Occupy Sama-Sama (Together) is an umbrella nickname for several Occupy movements currently happening in Malaysia – Occupy Dataran, Occupy Penang and the upcoming Occupy Kota Bharu.

Occupy Dataran, the oldest among the lot, has been happening every Saturday night since 30th July, before Occupy Wall Street, and unlike Occupy Wall Street’s financial reform agenda, Occupy Dataran seems to be focused at the moment on exploring direct participatory democracy through people’s assemblies.

With elections around the corner, it’s a breath of fresh air seeing political posters not glorifying one person. Instead, the art of the different Occupy Sama-Sama assemblies produced so far, like their decision-making process, are focused on egalitarianism and understanding; and through this has attracted a regular crowd of activists and non-activists alike including musicians and artists who seem to find a weekly sanctuary of sorts in Occupy Dataran against a culture of authoritarianism, overt centralisation of political power, exclusiveness and other undemocratic habits of corporations, political parties and governments.

The first Occupy Penang on the 29th of November seemed to have a slightly different crowd made up mostly of university and polytechnic students who were curious about participatory democracy and sick of racism, cultural stereotyping and the lack of students’ rights to political participation. The next first Occupy will be on the other side of the peninsular in Kota Bharu, Kelantan so months down the road, it will be interesting to see the different aesthetic styles and themes in the art produced by the different Occupy assemblies and how the sustained use of attractive art and social media can spread participatory democracy around the country.