The Campaign

Stateless people are denied access to basic necessities such as healthcare, education and jobs. These are basic rights that even prisoners have access to in prison. Based on this insight, we created a film about the happiest man in prison. And even through overly intimate showers, a broken tooth and a seemingly unbearable environment, he remains happy. An oddity only answered at the end when he’s released from prison revealing that he’s a stateless man with no access to basic education, healthcare and jobs in the outside world.

Creative Execution

With the power of the people, a rather odd public service announcement, and no media budget at all, timing was of the utmost importance. Enough time for the new government to set up and also, just in time for Hari Raya, a festive season where Malaysians believe in doing good to receive blessings. So, on June 12, we used the power of social media and launched our film on Facebook. A film that stood out amongst a clutter of visually similar Raya ads.

Without any media budget, the film went beyond our expectations. Within hours of going live, it was shared by Malaysians all over Facebook. Even by the likes of famous Malaysian actors like Daphne Iking, Miss Universe Malaysia’s Deborah Henry and Malaysia’s most influential activist, Dr. Hartini Zainudin. News outlets like ‘Daily Seni’ and ‘The Star’ were quick to cover it. But more important than likes and shares was the new government reaching out to Yayasan Chow Kit to negotiate terms and consult us on how Malaysia can implement stateless people into our system and give them their rights back. The biggest step the country has taken to solve the issue of statelessness in the history of Malaysia and one step closer to the signing of the ‘1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness’.

Malaysians often turn a blind eye to public service announcements. Because these videos are usually sappy, sad and guilt-tripping. So, to create awareness on stateless people, we decided to take the opposite route. An oddly happy and joyful public service announcement film that cut through the clutter and effectively delivered a serious message in the most entertaining, funny and memorable way.

Malaysia is home to over 300,000 stateless people. Yet it’s one of the only countries in the world that hasn’t signed the ‘1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness’. But new hope arose when Malaysians made a historic change in the recent elections. By orchestrating a democratic change in government for the first time in the nation’s history. The results made every Malaysian believe for the first time ever, that they had the power in them to make a change. So, with a new government in place to solve old and new problems and the people rallying behind, we coincided to launch our film right after. In a time where Malaysia and Malaysians were readier than ever to make a change, we gave them a problem that needed changing the most.