Advancing women's rights in Malaysia
By LEE TSE LINGIt didn't really strike any new notes. But the pledge by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to forge ahead with the battle against gender discrimination was still music to the ears for advocacy groups who have been fighting for more than 20 years.
“We have already informed all ministries to identify these laws and regulations that need to be reviewed,” the Prime Minister was quoted, in a speech that reached out to the core of the women’s rights movement.
Badawi was speaking at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Ministerial Meeting on the Advancement of Women chaired by Malaysia.
The less informed can easily dismiss him for trying to play to the gallery. But the Prime Minister was following through from meetings with Malaysian women activists.
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Malaysian women are forging ahead in their fight for equal rights with the review of laws and regulations that discriminate against them. |
Continued support was promised. More than just lip service to the cause of women’s rights, the group actually managed to wrest what seems a tangible prize from the high-level meeting: the establishment of the Cabinet Committee on Gender Equality and Non-discrimination.
This cabinet committee, staffed by representatives from each ministry, will be the supervisor of the changes to come.
The memorandum highlighted laws and policies that sideline women. Recommendations were made for their reform and relevant bodies that would be involved in the makeover were identified.
The recommendations were categorised broadly as policy decisions – easily dealt with – and law reforms, which would take longer.
The snag is, while the policy decisions would be easiest to implement and most instrumental in effecting change, JAG realised that they would also be the slowest to be applied substantively.
The end goal of the policies is to inculcate an awareness of the rights of women into the civic consciousness.
This awareness would have to break through the gamut of resistance including gender myth/stereotype, prejudice and chauvinism, before filtering from the top of the pyramid – government, policy makers, and activists - to a broad base occupied by the woman in the street.
It may sound like re-cycled promises, but the strong message from the Prime Minister underscores an official commitment towards justice and fair play.
Clearly, Malaysia is unafraid to put itself in the vanguard of a key human rights isssue.
“We’re saying, as states, we are accountable to each other. It’s a far cry from 10 to 15 years ago when they signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was seen as foreign, different,” said Ivy Josiah, executive director of the Women’s Aid Organisation.
“Now we’re no longer insular. We’re talking to each other, asking what are you doing in your country?’’
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