What exactly was discriminatory about the remarks made against the DAP’s candidate for the Teluk Intan by-election, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud? How do such remarks go beyond Dyana Sofya and what needs to be done to combat such attitudes?
CEDAW
More than Sri Lankan Tamil
By Ding Jo-Ann
WOMEN’S rights activist Meera Samanther left legal practice in 1995, thinking she would have a short break after a difficult pregnancy. “I thought I would volunteer for a while, do some charity work,” she tells The Nut Graph. She started helping at the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO)’s shelter and ended up becoming its president, actively advocating for […]
“Child marriages” just a political game
By Ding Jo-Ann
THE recent announcement by Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam that Muslim children in the state will be allowed to marry just boggles the mind. According to Ali Rustam, who is also Malacca Islamic Religious Council chairperson, allowing child marriages will help curb teenage pregnancy and baby dumping, and prevent pregnant teenagers from […]
The long wait to be Malaysian: The foreign spouse experience
By Deborah Loh
BINA Ramanand and Asha Lim are just two among what is believed to be many more with a predicament because they live in Malaysia. They are foreign spouses married to Malaysians who have waited years and in some cases, decades, for their permanent residency (PR) applications to be approved. As of June 2010, the Home […]
Bucking traditions of inequality
By Deborah Loh
BUKIT Mertajam Member of Parliament Chong Eng bucked some traditions in her younger days. Coming from a Chinese new village, she was the first girl in her family who managed to persuade her father to let her continue secondary school. Her interracial marriage later on was also considered uncommon, given her background. Born in 1957 […]
What about keeping promises?
By Women's Candidacy InitiativeOld Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard To get her poor doggie a bone But when she got there The cupboard was bare So her poor little doggie had none – Old nursery rhyme The Women’s Candidacy Initiative (WCI) notes that each time elections come around, whether it is parliamentary, state or by-elections, parties fielding […]
Malaysia, the faithless lover
By Ding Jo-AnnWHEN it comes to international human rights obligations, the Malaysian government has behaved like a faithless lover: making promises to the world it never intended to keep. The banning of Sisters in Islam (SIS)’s book Muslim Women and the Challenge of Islamic Extremism, which is now being judicially reviewed in court, is a demonstration of […]
Women still discriminated in M’sia: Suhakam
PETALING JAYA, 27 May 2009: Although Malaysia ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) in 1995, discrimination against women still exists in the country, especially in terms of promotion and recognition in the public and private sectors. This was revealed by Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) Commissioner […]
S’gor aims for 30% women representation
By Gan Pei LingSHAH ALAM, 30 April 2009: The Selangor government is aiming for better gender representation in leadership positions through a soon-to-be-launched youth movement known as Penggerak Belia Negeri Selangor. “To ensure that young women are not marginalised from this programme, the movement’s zone-level committees must comprise a minimum of 30% women. If the chairperson is a […]
What about women?
By Women's Candidacy InitiativeTHE Women’s Candidacy Initiative (WCI) notes with concern the manner in which the Kuala Terengganu by-elections were run by both the Barisan National (BN) and the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) candidates. There was so much focus on race, hudud laws, and distributive justice vis-a-vis the state of Terengganu and the Federation of Malaysia. Voter on polling […]
