Najib and women

At the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry’s anniversary celebration, Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak congratulated the ministry for going ‘through a dynamic and significant process of evolution’.

He praised the ministry’s efforts to reach out to the large target group and said that it had succeeded in fulfilling the mandate and scope of work entrusted to it.

Najib said, “Just mention any social group, there is none that is excluded from the ministry. From issues pertaining to children, women affairs, planning efforts to improve the well-being of the disabled group, family problems right up to improving infrastructure for and access to health facilities for the senior citizens, providing adequate protection homes and their active involvement in the country’s social and economic activities.

“The issues championed by the ministry transcend various sectors and stages. In short, the ministry encompasses everything ‘from cradle to grave’.”

Najib managed to list all the social groups. In theory what he says is true; in practice, what we see on the ground is far removed from his theoretical description.

For instance, what has he done about the abolition of child marriages apart from hiding behind the robes of the ulama so as to avoid giving an opinion and hence, legislating for protection of the child?

What about the mother who upon conversion snatched her child away from the child’s father? When will Najib resolve the grey areas affecting religion and family issues?

What has he done about tackling the abuses to children? Incest in the villages goes largely unchecked.

If he claims that there are facilities for the senior citizens, why do people still dump their elderly parents by the roadside?

One social group he has avoided mentioning is the young from the Felda camps. They are disillusioned, disaffected and without direction. Many end up without an education, go onto hard drugs or have unprotected sex. Many become the Mat Rempits of Malaysia. They are an underclass of their own.

Najib tried to reach out to women and said that he hoped “…the successful women are capable of achieving sustainable success, not merely being excellent at the school or university level….” He alluded to women who ‘ceased to be excellent after five years of working”.

Perhaps it is because conditions at work are not made favourable for the woman who has a family. Many women leave their jobs because they cannot achieve the work-life balance they hoped for.

Some of the antagonism comes from the males in Najib’s administration.

For instance, the Cuepacs secretary-general Ahmad Shah Mohd Zin complained that there were too many women in positions of leadership. He was concerned about the “increasing dominance” of female employees in the civil service, described the “long-term implications on the progress and growth of the country” and he disapproved of the fact that more women officers were being appointed to important decision-making posts.

With people like Ahmad Shah, Najib can expect fewer women in top positions.

It appears that those who head Najib’s administrative services, are the ones who undermine what he preaches. - Malaysian Insider