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Thursday, 4 August 2016

UNITY AND TEAMWORKS

Former National Footballer, James Wong
UNITY is Strength
Speech on Unity is Strength

UNITY AND TEAMWORKS
By STEPHANIE LEE and VIJENTHI NAIR
Wong: 'Unity is when people know no race or creed'.
Smile, you're Malaysian: Ben believes the simple act of smiling at one another depicts the beauty of being a true Malaysian.

FOR UNITY, HARMONY & TOLERANCE
Venue: Bukit Bintang City Centre, Kuala Lumpur
Time: 6.30am
Distance: 3.4 km
Most of these activities bear a singular theme; the goal of solidarity and racial peace amongst each other.
The #AnakAnakMalaysia Walk is set to achieve the milestone of unity, harmony, and tolerance among Malaysians.
Organised by: Star Media Group Berhad in support of their Moderation campaign, and in collaboration with EcoWorld.

What is Unity?
Unity is the state of being united or joined as a whole. (e.g. "European unity")
Here are 4 Biblical reasons why we should strive for peace in our relationships:
(1) Unity is for our personal benefit. 
(2) Unity benefits God’s people! 
(3) Unity makes us MUCH more effective. 
(4) Unity shines Christ’s love into the world.
"Unity makes strength" is used by Bulgaria and Haiti on the national coat of arms and is the national motto of Belgium and Bulgaria

KOTA KINABALU: Former national footballer James Wong sure knows what it is like when Malaysians come together and work as a team.
The striker for the national team in the 1970s and early 1980s, who scored the winning goal for the country against South Korea to qualify for the 1980 Olympics, said it was the unity and understanding among players that allowed them to excel.
Unity is the key that helps play­ers understand each other better and thus, produce great results,” the Sabahan said in an interview here.
Wong, who scored the goal fol­lowing a pass from Hassan Sani, said the multiracial players during his time did not let the differences between them stop them from click­ing as a team.
“We were on the same page and would know what the other player was thinking on the field and react accordingly to make sure we scored.
“We never once let our racial and religious differences get in the way,” he recalled.
The success of the Malaysian foot­ball team was reimagined in the recent hit local movie OlaBola.
Unity, Wong added, is “very important, not just in football. You can’t do it alone”.
The 63-year-old lamented the current racial issues, especially those seen in peninsular Malaysia.
‘To be a developed nation by 2020, these racial issues and tension need to be seriously addressed by the Government,” he said.
Wong was glad that in Sabah and Sarawak, racial tension was not felt at all, although there were more than 30 different races and cultural beliefs.
“Unity is when people know no race or creed. Peace is when you do not have to worry every time you go out or when you are home,” he said.
While Wong espouses unity in diversity, TV presenter and columnist Ben Ibrahim finds the simple act of smiling at one another as the beauty of being a true Malaysian.
“The smiles that we freely give and other simple things are what make us Malaysian,” he said.
He spoke of how Malaysians are still readily helping each other.
“Once, a stranger gave me his phone charger because my battery was dying and I had an urgent assignment.
‘Today, I helped a woman who was stuck at the Touch ’n Go toll booth without a card. Her hazard lights were switched on. So I got down with my card to tap it for her. I have seen others doing this,” said the 37-year-old.
Both Ben and Wong echo the val­ues of the upcoming Anak-Anak Malaysia Walk 2016, which cele­brates unity, harmony, peace and moderation.
The Anak-Anak Malaysia Walk 2016, to be held ahead of the National Day celebrations, will kick off at the Bukit Bintang City Centre on Aug 14.
The 3.4km walk, starting from the junction of Jalan Imbi and Jalan Pudu at the site of the former Pudu Jail, will be flagged off by Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Mhd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz. 
#AnakAnakMalaysia Walk is organised by Star Media Group in collaboration with Ecoworld. Other sponsors for the event include Car Sponsor: Proton; Gold Sponsor: Panasonic; and Silver Sponsors: Tenaga Nasional and YES. For more information, call 03-7967 1388, ext 1432/1529/1243 (Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm).


Teach Them About Harmony
Racially segregated schools largely to blame for racial intolerance, says Lisa
KUALA LUMPUR: In 2009, when actress Lisa Surihani posted Yule­tide greetings on social media, she was shocked to find her sincere gesture to Christians drawing backlash from some netizens.
“I received paragraph after paragraph of lectures for not being a good Muslim. I had no idea what I had done wrong.
“I may not be well learned in my religion but I knew I did not dis­respect my faith.
“I come from a diverse background and have family and friends who celebrate Christmas.
“I knew I had to be careful about what I post in the future, but I was determined that it should not stop me from being the person I truly am,” she recalled.
Lisa continued to post greetings on social media for all the major festivals in Malaysia, including Chinese New Year, Deepavali and Thaipusam, but with a disclaimer that she was doing so out of respect.
“However, I still received some backlash,” said the popular star and law graduate of Wales’ Aberystwyth University.
The 30-year-old believes what lies at the root of the problem is racially segregated schools.
“I went to an international school that taught civic studies. We learnt about the government, constitution and people from young and it was ingrained in us to respect each other­’s beliefs.
“Children should be allowed to mix freely from young. How are they to do that in racially segregated schools? Knowingly or unknowingly, we have allowed such schools to be established and when the children are all grown up, we complain about their intolerance for other races.
“Nothing much can be done for my generation but to increase awareness. But there is still time to make a change in the school system for our children,” said the actress, who has an 11-month-old daughter with her husband, singer-actor-director Yusry Abdul Halim.
Lisa will be taking part in the #AnakAnakMalaysia Walk 2016.
“Star Media Group’s effort is a good way to remind the people about our roots and who we truly are. I hope everyone realises this and instils hope for a more harmonious society, especially among the younger generation,” she added.
The #AnakAnakMalaysia Walk 2016, to be held ahead of the National Day celebrations, will kick off at the Bukit Bintang City Centre this Sunday.
The 3.4km walk, starting from the junction of Jalan Imbi and Jalan Pudu at the site of the former Pudu Jail, will be flagged off by Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Mhd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz.
The #AnakAnakMalaysia Walk 2016 is organised by Star Media Group in collaboration with Eco­world. Other sponsors for the event include Car Sponsor: Proton, Gold Sponsor: Panasonic and Silver Spon­sors: Tenaga Nasional and YES.


Sarah Lian
United we stand
By: Victor Brown
TheStar/Friday, 19 August 2016
KUALA LUMPUR: Taiping-born actress Sarah Lian may have grown up mainly in Vancouver, Canada, but she says Malaysia is where her home is now.
She always had a “strong connection” to the country, and left her family in Canada to explore Ma­­lay­sia and career opportunities in 2008.
She moved to Malaysia permanently in 2014.
“I packed my bags and never looked back,” said Lian, 33.
“This country is amazing.”
Not only did Lian clinch the co­veted title of FHM Malaysia’s Sexiest Woman of the Year in 2008, she also started up her own talent management company Suppagood here.
She is one of many Malaysians who are declaring their love for Malaysia by supporting the #AnakAnakMalaysia wristband campaign.
“This #AnakAnakMalaysia campaign is amazing because it really brings about unity,” said Lian.
“It’s really about standing up for one another and standing by one another.”
Lian said that she loved how multicultural Malaysia is and how the country is made up of so many different religions and cultures.
“If you ask any Malaysian what their view is, everyone will tell a different story.
“That’s what makes Malaysia so colourful.
“I have so many friends of all races, and I think that one of the biggest lessons that I learnt in Malaysia was a cultural one and to respect everyone’s beliefs,” Lian added.
But despite our differences, she said that we were all connected in one way or another.
“Being Malaysian means being able to understand three or four different languages, being connected by food and celebrating our national heroes,” said Lian.
“Sports is another way for Malay­sians to band together, regardless of their culture or religion.
“I’ve been so glued to watching the Olympics and just cheering for our athletes regardless of race or religion,” she said.
“You can see how much pa­triotism and unity the Olympics brings. Sports transcends religion and it is about celebrating the people, who are to me, heroes.
“We are all Malaysians. We have to stand up and support one ano­ther,” said Lian.
Malaysians are invited to show their love for the country by wearing an #AnakAnakMalaysia wristband and sharing a photo or video with the band atwww.anakanakmalaysia.com.
You can be part of the campaign by getting your hands on one of the 850,000 free wristbands that will come with copies of The Star newspaper on Aug 19, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30.
The wristbands are also available at any Ecoworld show gallery.
The #AnakAnakMalaysia campaign is an Ecoworld and Star Media Group collaboration.

Let’s Do The Walk, urges Nora Danish
PETALING JAYA: Proud to call herself a Malaysian, actress Nora Danish is urging everyone to join the upcoming #AnakAnakMalaysia walk.
The event, which will take place at Dataran Kemerdekaan in Shah Alam, Selangor, on Aug 27, is aimed at celebrating Malaysia’s diversity, as well as promoting unity and understanding among the people.
“All of us should be proud to be Malaysians. Let’s do the walk and spread the spirit of patriotism,” she urged.
The actress rose to prominence after leading the cast of drama series Puteri in 2005.
In 2015, she had a part in the highest-grossing local movie of all time, Polis Evo, which earned RM17.47mil at the box office.
Nora is also a social media sensation, boasting 4.8 million followers on Instagram.
Her career has taken her to various parts of the world but the Terengganu-native says “there is nothing like home”.
“Food in Malaysia is available 24 hours, seven days a week. Choice is an understatement when it comes to food selection so we don’t have a problem when the tummy goes rumbling,” said Nora, who recently returned from promoting her film Bukan Cinta Malaikat in Jakarta.
Malaysian food, she said, was what she missed most when she was away.
“How can I ever live without tempoyakpetai masak chilli, durian and more? Malaysia is home,” she said.
In conjunction with the upcoming National and Malaysia Day, all Malaysians are invited to walk together as one nation solidified in harmony.
The #AnakAnakMalaysia walk is organised by Star Media Group in collaboration with EcoWorld. Other sponsors include Proton and Panasonic.

For more information, visit sites.thestar.com.my/aamwalk.


Five Challenges for Malaysians
By Chandra Muzaffar
The Star/Wednesday, 10 August 2016
IN the last 10 years or so, a lot of community based, civil society inspired, people initiated, national unity endeavours have come to the fore. The #AnakAnakMalaysia Walk in Kuala Lumpur this Sunday is one such effort. It is commendable that more Malaysians today, compared to the past, see national unity as a goal they should strive to achieve regardless of what the State is doing or not doing.
Unfortunately, the good work that citizens have embarked upon does not address directly some of the fundamental challenges facing the nation as it struggles to forge national unity.
What are these challenges?
1. Ethnic grievances that arise from inter-personal encounters at the street level. If a shopkeeper from one community is perceived to have cheated a customer from another community and if that perception is shared by a sizeable segment of his community, it will have a negative impact upon ethnic relations. Similarly, if a civil servant from a certain community responds to a member of the public from another community in a rude manner, and if there is a gene­ral feeling that this is a pattern, inter-ethnic ties will remain at a low ebb.
2. Decisions emanating from policies or practices that are perceived as ethnically biased. If individuals from specific ethnic backgrounds are finding it more difficult to gain promotions in various branches of the public service, it will not conduce towards ethnic harmony in the larger society. By the same token, if qualified wor­kers whose ethnic and religious affiliations differ from that of the top brass in a private corporation are excluded from positions of power and authority, it will gene­rate communal unhappiness that will permeate the entire social fabric.
3. While many professions and commercial and industrial enterprises have become multi-ethnic compared to the situation four decades ago, non-formal interaction within the workplace is still along ethnic lines. This in itself is not a major problem but it does sometimes spawn communal attitudes which are inimical to building inter-ethnic understanding and empathy.
4. It is partly because ethnic sentiments and perceptions are pervasive that justice is often viewed from a one-sided perspective with very little appreciation of how the ethnic other sees the situation. This is why even well-meaning advocates of national unity, when they catalogue legitimate injus­tices, give the impression that they are not sensitive to what the other regards as the wrongs done to his kind.
5. This is related in a sense to a deeper and more fundamental challenge – how we perceive the nation and its identity. There is no shared vision of what this nation is and what it should be, a vision which transcends the ethnic and religious boundaries within the nation state. Instead of moving towards a more inclusive Malay­sian identity, we have become more segmented into exclusive ethnic and religious identities which from time to time generate tension and friction.
Some suggestions on how we can overcome these five challen­ges have been put forward in the past.
1. Grassroots ethnic grievances are perhaps best resolved through community relations councils operating within urban and rural localities. Rukun Tetangga units established in the early 70s could have evolved into effective community-level platforms for bringing ethnic and religious groups together to solve routine disputes and misunderstandings, tasks which the police undertake today without much fanfare. If the community can also be involved, we may be able to create a genuine grassroots people’s movement committed to inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony.
2. As far as policies and prac­tices with an ethnic bias are concerned, the time has come for all of us to de-emphasise ethnicity and accord greater importance to the needs of the poor and disadvantaged whoever they are and, at the same time, to recognise and reward ability and excellence as vital attributes for the success of any society. It is only certain vested interests that have always manipulated ethnic and religious sentiments for their own benefit that would be unhappy with this approach.
3. Exclusive ethnic bonding and communal attitudes can be combated through organised attempts at encouraging interaction and raising awareness of shared values that cut across ethnic and religious boundaries. In the work place in particular, good work ethics and professional standards should be inculcated among wor­kers and management so that they become the shared value system of all Malaysians. Specifically, discipline and integrity – work ethics par excellence – should be prioritised.
4. Through education and awareness programmes, biased perspectives on issues of justice can be overcome. The media has a critical role to play in this. It should have the courage to expose the stark and subtle biases in the expressions of justice which appear in the media. By so doing, it would nurture a more holistic and balanced view of justice among all communities.
5. This would pave the way for a genuinely holistic, inclusive perspective on the nation’s identity. The equilibrium embodied in the Malaysian Constitution, which is captured in the inclusive principles and goals of the Rukun Negara and in the all-embracing strategic challenges of Wawasan 2020, tells us in no uncertain terms what the nation’s identity is. It is this inclusive, all-embra­cing identity that we should celebrate especially since we are now being challenged by a certain interpretation of Islam which seeks to divide rather than unite Malaysians.
Instead of waiting for the State to act, shouldn’t concerned Malaysian citizens initiate on their own some of these solutions to national unity?

Useful links:
Community Unity/Development
Instilling Spirit of Multi-Racial Harmony
A Lifetime Partner
This is the journey we face together
Together we are faster
Together we are stronger
Together we will go further
We support each other
We inspire each other
Run
All players have partners with a shared passion
Our passion is our strength


AYUDH EUROPE 2016
Published on July 30, 2016
On July 22, 2016, AYUDH Europe hosted a memorable event to engage young people in a discussion on how they can contribute to building peaceful and inclusive societies. July 22nd marks the date of the 2011 UtĆøya and Oslo massacres, in which 77 people—mostly youth—lost their lives in these tragic attacks in Norway. AYUDH supports efforts to establish July 22nd as a day to remember the victims of hate speech and hate crimes and launch initiatives—like this Symposium—focused on creating intercultural understanding and social cohesion.
Bringing together leading voices in the fields of politics, diplomacy, activism, education and countering violent extremism with 400 young participants, this gathering aims to shift attention from personal and cultural identities to our fundamental human identity, and our shared need to be respected, understood and loved for who we are. Speakers include Swami Amritaswarupananda, Vice Chairman, Mata Amritanandamayi Math; Martine Reicherts, Director-General of Education Culture, Youth and Sports, European Commission; Anne Brasseur, Council of Europe No Hate Speech Ambassador; BjĆørn Ihler, Kofi Annan Foundation Fellow for Countering Violent Extremism; Indra Adnan, Founder of the Soft Power Network; and Ernesto Marinelli, SVP, Head of HR for SAP Middle East, Africa & Europe.
Focusing narrowly on our differences often leads to hatred, violence and exclusion. Focusing broadly on our shared humanity can foster solidarity, compassion and peace. We will explore these issues through the lens of UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #16, dedicated to the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice for all and building effective, accountable institutions. The efforts of political leaders and institutions to establish and ensure peace on national and global levels must coincide with local efforts to nurture a culture of peace in younger generations around the world. The Symposium will also play host to the official launch of the No Hate Speech Movement digital campaign and website in Germany.
This event is being organized by AYUDH, an international youth movement founded and inspired by renowned spiritual and humanitarian leader Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi). AYUDH seeks to empower young people to make social and political change for more inclusive and peaceful societies through self-development, inner transformation and collective action, developing compassionate leaders with a sense of tolerance, solidarity and global responsibility.
The One Humanity Symposium is part of AYUDH’s 12th annual European Youth Summit ‘One World, One Home’. This summit is supported by the Council of Europe’s European Youth Foundation, SAP SE and the Kloster Eberbach Foundation, carried out in partnership with the United Nations Inter-Agency-Network on Youth Development, the No Hate Speech Movement, the Lebenshilfe e.V. Offenburg and the German municipalities of Brombachtal and Michelstadt.


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