KUALA LUMPUR, 17 Sept 2009: The Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) has strongly denied any hidden agenda in calling for concrete action to be taken against the rape of Penan women and girls, as implied by Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil. In a statement today, the WAO stressed that it was part of its responsibility as […]
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Outraged by inaction over plight of Orang Asal
By the Joint Action Group for Gender EqualityFOLLOWING the release of the task force report confirming allegations of sexual abuse of Penan women and girls, we greet Malaysia’s 46th birthday with a renewed sense of outrage. We are gravely disturbed not only over the Penan girls and women whose rights were violated, but also over how their situation reflects the overall state […]
One Malaysia, two halves
By Yasmin Masidi(Festive image by ba1969 / sxc.hu) THE build-up to Malaysia’s 46th birthday began this year, for me, with an argument between two acquaintances. A West Malaysian acquaintance said the prevailing notion that Malaysia is 52 years old, versus its actual birth in 1963, is a matter of interpretation. An East Malaysian acquaintance angrily pointed out […]
FOI would have helped Penan
By Ding Jo-AnnTHE haphazard release of the Penan Task Force report last week is symptomatic of a glaring lack of access, as a rule, to publicly funded government information. The report, which confirmed the rape and sexual abuse of Penan women and girls, was publicly unavailable for months despite repeated calls by advocacy groups for it to […]
Penan girls and women were sexually violated
By Ding Jo-AnnShadowy interior of a Penan home (Pics courtesy of Sofiyah Israa @ Flickr) PETALING JAYA, 9 Sept 2009: Nearly a year after, a government task force report has confirmed that Penan women and children in Sarawak were raped and sexually abused by timber workers. The report by the national task force set up in October […]
Penan task force report “not available”
By Zedeck SiewPenan child (all pics courtesy of Sofiyah Israa / Flickr) PETALING JAYA, 21 Aug 2009: Despite Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil’s pledge, the Penan task force report is still not available, not even to “interested parties” visiting her ministry. Attempts by The Nut Graph yesterday — following the minister’s promise […]
Najib & Co. (Part 1)
By Gan Pei Ling“Give me a chance. I will reform and I will make changes.” Then Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, speaking at a press conference at the Umno general assembly in April 2009, days before he was made prime minister. He said he was aware that some parties expected him to act in an authoritarian […]
Silence is rotten
By Yasmin MasidiLittle Red Riding Hood; the folktale now commonly ends with a woodsman saving her, as opposed to earlier versions which include her escaping via her own cunning (public domain/wikipedia) I HAVE little affection for fairy tales, especially with regards to the moral lessons they purportedly teach. What I got from the stories I read as […]
Make Penan report public, PKR says
By Zedeck SiewKUALA LUMPUR, 25 June 2009: The women’s wing of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) wants the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry to not only release the Penan task force report to the public, but to also table it for debate in Parliament. “What is stopping the Malaysian government from publicising the report of the investigation? The repeated […]
Govt won’t commit to making Penan report public
By Zedeck SiewKUALA LUMPUR, 18 June 2009: The government is still unwilling to commit to making public the Penan task force report. Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil continued to be noncommittal when she was asked about the findings of a task force that was set up to investigate reports of sexual […]
