1. Workshops on Enchancing Resources for the Disabled 2002
As a follow up to the national Conference on Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities held on 10th – 12th September 2001 at Pusat Latihan Perindustrian dan Pemulihan Bangi, the MCR organised a series of one day workshops on specific topics to address major issues affecting persons with disabilities.
Series of 3 workshops were held in Malacca (19th May 2002), Sarawak (15th June 2002) and Penang (27th July 2002). The findings the workshops were reported and discussed at national level seminar on the 16th September 2002 at the Majlis Kebajikan dan Pembangunan Masyarakat Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.
The topic of the workshops are as follows :
i. Creating Parent and Family Support Network (19th May 2002, Malacca)
ii. Increasing Employment Opportunities Through Sheltered Workshop and Group Homes (15th June 2002, Sarawak)
iii. Establishing Information and Referral Resources Centres for the Disabled (27th July 2002, Penang)
The finding of the workshops was reported and discussed at a national level seminar held at Sentul. At the end of the seminar, some issues raised and proposed are as follows :
a. There was a need for greater co-operation amongst NGOs dealing with the disabled covering areas of knowledge and experience sharing and problem solving.
b. The lines of communication between the government and the NGOs have to more open and honest as well as between NGOs themselves.
c. MCR is to play a more coordinating and facilitating role towards resolving a national strategy on all issues touching on the welfare and development of the disabled.
d. The challenge for MCR is to get the act together amongst all NGOs so that the government will be able to handle any issues in a comprehensive and integrated manner.
The first workshop came up the following plan of action 
2. Seminar on Employment for Persons with Disabilities
The MCR has been requested by the Japan Association for Employment with Disabilities (JAED) to organise a joint-seminar on the abovementioned. JAED gave a financial support to carry on the seminar which held from 12th – 13th March 2003 in Crown Princess Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. An organising committee was formed jointly with MCR and Jabatan Buruh Semenanjung Malaysia (Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia) with Mr. Wahab Salleh (Jabatan Buruh) and Puan Khatijah Sulieman (MCR) as joint-chairman of the committee.
It was attended by 200 participants from the Social Welfare Department, Labour Department, Special Education Department, organisations for and of the disabled and employers. At the end of this seminar, a ‘Plan Of Action’ has been tabled for discussion and onward transmission to the Ministry of Human Resources for necessary follow-up.
The Proposed Plan of Action
3. Peace Flag Event
The event had been held on 20th May 2002 at Dewan Teong Kim Chai (Multipurpose Hall), Spastic Centre, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. This is a very special event where disabled children of Malaysia of all races, religion and creed are portraying their unity and care for peace and harmony. A Malaysian flag with photographs of the children with disabilities will be presented to the event ‘Evening of Heart and Hope’ which will be held in East Hampton at Pinewood Studio, New York on 24th Augus 2002by YAM Datuk Sri Raja Zarina Raja Zainal, patron of Malaysian Council for Rehabilitation.
This special flag is also to let the children of New York realise that the children of Malaysia sympathise with the heartbreak of September 11, 2001 tragedy.
This event is also part of MCR activities to increase awareness and support for the rehabilitation programmes for the disabled, especially disabled children. Amongst other activities include reading, colouring, face painting, origami demonstration from volunteers et cetera.
4. Disabled Persons as Promoters of Non-Handicapping Environments Workshop
Towards training disabled persons to inspect accessibility in a built environment, the National Accessibility Coordinating Committee was formally accepted as a sub-committee under the auspieces of Malaysian Council for Rehabilitation (MCR).
This committee embarked on its first programme, which was the training of trainers on the promotion on the non-handicapping environment (NHE). It was successfully organised its first training session that is to train a number of disabled persons on the knowledge of inspecting accessibility in a built environment on the 5th September 2002.
A training was conducted with guest speaker Mr. Ir. Fong Tian Yong, Timbalan Ketua Pengarah II, Jabatan Kerajaan Tempatan and facilitated by Ms. Naziaty Mohd. Yaacob, Mr. Choo Gim Wah and Mr. Anthony Arokia. 16 participants from various disabled association were invited to be the first batch of trainees. They were given theoretical and simulation/practical session where they were seen moving around the building checking on the width of doors, height of the ramps, fire escapes etc.
It started with an introduction on the access improvement at 9.00 a.m with input on ‘Legislation’ by Mr. Fong and ‘Access Features Input and Introduction by Access Survey’ by Ms. Naziaty Mohd. Yaacob. The participants were later taken around the Spastic Building as a simulation/practical exercise and they will be sending in their recommendations to the Spastic Association.
5. Pertandingan Kraftangan
Pertandingan ini diadakan dengan tema ‘Arts and Crafts as a Means to Economic Independent’ pada 11hb September 2002 bertempat di Dewan Serbaguna Spastik, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Pertandingan ini memperlihatkan kreativiti dan kualiti bagi setiap barangan yang dihasilkan peserta yang mengambil bahagian sekaligus memperlihatkan kemahiran bagi golongan orang kurang upaya. Penyertaan yang menang akan dipamerkan sempena Hari Orang Kurang Upaya yang adakan pada 13 Mac 2003.
6. Campaign 2002 (Osaka, Japan)
Persons went were Puan Khatijah Sulieman, Mr. Godfrey Ooi, Mr. Cheah Kam Kooi, En. Mahadi Ibrahim, Puan Noor Yasmin Abdul Karim dan Cik Fauziah Tahar. RNN agreed to sponsor the registration fee and hotel accomodation for 4 persons, two of whom were disabled persons.
The forum held in Osaka, Japan October 21-23, 2002 served to mark the end-year of the Asia-Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons. In other words, this is the tenth and final year of the Asia-Pacific Decade organised by the Regional Network of NGO(s) or RNN aimed at promoting the needs and rights of the disabled and to recommend actions that would help them achieve full participation and equality in society.
The main theme of the forum was ‘Partnerships for Disability Rights’ and the major objective was to sum up the regional experiences accumulated during the decade and to share them with participants from Asian and Pacific countries/areas as well as from other regions of the world.
At the same Osaka Forum, the idea of forming a new regional NGO network on disability was welcomed by various sectors to strengthen regional initiatives and momentum to meet the rising expectations and demands of the new millennium. The name of the new network was decided as Asia and Pacific Disability Forum (in short, APDF).
The Regional NGO Network (RNN) which was established for the purpose of organizing the annual conferences was dissolved after the Osaka Forum.
Report on the Osaka Forum by Godfrey Ooi