(All pictures and videos courtesy of Mien Ly) “BUKA pintu! Buka pintu!” shout the volunteers through the grill door, into the hallway of the shop lots in Pudu. They are from Rela, a civil volunteer corp formed by the Malaysian government in 1972 to help preserve “peace and national security”. They are conducting a raid […]
abuse
Penan girls and women were sexually violated
By Ding Jo-AnnShadowy interior of a Penan home (Pics courtesy of Sofiyah Israa @ Flickr) PETALING JAYA, 9 Sept 2009: Nearly a year after, a government task force report has confirmed that Penan women and children in Sarawak were raped and sexually abused by timber workers. The report by the national task force set up in October […]
Penan task force report “not available”
By Zedeck SiewPenan child (all pics courtesy of Sofiyah Israa / Flickr) PETALING JAYA, 21 Aug 2009: Despite Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil’s pledge, the Penan task force report is still not available, not even to “interested parties” visiting her ministry. Attempts by The Nut Graph yesterday — following the minister’s promise […]
In limbo over Indonesian maids
KUALA LUMPUR, 4 Aug 2009: The uncertainty of getting Indonesian maids is causing much uneasiness among Malaysian women, who work outside the home, who have grown dependent on them. A random Bernama survey revealed that many women who earn a living outside the home have taken leave to tend to their homes while others are […]
Soi Lek: More maids run away than are abused
By Gan Pei LingPETALING JAYA, 25 June 2009: MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has described the government’s decision to give domestic workers a mandatory weekly off-day as a “knee-jerk reaction”. He said Malaysians should not “overreact” to cases of abused domestic workers, claiming that there were only around 50 reported cases of abused domestic […]
Chua Soi Lek cautions against day off for maids
By Gan Pei LingPETALING JAYA, 18 June 2009: While civil societies welcomed the government’s decision to provide a mandatory off-day for domestic workers, MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has called on the government to review its plan. The Bar Council and regional network Caram Asia today even urged the government to go a step […]
Stop denying abuse, govt told
By Gan Pei LingPETALING JAYA, 18 June 2009: The Malaysian government should stop denying that asylum seekers, refugees, stateless persons and undocumented migrants have been treated poorly, said Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram). Suaram coordinator Temme Lee described the government’s ongoing denial as “disturbing”. “The government should…start taking steps toward improving the human rights protection of this group,” Lee […]
Set up affordable childcare centres: MTUC
PETALING JAYA, 17 June 2009: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) today called on the government to set up affordable childcare centres throughout the country as a long-term measure to reduce the dependence of Malaysian families on foreign maids. MTUC women’s section chief Noorlaila Aslah told Bernama that such childcare centres could be set up […]
Using and abusing Indonesians
By Hafidz Baharom(Pic by punkt_klx / sxc.hu) I’VE had my share of issues with the Indonesian domestic workers hired by my family. In fact, those experiences may have actually made me more independent in terms of doing my own laundry and ironing. Heck, it definitely helped improve my cooking. However, as angry as I ever got at […]
Man hits wife with hammer over bad chapati
NEW DELHI, 29 May 2009: In another case of domestic violence, a man tried to kill his wife by battering her with a hammer and throwing her out of his first-floor residence for serving bad chapati. Sanjay Singh, who works as a photographer in eastern Delhi, was reported to have returned home for lunch yesterday […]
