The Eleventh Malaysia Plan (RMK 11) announced recently by the government marks another important milestone for Malaysia’s pathway towards successful development by 2020. As the plan highlights the message of inclusivity and engaging the people of Malaysia in achieving its goals, one important sector that needs to be strategically incorporated in this endeavour is the civil society which is emerging as the ‘third sector’ of society, separate from the government and business.
The term civil society refers to the wide array of non-governmental and not-for-profit organizations that have presence in public life. They express the interests and values of their members or others, based on ethical, cultural, political, scientific, religious or philanthropic considerations. Civil society organizations (CSOs) are essentially the so-called “intermediary institutions” such as professional associations, religious groups, labour unions, citizen advocacy organisations where people associate to advance their common interests and enrich public participation in democracies. In short, the realm of civil society is the bridge between the state and the people. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), labour leaders, faith-based organizations, religious leaders and other civil society representatives play a critical and diverse set of roles in societal development.
The role as bridge builders such as the one attached to civil society organizations must be seen from a positive limelight especially by governments. As bridge builders, they work to provide the government with the reality of the conditions affecting the grassroots. With the bureaucratic nature of governments, the general public often turns to other entities that understand them and can provide them with the needed answers although not solutions to their concerns. Governments must accept the fact that their machineries are insufficient to reach the grassroots at all levels. Governments can therefore take advantage of the networks that civil society organizations have established to
To realize this goal, governments and CSOs must be willing to take up a strategic alliance. Such an alliance is actually an evolving process where both actors gradually come to identify the points of consensus and priorities for common actions. It can never be denied that clashes of ideas and expectations exist between the two entities. Sometimes these opposing viewpoints and approaches are seen as the reasons behind the perceived cold relationship. Establishing mutual trust and a culture of cooperation in order to shape policies and concrete initiatives for the wellbeing of society is a complex and long-term goal. Hence, there is a strong need for further capacity-building and awareness-raising, as well as for a change of mind-set on both sides.
As for civil society organizations, they need to be sincere to the struggle. Civil society is often seen as an increasingly important agent for promoting good governance like transparency, effectiveness, openness, responsiveness and accountability. In promoting all of these qualities, they must adopt a kind of proactive engagement that they need to undertake in order to ensure that their goals can be achieved. A specific challenge that is emerging at present for civil society leadership is to balance the new found roles as facilitator, enabler and constructive challenger towards other groups in society, while becoming accustomed to the rapidly shifting milieu of a technology-driven and changing world. The kind of approach taken by civil society organizations should not just be in constant opposition towards all measures taken by government especially legitimate democratic governments. Providing positive criticisms, alternative viewpoints and multiple possible solutions must be the among the means that the civil society organizations need to adopt in engaging with this form of governments. The leadership of civil society organizations in particular, must understand that they are bridge builders and not trench diggers in the context of managing the relationship between the state and the general public.
Therefore, to be fair, one must realize that any government of the day would take the needed actions to ensure that the interests of the people as a whole are rightfully represented and the stability of the nation is protected. Hence, any structure of regulatory framework that works around the relationship between state and these organizations needs to be objectively understood. In this sense, this instrument in the forms of rules and regulations are meant to work as a mechanism of guaranteeing justice and fairness for all. Interestingly, the Muslim philosopher, Ibn Khaldun also stressed that the natural necessity of human social organization requires a restraining influence in order to maintain the social unity among the members of the society and prevent aggressiveness and injustice between them. In his Magnum Opus, Muqadimmah, He also argues that solidarity and co-operation is a prerequisite for the well-being of a civilization. Civilization is build by not just the single strength of the ruler or government, but by the cohesion that exist as a forceful bond between all groups in the society.
All in all, like many other democratic nations in the world today, Malaysia also needs to forge this kind of dynamic relation between the state and civil society organizations. The Government must come to a realization that now is no longer the time when ‘government knows everything ‘. Government needs partners for development and nation-building, and so the best partner now should come from the grassroots by engaging strategically with the groups that are close to them and understand them the most.
