Pushing women’s agenda – a mere lip service?

Should the women in this country feel relieved that Najib has had a reawakening as far as women's rights go? Not at all.

COMMENT

When Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak recently assured the women folk of this country that he would give due attention to pro-women Bills, it was hardly any cause for rejoice.

Sounding so desperate, Najib’s memory failed him that it was just four months ago when he had dismissed women’s rights movement in Malaysia, saying equality has been given “from the start”.

He had then claimed that Malaysia is even more advanced than developed nations in this aspect.

But when Najib attended the National Council of Women’s Organisations (NCWO) golden jubilee celebration in Kuala Lumpur on Jan 29, he sang a different tune.

The premier, who is also the Women, Family and Community Development Minister, gave the assurance that the Barisan Nasional government would hasten efforts to make changes to legislation, regulations, practices and thinking that obstructed the progress of women, saying it would no longer be a case of “waiting for seven years for a Bill to be passed as what happened with the Domestic Violence Act”.

He has asked the NCWO to come up with a working paper on advancing the cause of women.

Should the women in this country feel relieved that Najib has had a reawakening as far as women’s rights go? Not at all.

If not lip service, then it is the timing of the coming 13th general election that is the real reason for Najib’s sudden display of concern for the women.

Had the prime minister been really sincere in wanting to advance the cause of women he would have taken the first step by safeguarding the dignity of women and girls which continues to be robbed by the authorities, especially the police.

Najib’s assurance a bluff

The sudden undertaking by Najib to raise the lot of women in this country is an outright bluff.

Has Najib forgotten or has he conveniently dismissed the plight of the Penan women and girls who continue to face rape at the hands of timber loggers in Sarawak?

Why has Najib not taken any action against loggers who continue to mar the dignity of the Penan women and girls, leaving some of these women and girls pregnant?

In 2008, a former minister had molested a bar worker at a five-star hotel in Kuala Lumpur; was Najib perturbed by that uncouth act of a fellow minister? No!

In 2009 the Labour Department director-general Ismail Abdul Rahim ridiculed the need for a Sexual Harassment Act saying it “could lead to a dull and rigid environment in the workplace”.

Did Najib as the rakyat’s leader give Ismail a dressing-down for trivialising sexual harassment? No!

And Najib promises fast-track for pro-women Bills. Who is he kidding?

Is the prime minister, who also serves as the Women’s Minister, not aware that in 2011, the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG), a coalition of women NGOs, had submitted a memorandum, a thoroughly researched proposal for sexual harassment bill to the Human Resource Ministry?

The bill was intended to replace the existing voluntary Code Practice on the Prevention and Eradication of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace.

Whatever happened to the proposal? Is the memorandum still in the files of the relevant ministries or was it dumped into the rubbish bin?

Riding on women’s issues for political gain

Since Najib has given his commitment that women’s rights in Malaysia will be given due respect, can he then explain why the government remains elusive in establishing the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission to enable action against cops who rape women, be they local or foreigners?

The premier must stop taking the women of Malaysia for granted and accord them respect in every sense of the word.

Instead of delivering bits and pieces of good news, Najib must come out as a leader who is ever concerned with the well-being of the rakyat, both women and men.

When a minister is said to have raped his foreign domestic helper, Najib must not be indifferent to such a crime and should take appropriate action against the perpetrator, his standing regardless.

Likewise, when members of parliament ridicule women during parliamentary sittings, the sting must be felt by the premier, enough for him to admonish such chauvinistic MPs.

The issues confronting women here are plenty, be they sexual harassment, insufficient maternity leave, gender discrimination at workplace or lack of support by employers in setting up creches for working mothers.

But as it stands, Najib has no respect, much less concern, for women of this country. All talk about promoting women’s rights is nothing but a gimmick by the premier to remain in the good books of the women folk.

Had Najib any respect for women’s rights in Malaysia, he would never have forgotten the fact that Article 8 (2) of the Federal Constitution was amended some 10 years ago to include prohibition of discrimination on the basis of gender.

So when the premier himself ran down the women’s movement in Malaysia, he did what every women loathes – Najib proved he was gender insensitive.

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.