A Study on Unity
This month’s cover feature saw the Tatler team turn a chic café into a photography studio as we took the time to learn about the Organisation for National Empowerment
With the team arriving early in the morning to set up at Bean Brothers Malaysia, a stylish Korean-based café in Sunway Damansara, it was only a matter of time before we fuelled up on some well-made coffee. With such a huge space to play around when it comes to photography, art director Allan Casal and photographer Kim Mun bounced a few ideas off one another on the direction of the photo shoot. It was decided that the shoot was to be photojournalistic in nature, as they wanted to emote a sense of rawness to the spread, and convey the ideals of the individuals featured. In line with Merdeka, we examine the Organisation for National Empowerment (ONE), a recently formed non-governmental organisation that focuses on national unity and providing youths the necessary platform to play an active role in nation building. Our stars for this month are a reflection of the ideals which the country has stood for since 1957—a diverse bunch of individuals working in harmony for a better tomorrow. Hannah Kam, Azeem Abu Bakar, Anand Shiva Kulendran and Danni Rais are core members of the NGO, but are also merely four of the many faces that represent ONE. While each of the four members took their turns to get their pictures taken around different locations at the cafe, senior writer Tien Chew pounced on the opportunity to speak to each individually, to paint a better picture of ONE’S mission and ethos. What he discovered was that although each member brought their own specialities to the table, they all had the same desire and drive to strengthen national unity.