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Star2, Friday 17 May 2013

The writer (fourth from left)

posing with some of the
famous faces that showed up
for Saya Mahu Picnic (from
left) Chelsia Ng, Zain Hd, datin
Paduka Marina Mahathir,
Carmen Soo, Sham Hardy, rina
Omar, Nazri ishak and Low
Ngai yuen.

By NIKI CHEONG
alltherage@thestar.com.my

AST weekend, about 200

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Gardens in Kuala Lumpur
Mahu Picnic
for a picnic under the shady
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trees, all dressed in the colours of
the Jalur Gemilang.
The event Saya Mahu Picnic
was organised by bizarre participatory arts group RandomAlphabets
(RA) in just four days as a
response to the tensions after the
13th general election.
I was part of the core
group who volunteered to
put together the event,
alongside RA spokesperson and co-founder Zain
activist Toh Puan Aishah Ong, former Miss
HD, Juana Jaafar and others.
felt this way. As quickly as we
Malaysia Deborah Henry and businessman Tan
The idea stemmed from a couple of text
started moving (we had announced the
Sri Lim Kim Yew came together to endorse a
message exchanges between the three of us
event on Tuesday evening via social media),
statement speaking out against the strains of
after the election results were announced. We
we noticed that other people were mobilising
racism that were emerging following the genfelt that there was a strong tension both on the their respective movements.
eral election, of which I was also one of the
ground and online, some of which were
One group started a Facebook group called
signatories (you can view the full statement at
sparked by certain polarising sentiments relatKita Kawan Mah, which aimed to celebrate
http://bit.ly/182SfMX).
ing to race from a variety of sources, including
the diversity of our fellow countrymen and
For RA, our approach was to go back to what
elected officials, politicians, media institutions
women. There was another group of people
we knew and did best bringing people
and of course, the average layman.
who started sharing pictures of themselves
together in a fun manner.
The intention behind Saya Mahu Picnic was
posing with messages calling for unity.
RA was founded on the ethos of organising
to play a small part in diffusing what appeared
Then, a group of prominent Malaysians
events that get people to spend time together
to be escalating tensions.
including social activist Datin Paduka Marina
in the most random ways, as weve done
The three of us were not the only ones who
Mahathir, educator Jonson Chong, welfare
through other events like Keretapi Sarong, KL
Freeze in Unison, World Pillow Fight Day, Tali
Tenang and more.
The basis of our events is fun. RA feels that
while we can all talk about unity, it is only
when people spend time with one another
that opportunities to build relationships
emerge.
Saya Mahu Picnic was just one platform to
facilitate that. We feel that platforms are
important for people to express themselves
differently. Zain personally believes that people in general are always keen to show how
they feel and express themselves in a bigger
and more prominent platform.
For such people, just ranting on Twitter,
updating a Facebook status or just chattering

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Unity

RandomAlphabets cofounder Zain HD (seated, in

yellow) leading participants
to sing Saya Anak Malaysia
during the
#SayaMahuPicnic event at
the Lake Gardens, Kuala
Lumpur yesterday.

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aya Mahu Picnic
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Saya Mahu Picnic was an opportunity for

these people to come together and do something more, whether it was through the songs
the picnickers sang including Ikhlas Tapi Jauh,
Rasa Sayang and Saya Anak Malaysia or the
potluck, where they shared a variety of food
representing the different communities that
make up our country.
Zain, in an interview with The Star during
the event, said: People need to realise that it
does not matter how small their influence is, it
is what they do with that influence that matters.
The common thought is that these days, the
only way to initiate action is to brand something properly or look at sustainability. People
dont often feel that the little things matter
when they clearly do the positivity that
drowned out some of the negativity on social
media is a good example.
Saya Mahu Picnic was our little contribution,
both as a form for us to express ourselves but
also as a platform for others to do the same.
Were grateful to those who took the time out
to join us but also for the support and encouragement that weve received following the
event.
n NIKI CHEONG is a social media strategist and
lecturer. For more information about
RandomAlphabets and its projects, log on to randomalphabets.com.

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The

By DENIELLE LEONG
alltherage@thestar.com.my

THERE have been a lot of people calling for

calm heads and racial unity since the general election ended, but Red FM deejay
Terry Ong is putting his money where
his mouth is.
Last week, the 33-year-old posted a
challenge on his Facebook page
(search Terry Ong Has Issues on
Facebook), offering RM1,000 of
his own money to the person
who posts the best photo
depicting Malaysian unity on
his Facebook page.
All the negativity on social
media, and all the talk
about racial tensions, really got to
Ong, and so he
decided to do
something about it.
dJ Terry hopes
It was an
to inculcate
impromptu idea
Malaysian unity
that popped up in
through his
the middle of the
own initiative.
night, and I

dJ Terry offers rM1,000

of his own money for the
best muhibbah photo on
Facebook.
announced it on Facebook at 7am the
next morning, he said.
The goal was simply to show the
muhibbah spirit is still strong among
Malaysians. The money is just to
add an element of excitement.
Despite his modest expectations,
the post has received almost 2,000
Likes, along with an encouraging
number of submissions from
Malaysians from all walks of life.
The photos show that
Malaysians do get
along with those in
their immediate circle, regardless of race.
Our ethnicity
shouldnt even be an
issue. It is the person
that matters at the
end of the day, he
said.