Women in Malaysia

How do we define Asian women? Well, it really depends on where you are. In Malaysia, I used to meet many great women, among them is a doctor, who spent months in Afghanistan participating in humanitarian mission, a lawyer cum human rights activist, a columnist cum human rights activist, who writes for a women's magazine, not to mention many other women that I met in my life. These women demonstrated a great deal of strength and persevered during the days of trials in order to live a dignified life.

What I am trying to say is that there are countless women out there who have been trying their best to upgrade the status of women and to play a significant role in the society. Another thing I really take pride in is that there are many women who run the NGOs in Malaysia. These women not only excel in what they do but the also go the extra mile to embrace the dangers and risks involved in their jobs.

Irene Fernandez, the director of Tenaganita an NGO that defends migrant workers’ rights. She was arrested at her home in March 1996 and charged under Section 8A (2) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA) for the offence of “maliciously publishing false news". The reason given was that she released a 6-page memorandum entitled " Abuse, Torture and Dehumanized Treatment of Migrant Workers" in August 1995, which had tarnished the good name of the country’. The memorandum was based on testimonies obtained through interviews with 335 migrant workers. In fact, the journalists of the Sun newspaper helped to carry out the investigations.

Her trial was the longest-running trial in the country’s criminal justice system, which began in Jun 1996 and ended in October 2003. Eventually, she was sentenced to one- year imprisonment. Her conviction was widely condemned by international human rights organizations. Amnesty International criticized Malaysian government for using laws that contravene with international human rights standards to silence human rights defender. Last year, Irene Fernandes was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.

Dr. Jemilah, the founder of Mercy Malaysia, a medical relief society, entering Baghdad and bringing much needed medical supplies to Al Kindi Hospital and Al Qadsia Hospital three days after Iraq fell to the American led Coalition Forces in March 2003.

Unfortunately, unknown attackers ambushed her convoy. They opened fire indiscriminately, killing the driver and the translator. Dr. Jemilah and Dr. Baba were wounded in the shooting incident. Fortunately, they were rescued and sent to the hospital.

The injured Dr. Jemilah insisted to treat Dr. Baba who had lost conscious. Dr. Jemilah collapsed soon after she finished treating Dr. Baba. Thank goodness, by then, Dr. Baba had regained conscious. Without a moment to waste, Dr. Baba went on to give treatment to Dr. Jemilah. Their great spirit and selfless dedication have inspired many Malaysians to join Mercy Malaysia as volunteers. So far, Mercy Malaysia has deployed its volunteers to countries as far as Sudan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Philippines, Cambodia, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

In recent years, Malaysian Muslim women have been taking a bolder step to defend their rights. The Coalition of Women's rights in Islam, made up of twelve women's organizations, was formed in March 2003 to campaign against the abuse of polygamy. They went on to launch a campaign called " Monogamy: My choice," calling for the consent of the wife to be obtained first before any marriage can be accepted.

The reason Malaysian women are doing what they are doing is because Malaysian women themselves have become a positive driving force among them. Of course, women are frequently targeted or victimized every time social ills sprouts out like mushrooms after the rain. NGOs in Malaysia often take turn to launch campaign to stop violence against women. Despite of this, statistics show that there were 588 rape cases in the first five months of year 2005.

The journey to end sexism and violence against women is a tough one. Somehow we believe that one day we will reach our destination.