Working for Democracy: Footprints from Civil Society in Malaysia

Working for Democracy: Footprints from Civil Society in Malaysia is an attempt to capture the rich and transformatory experiences of Malaysian NGOs in their struggle for a democratic, just and inclusive society. The five experiences covered in this book include three organisations and coalition-building efforts around two issues. The People's Service Organisation (PSO) and the Kindergarten Teachers' Association (Persatuan Guru Tadika, PGT) are community-based service organisations working with the rural poor since the 1980s, while the Malaysia Youth and Student Democratic Movement (DEMA) is a relatively young' youth-based organisation formed in the late 1990s. The case studies on coalition building cover the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) which focuses on women's rights; and another on groups and networks, such as Article 11 and BADAI, formed recently to contest issues around human rights and multi-religious rights. They have been selected based on their varied spheres of engagement - poverty, education, democracy and youth activism, religious freedom and women's rights.