Do the right thing.

Written by AWL member, Honey Tan and extracted from http://www.fz.com/content/letter-do-right-thing

 

THE government has just tabled the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Federal Territories) Bill 2013 (the Bill). It is interesting to note that the government did not table a bill to only amend or add in new sections to the existing Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Act 1993 (the Act).

This Bill, when passed, will totally replace the Act. This means that all clauses of the Bill should and must be looked at to see if it is fair to all sections of Malaysian society: not just among Muslims, between Muslims and non-Muslims, but also between parents and their children.

There are many worrying clauses in the Bill, but I will only address Clause 107 (b) which provides that one parent or guardian of a non-Muslim child may convert him/her.

Do not be thrown off by people who say that Clause 107 (b) was already there as Section 95 of the Act – so what's the fuss now? The answer is this: we must fuss now because the Bill is tabled with all clauses up for debate so any clause may be amended or withdrawn.

In 1993 when the Act was passed, we were not vigilant. Maybe we thought it was a matter for Muslims, and it will not affect people of other faiths.

We know better now after the cases of Shamala, Indira Gandhi and Subashini. Those women and their husbands were Hindus when they were married, and they married under civil law. Suddenly, their husbands chose to convert to Islam and converted their children without their knowledge or consent. State laws with similar provisions to Clause 107 (b) enabled them to do so.

It is important to note that under the Guardianship of Infants Act which applies to non-Muslims, both parents are equal guardians of their children and have equal parental rights.

However, under Syariah laws in Malaysia, fathers are the guardians of minor children – not the mothers. By converting to Islam and converting their minor children to Islam, Shamala, Indira Gandhi and Subashini's husbands effectively took away those women's guardianship of their children.

Many also think that provisions in State laws similar to Clause 107 (b) of the Bill have been confirmed by the Federal Court decision in the Subashini case.

Legal opinions differ on this. What is clear is this: in Subashini's case, the Federal Court was not asked to decide whether conversion by one parent of his minor child to the religion of Islam was constitutional.

The relevant questions posed to the Federal Court in Subashini's case were these:

Question 1: "Whether in an application for an interim injunction a court can make a final determination on issues of law, in particular, where it refers to a question of jurisdiction, as opposed to a consideration of only the existence of a serious issue of law to be determined?" and

Question 2: "If the answer to question number 1 is in the affirmative, then:

"[…] Question 2.4: Is it an abuse of process for a spouse of the Law Reform to unilaterally convert the religion of a minor child of the Law Reform Marriage without the consent of the other parent?"

So whatever the Federal Court said in Subashini's case about one parent being able to convert a child is said in passing (obiter dictum) as it did not relate to the questions posed to it. All that is said in passing do not bind other judges, and they do not have to follow it.

The net result of Subashini's case is that it is not good authority to say that Syariah law provisions such as Clause 107 (b) of the Bill are constitutional.

Leaving aside all the issues of law, and looking at it from a social justice viewpoint, is this the sort of law we want in Malaysia? The sort of law that allows a parent to ride roughshod over the wishes of the other parent, and without even waiting for their child to attain the age of majority of 18 years to make up her own mind.

The government repeatedly says that national unity is key to our progress and development. In April 2009, the Executive arm of the government (i.e., the Cabinet) announced that children should be allowed to remain in the common religion of their parents at the time of their parents married.

But we can see that the government has failed to keep to their word.

Let us lobby our members of Parliament – they form the Legislative arm of government. Let us write, email, text, Facebook and Twitter them. Tell them that they cannot vote for the Bill without amendments being made, and wider consultation with stakeholders from all over Malaysia.

To all our MPs – Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat alike, I urge you to be brave! Do not vote to pass the Bill as it stands. You must do the right thing.

Honey Tan Lay Ean

Bandar Utama, Selangor

Read more: http://www.fz.com/content/letter-do-right-thing#ixzz2ZNLKCE6w

Sexual Harrassment Awareness at the KL Bar - 20th November, 2012

 

Last year, AWL in collaboration with the KL Bar's Practitioners' Affairs Commitee and the Professional Development Committee, organised a free workshop to create Sexual Harassment Awareness amongst members of the Kuala Lumpur Bar.

 

Is this sexual harassment?

Meera leading the session with "Feminist's Perspective of Law".

The interactive workshop took place at the KL Bar Auditorium and attracted approximately 80 participants.













Participants were divided into groups to identify whether certain
acts constituted sexual harassment or not.

Conduct classified as inappropriate.

Appropriate statements.

Many participants found the session useful and feedback received was very positive.

 

The Kuala Lumpur Bar is grateful for the time taken by our two speakers for imparting their knowledge and experience in our fight to eradicate sexual harrassment in the workplace.

 

Left to right: Goh Siu Lin, Meera Samanther (President of AWL), Betty Yeoh (Programmes Manager, AWAM)

The Speakers:
Our President, Meera Samanther
an Advocate & Solicitor at Messrs Kang & Kang. She was called to the Bar in 1985 and was a full time commercial litigator for 10 years in Messrs Shearn Delamore & Co. Meera thereafter became active as an activist at the Women’s Aid Organisation and was elected President in 2000 till 2011. She has actively participated and conducted pro-bono cases for the Women’s Aid Organisation( WAO) ; Women’s groups (Joint Action Group on Gender Equality-JAG-GE); Watching Brief Cases for the Infringement of Constitutional Rights, Migrant Domestic Cases and Rape. Being an advocate for women and migrant rights, she has travelled internationally representing Malaysiaand WAO at various conferences and conventions. Meera currently trains lawyers on the Feminist Perspective of Law, advocates for changes in the laws relating to Women's Rights and was part of the Article 11 speakers on Freedom of Religion.


Betty Yeoh is the Programmes Manager for the All Women’s Action Society (AWAM). Prior to joining AWAM as a full time staff in 2004, she was employed in the corporate sector and spent many years in various capacities of human resources, including Human Resources Manager. She has an accumulated experience in human resource management, occupational, safety and health training as well as employees’ welfare and industrial relations. She is an active founding member of AWAM since 1985. She assisted in the setting up of the Telenita Helpline and its para-counselling services. As a trainer/facilitator for AWAM, her key focus in training is on sexual harassment free workplace for corporate sectors; building capacity of policy makers through programmes on violence against women and gender sensitisation; and introducing basic helping skills which will assist the development of better support services and empowerment for survivors. Betty holds a Diploma in Industrial Relations and is pursuing her Bachelor of Applied Social Science (Counselling)

Moderator: Goh Siu Lin Chairperson, KL Bar Practitioners’ Affairs Committee

Annual General Meeting - 24.4.2013

The new executive committee. (2013-2014)
L to R first row: Kathlyn Lee (Secretary), Goh Siu Lin (Assistant Vice President), Ms Sharmini Thiruchelvam (Treasurer).
L to R, second row, Tham Hui Ying, Ms Nur Raihan Jasamani, Ms Dahlia Lee, Ms Kiran Dhaliwal, Ms Ida Daniella (committee members)



AWL Xmas Party - 7th December, 2012

Written by Khoo Chai Har.

Christmas has always been a special occasion for AWL, and year 2012 was not an exception. For this year, our Treasurer, Sharmini Thiruchelvam had graciously volunteered to host AWL's Christmas dinner party at her residence in Petaling Jaya.

        When I arrived at Sharmini's home at about 8:15pm, a few of the AWL members were already seated with drinks in their hands. The house was beautifully decorated, a Christmas tree stood in a corner where gifts were laid beneath.

Hors d'oeuvres and aperitifs were served by our gracious hostess herself personally, while her son was our bar tender for the night and  happily mixed our drinks for us. The food were delicious, and the members were more than happy to help themselves to the blinis (Russian pancake) topped with caviar and sour cream, skillet skewers with a combination of cheese, fruit and olives, blinis topped with sambal ikan bilis and a variety of meat balls while wine and liquor continued to flow.

        In between bites, we quickly caught up with each other’s lives and we even got Ida Daniella (Dani) to sing for us . Always one to humor us, Dani began belting out Irene Cara's "What A Feeling" while the rest of us clapped,  cheered her on and tried to sing along.

        After much bantering and laughing, dinner was served buffet style and as always, all of us piled our plate highs with salad, rice, vegetable and mutton curry, grilled chicken. Dinner was as good as the hors d'oeuvres (if not better), and we began begging our hostess for her recipes.

Immediately after dinner, the exchange of gifts took place amid much delight and laughter. This was followed by a game of Taboo, where all of us were split into 2 groups. The competitive edge of us lawyers began to reveal itself as the night went on and in the end  the losing team had to perform a Christmas dance, a scene from the movie "Mean Girls"! . It was a sight to behold to see some of the lawyers perform.

        After much laughter and raucous in our hostess' living room, we all adjourned for a night cap and the night continued with games and small talk. All in all, it was a lovely celebration for all of us and the party encapsulated the spirit of Christmas in its entirety.

      We are indeed grateful to Sharmini for being so generous with her hospitality.

The Alternative CEDAW Report Launch - 6th September, 2012

Meera and I were invited to the launch of the Alternative CEDAW Report prepared by 22 NGOs. Had to rush to PJ and was in time to catch the oral testimony of NoorFadilla - whose wrongful termination of a teaching contract created headlines resulting in a landmark decision where the Court recognised and upheld Malaysia's acession to CEDAW holding that the termination of her employment on the basis of her pregnancy was gender discrimination and unlawful.

Noorfadhilla at the podium.

NoorFadilla's personal account was tremendously moving as she related how she was shamed by her colleagues and relatives just because she chose to speak up.

She was courageous enough to stand up, to fight the injustice and claim her rights, and by doing so, paved the road for others.

The Noorfadhilla case is authority for the principle that United Nations Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has the force of law and is binding on Malaysia (ie our government), further holding that pregnancy was not a reason not to employ a pregnant woman. Such a stand is a clear form of gender discrimination and is unconstitutional.

She expressed her gratitude to her parents, husband and support from the NGOS and also for the pro bono legal work from the team of Edmond Bon and Honey Tan. Kudos to the legal eagles!

I met her lovely family and the little child whom she was pregnant with, the centre of dispute, now a strapping little boy.

The Alternative Report.

22 women NGO groups had collaborated to produce an alternative report to assess the government’s progress in fulfilling its obligations under CEDAW.

Ivy Josiah, explaining the need for the alternative report.

It was interesting to hear how Malaysia has only acceded to 3 out of 9 human rights treaties:

a) CEDAW - ratified on 15.7.1995 prior to a major women's conference in September that year;
b) Convention of the Rights of the Child; and
c) Convention of the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities.

The crowd.

Globally, 80% of all countries have ratified at least 4 out of the 9 human rights treaties and statistics show that other member states are willing to be transparent and accountable. Unfortunately, Malaysia's CEDAW report to the UN on its fulfillment of its obligations under CEDAW has been overdue since 2008.

It was because of this delay and no reporting which led to the preparation by the non-governmental organisations of the Alternative CEDAW Report.

In one of the speeches, I can't recall exactly by whom, but I remember this being said, "Women must come forward and claim their rights. The law is our instrument, our "superheroes".

The unveiling of the CEDAW Alternative Report.

Taken with our "superheroines".
Ordinary women who found the strength to speak out and claim their rights.
L to R: Goh Siu Lin (Vice President AWL), NoorFadilla, Vani of Guppy Plastics, Meera Samanther (President AWL).

Membership Form (Version 2012)

ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN LAWYERS


H-2-12, Block H, Plaza Damas,

Jalan Sri Hartamas 1, 50480 Kuala Lumpur



MEMBERSHIP FORM


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___________________________________________________________________________


Home Address:______________________________________________________________



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Tel No.: (Hse) _________________________ (Off) __________________________



(H/P) __________________________


Email Address: ____________________________________________



Brief Description about yourself:



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Registration fee for ordinary/Associate Members: RM10

Annual fee for ordinary members: RM 12

Annual fee for associate members: RM6



(Alternatively issue a cheque in favour of “Association of Women Lawyers”

Standard Chartered Bank No. 903142302307 and email your bank-in slip to sharm@fpspartners.com)



Enclosed herewith is cash/cheque in the sum of: __________________



Signed: ___________________________ Dated: ____________________________

President's Speech at AGM on 25.4.2012.

PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS


---------------------------------

I would boldly state that the rebirth of AWL was predominantly due to Vicky Alahakone and Foo Yet Ngo, who had initiated and insisted on having a democratic AGM process. Our 2 former Presidents, who led the organisation in the last four (4) years together with their Committee members, made my job as President much easier and smoother. So thank you Vicky and Foo.

Now I would like to take you through some of the important highlights since May 2011:

We are indeed proud of our pioneer AWL member, Ambiga Sreenevasan who helmed an energized social movement last year for the advancement of civil and political rights – Bersih 2.0, calling for clean & fair elections in Malaysia. Ambiga’s inspiring leadership brought together diverse groups in the history of Malaysia. As we all know that Bersih 3.0 is just round the corner- in fact in 3 days time, so for those of you who did not have the opportunity to be part of this civil society led movement, you now have another chance to voice your demands.

In the lead up to Bersih 2.0. Empower’s office, the Secretariat to Bersih was raided by the police. AWL endorsed on the JAG (Joint Action Group for Gender Equality) Press Statement and we had also issued our own Press Statement to denounce the attacks and attempts to discredit Empower.

Seksualiti Merdeka (SM) an annual festival since 2008, which brings together people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities to discuss issues on human rights, came under attack. The police had banned the festival, which showcased art exhibitions, music performances and theatre workshops as it allegedly threatened national security. SM filed a judicial review on the decision to ban its activities and AWL held a watching brief for the case.

AWL showed its strong presence at the protest against the Peaceful Assembly Bill and also on the 18 March this year during the women’s rally. AWL being one of the key organisers of this rally helped to raise awareness that women are the voices of change and that it is important for women voters to participate and demand for a clean government. AWL together with another women’s organisation, Women’s Aid Organisation led the civil society march from Masjid Bulat in Section 14, PJ to Padang Astaka.

This year we also witnessed a groundbreaking decision on a case where the Ministry of Education revoked a temporary teachers offer as she was found to be pregnant. It was argued by the lawyers to be a case of gender discrimination and that it violated the Federal Constitution and was in contravention of CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination). Justice Zaleha Yusoff relied on CEDAW as having the force of law in Malaysia. Honey Tan, an AWL member was one of the Co Counsels acting on behalf of the teacher, Norfadhila , had relied on CEDAW in her submissions.

As you can see that our work within AWL is not limited to issues that affect female lawyers. It has expanded to include civil and political rights and women’s rights.

The brainstorming session in August last year conducted by Angela Kukuthas helped members within AWL to regroup, reenergize and to look at projects on how best to move AWL forward.

The two (2) important projects that I wish to highlight are the radio shows on Capital FM 88.9 and the Professional Development survey.

15 February 2012 was the date of AWL’s inaugural radio show, where AWL has a weekly 1 hour slot every Wednesday. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sheena Gurbakash and Norina Yahya who helped me in the discussions with Asha Gill, the radio deejay with Capital FM, to set up this weekly radio slots. I personally know how difficult it has been trying to get lawyers to be involved and to provide some form of media training, as it was crucial to get the exact messages across within the limited time on air that was given to us. There were also challenges on the coordination of the slots but I must add that Sheena did a brilliant job with her humorous banter with Asha Gill whilst trying to be serious on the law. Norina Yahya, is the other anchor for this radio slot and I must thank her too for readily agreeing to be helm the radio show with Sheena .

The radio show and interview by Star on Sexual Harassment has certainly placed

AWL on the map. I have received feedback from Asha Gill and her producer and they are indeed delighted with our radio show as the areas covered are not often heard over the air and that it is conveyed in simple and sometimes humorous statements.

The Professional Development of Lawyers project has moved forward. We had approached 2 different survey companies on the possibility of undertaking this survey. We have received quotations from both the survey companies and most importantly the BAR has agreed to be part of this project. The Committee tasked to work on this project will meet again sometime in June this year. It may be necessary to get assistance from a researcher to help shape this project before funding is sought. We are also counting on the BAR for funding.

In terms of funding, our financial status has not improved, as we have not sought out for any funds as yet nor had any fundraising activity. Perhaps, we may need to have a fundraising event for the survey costs. At this juncture I must add that I was approached by Datuk Gurusamy, the Vice President of the National Councils of Women’s Organisation ( NCWO) as to whether AWL was interested to hold a workshop on domestic violence and sexual harassment with any of the colleges . We immediately confirmed our interest. We would receive around RM5K for this workshop. We are at present having discussions with HELP University on this.

The Executive Committee had 9 Executive meetings at the office of Messrs Foo Yet Ngo & Partners. I wish to thank Foo and Kiran for hosting us and of course feeding our tummies during our meetings. This Committee certainly loves their food.

Our very able Secretary, Goh Siu Lin has been such a tremendous support during my term as President. Thank you, Siu Lin. Am also very appreciative of Chai Har, our Treasurer who has helped us to be prudent in our spending, with whatever we had. A big thanks to my Committee members who have also helped me along the way and made it a fun journey.

On a personal note, it has certainly been quite an interesting 1-year journey for me. Having been with a very active women’s movement and still am, for the last 17 years where the pace is quite different, I may have at times pushed the boundaries and had expected quick actions and responses. I may have caused some irritations along the way. To that I sincerely apologize for my indiscretions.

Thank you.

Meera Samanther
President
Association of Women Lawyers