Hands-on Politics
Malaysian UWC
scholars’ send off 2007: From L-R>
Nik Razman (AC ’08),
Wong Loke Jin (MUWCI ’08), Amir Kamarudin (AC ’08), Tang Shu Haur (AC ’08) and
Lim Yangli (UWCCR ’08)
* Name: Lim Yangli
* UWC attended/graduation year: UWC
CR ‘08
Organizational details
* Name of organization/program: Democratic
Action Party (DAP); Descartes Education Counselling Centre (DECC); Bersih
* Location of stint: Damansara Utama and the realms of cyberspace
* Dates and duration of stint: June – August 2007, with lots of follow ups online after that
* Briefly, please tell us about its aims/objectives:
DAP – to help the party in its
research efforts and ilk.
DECC – to facilitate in the setting
up of the centre.
Bersih – to aid
in the fight for free and fair elections.
* Why did you apply to do this?
Decided to take a stand and do
something concrete for the country instead of just being an armchair critic.
* Please tell us about the nature of work you did, or activities that you participated in:
DAP - Basically I was recruited to
participate in 2 main tasks. The first was to conduct all sorts of research
(correlations, targeted audience, etc) into all sorts of statistics – from past
election results to electoral rolls. Lots of programming was also involved as
the final objective was to create a program able to do this. The second was to
participate in the Alternative Budget project, basically a different proposal
for Budget 2008. Of course I was only
involved in other petty jobs like distributing flyers, helping out at forums
and ilk due to the party’s shorthanded state.
DECC – Working with a core team to
kick start the centre, from the building of the webpage to strategies and
measures for the direction of the centre.
Bersih – Initiating ‘Operation
Alpha’ with a core team. Unfortunately details of this project cannot be disclosed
at this moment.
* Upsides/downsides?
Upsides – Meeting all sorts of
people who make you feel that this country still has hope; Sleeping well at
night knowing that you are contributing to the betterment of the country.
Downsides - Long hours at times (up to 14 hours/day); Weekend meetings; Getting depressed and pissed off over the status quo all too many times.
* Why do you think UWC students/graduates might enjoy this?
Knowing that we,
not being subjected to the UUCA, can exercise our idealism to help this
country. Isn’t that why we went to UWC?
:)
* Tell us about the people you worked with and met during your stint.
Basically,
everyone on the other side of the fence.
I met almost all the DAP leaders, some PKR people, Bersih people, lots of NGO
leaders.
Contact information
* How did you apply to this program?
I have been friends with my boss,
Tony Pua, prior to him even joining politics. I just emailed him offering to
help out. The DAP however, is always in need for volunteers/ workers. Same goes
with the PKR.
* Contact details of the organization/program?
* If you are agreeable to being contacted about your experience with this organization, please include your contact details:
Lenard.lim-08@uwccr.com or limyangli@hotmail.com