Educate people to have civilised thinking, civil society groups told

KUALA LUMPUR: All civil society organisations (CSOs) should educate the public to have civilised thinking to ensure the development of democracy, said Malaysian Institute of Integrity ( IIM) president Datuk Dr Anis Yusal Yusof.

He said the CSOs needed to explain to the people, the government’s policy-making process by using different approaches, according to the classification of different age groups in the country.

“The means should not be limited to the social media. Young adults have to be approached through a different mechanism in comparison to the older generation. This includes face-to-face communication which is very important to deliver the message directly to the persons where they can also be engaged for their experiences and practices in making policy decisions,” he said.

Speaking as a panellist at the forum on ‘Key Role of CSOs in Ensuring Respect for Political Rights Including Elections’ at the Democracy in Southeast Asia Conference, Anis also emphasised the role of CSOs as mediators and their collaboration with academicians to educate people.

“In order to mete out the government’s policies, CSOs should also collaborate with academicians to help educate the people on research and studies on policy making,” he said.

Anis also suggested that the term nongovernmental organisations ( NGOs) not be addressed much in civil reforms as it could give a negative perspective to society.

“Hence, CSO is the best term to be addressed as it gives a clear indication in building and strengthening democracy,” he said.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, Chito Gascon said CSOs could play their role as ‘ watchdogs’ between the government and society’s behaviour.

“CSOs should watch how state officials use their powers and raise public concerns about any abuse of power. They should lobby for access to information, including freedom of information laws, and rules and institutions to control corruption,” he said.

The two- day regional conference jointly organised by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and Kofi Annan Foundation, commenced on Saturday. — Bernama