuse not to do other things that can help releasing RPK.