THE Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS) welcomes the proposals emerging to tackle the issue of sexual abuse in the interior of the state. All the recommendations from the Penan task force, the Sarawak Women and Family Council and the Sarawak Teacher’s Union will go a long way towards securing the safety of the girls. [...]

PETALING JAYA, 24 Sept 2009: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry is funding a Sarawak women’s group initiative to empower Penan girls. In a press release today, the Kuching-based Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS) said it would launch the second phase of its programme, Empowering Rural Girls, next month. Community leaders, such as [...]

EARLIER this week, while I was in the office alone in the morning, two uniformed police officers appeared outside our glass office door. One peered in. I looked up and smiled but my fingers were ready to sign in to Twitter if the police rang the doorbell. The officer who was peering in smiled back, [...]

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 [...]

FOLLOWING 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 [...]

(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 [...]