KUALA LUMPUR: The MCA has welcomed the Penang Syariah High Court’s decision to allow Muslim convert Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah to renounce Islam and revert to her original faith.

“This is a historic decision. It is a major step for a progressive, multi-racial and multi-cultural Malaysia. The MCA has always emphasised that religion is a personal matter and that it is the right of every Malaysian to choose his or her religion, as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

“It was Siti Fatimah’s right to embrace Islam and likewise, it is also her right to return to her original faith. This is a matter for her to decide and no one else,” MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said in a statement. Read More

Women's groups have condemned the plan as "patronising" and out of step with the times [EPA]	Women's groups in Malaysia have reacted with outrage over a senior official's proposal to require women travelling overseas alone to carry written consent for their journeys from their families or employers. The proposal, put forward by Malaysia's foreign minister, Rais Yatim, was condemned by one group as "condescending" and a step backwards.

Raid mooted the plan as a way of responding to a string of drug trafficking cases involving Malaysian women who were travelling alone.

The women are believed to have been targetted by international syndicates for use as so-called "drug mules". government officials say. Read More

PETALING JAYA: The proposal by the Foreign Ministry for women planning to travel overseas alone to get the consent of their family is an infringement of women’s rights, Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen said.

The Women, Family and Community Development Minister said the proposal was not the right thing to do.

“The ministry does not agree to this. I understand that Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim meant well and wanted only to protect Malaysian women in light of the sudden rise of women used as drug mules by international syndicates,” Dr Ng said.

“But I do not agree to this,” she said. Read More

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian women's groups reacted with outrage on Sunday to a government proposal to impose restrictions on women planning to travel overseas on their own.

The mainly Muslim country is considering requiring women to obtain the written consent of their families or employers before being allowed to travel alone outside the country, state news agency Bernama said on Saturday, quoting the foreign minister.

National Council for Women’s Organisations deputy president Faridah Khalid (left) and Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen

KUALA LUMPUR: Regressive. Unfair. Biased.

These were some of the words used to describe the proposal by the Foreign Ministry that women leaving the country alone be required to have declarations from parents or employers stating the reason for their travels.

Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said yesterday he had submitted a proposal to the cabinet.

The proposal drew flak from non-governmental and women's organisations, with their representatives making clear their outrage.

National Council for Women's Organisations Malaysia (NCWO) deputy president Faridah Khalid called the proposal "backward and unfair". Read More

THE Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) presented folder kits to the 222 MPs, asking them to look into the urgent reforms which needed to be addressed relating to gender equality.

Themed "Kotakan Kata", meaning "keep to your promises", the folder contained a ruler, where JAG would be measuring the performances of the MPs, especially those who had made sexist remarks in the Dewan Rakyat previously.

Spokesman Maria Chin Abdullah, the senior programme manager from Sisters in Islam, told pressmen at Parliament lobby yesterday that they wanted to ensure that the MPs don't make empty promises. Read More

At another press conference in Parliament House, the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) reminded MPs to re-activate the parliamentary gender caucus to curb gender discrimination and inequality.

They carried placards with the slogan Kotakan Kata (Keep your word) to remind MPs to fulfill pledges made during the general election campaign in relation to women's rights. Read More

This is the last chance for this government to get it right or else the usual 10-year electoral cycle of ‘rise and fall’ in the performance of the ruling party will be broken. It will be the fall and fall.

JUST Do It. This should have been the motto in 2004 when the Prime Minister received an overwhelming mandate for his change agenda.

But it took the verdict of March 8 to finally move Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to take substantive steps to deal with the long-standing demands from civil society and the opposition parties to redress past wrongs and strengthen Malaysia’s democratic structures and values.
First, his announcement to set up a Judicial Appointments Commission on April 17. Read More

Sisters in Islam (SIS) wishes to reiterate our strong objection to the current practice of moral policing by the state. It contravenes the Quranic injunction laid out in various verses such as "do not pry into others’ secrets" (Surah Al-Hujurat 49:12) and "Do not enter other houses except yours without first asking permission and saluting the inmates. If you are asked to go away, turn back. That is proper for you" (Surah An-Nur 24:27, 28). Read More

According to an Ikim statement dated April 3, the seminar it organised in collaboration with the Syariah Judiciary Department was intended to review existing syariah laws and to propose solutions to problems pertaining the syariah system in Malaysia.

Ikim said the news report was not right as no proposal to prosecute non-muslims for khalwat, be it under the syariah or civil court, was ever made. Read More