UR1

What is almost impossible to get Malaysians to do is to move them to be pro active on issues that concerns them. Speak to any average Malaysians - just take five minutes of their time if you can and by the end of that time you will see that getting the average Malaysian to attend a meeting, to demonstrate, to donate to a cause or even put their signature to a petition is almost like asking PAS to support selling beer in Seven Eleven. It is not that they do not care but they are just not bothered to take that one extra step and commit themselves to a cause. Activist who thought they had the critical mass to launch a movement publicly has proved that this is the norm time and time again. Announce a march or a demonstration and they will come! They never do.

To my mind it is only because the ISA has jarred the sensibilities of too many Malaysians that any demonstrations against this insidious Act is well attended – but not without a slick and well organized group to manage the demonstration.

This is why before I do anything with the UR1 N with Me We R 2 concept I needed to first throw the idea to the people that read what I write to see if there was an interest. Less then ten e-mail me indicating interest.

I also requested for help through donations to keep steadyaku47 solvent and relevant – and I outlined the reason why. Four people responded. Three Chinese and one Malay lady. The money collected is not important – but the response is.

How do you think we bloggers are expected to keep going? I spend a full working day on my blog. Just me. I get about 100 emails a day. I read every one of them and if they need a response I do as required. It would, on average take about two to three hours to write one article. Then there is the research and the reading of Medias and other sources of information to keep myself knowledgeable and informed of what is happening in Malaysia. It is tedious work. But I have made my commitment to this blog and I will keep going.

The question now is the manner in which I will keep going. Will it be a state of the art operation or fly by the seat of my pants kind of operation? Will I be providing relevant and in depth articles on matters that are relevant or will it just be me churning out two or three articles a day without much concern to depth and quality?

I need to make you all understand that commitment is needed in everything that you do if you want to make it work. When you have focus and commitment then money is the next critical factor that will guarantee success. And that is why, against all my instinct to ask for money – if I am to move relentlessly forward– I will need money. Enough money to empower steadyaku47 to be relevant and enough money to reach the audience we need to join us. From the rural areas and the young.

So we will have to find a way out of this impasse together. I have talked about the “pay it forward” concept and that video posted a few days back. Think about it again. Think what it would need for you to do to make it work. And more important how are we able to measure the effectiveness of that concept. Shall we do a test run? How do we do a test run? Where do we do a test run? So many questions so little answers.   

But one by one I hope to make this happen. Even if one of you will work with me on this it will do for now.

This is not just about steadyaku47 being a political activist. This is an attempt to make people understand that we all need to be involved at many levels to make things that we believe in work! You need to put effort, time, commitment and if you can, money too. Not hundreds of Ringgits, not even fifty Ringgits – just ten ringgit per person will go far. If we have the numbers it will be enough.

Why not start now? When you finish reading this go talk to somebody about steadyaku47 – not about Hussein Hamid – about the things you read in steadyaku47. About KD Inderapura, about the newspaper headlines, about what I wrote on Najib today – anything that you find interesting in steadyaku47 to share with someone who have not heard of this blog. Spend five or ten minutes talking  - then you have done your part for today. Tomorrow is another day.This is why I spend hours everyday on this blog. I am hoping…no I am praying that just one person a day will be moved to mention what I write to another person – then I have done my work for today. Tomorrow is another day. Another person to convince. And so my work starts again. I cannot do this by myself but everyday I will try because if I do not try there will be one less person doing this.