60 Minutes: Sir Nicholas Winton "Saving the Children"

16th April, AWL's 30th AGM

Enjoy the AGM photos.

New Exco line-up

 

President: Meera Samanther

Vice President: Goh Siu Lin

Secretary: Tham Hui Ying

Ass. Secretary: Kathlyn Lee

Treasurer: Sharmini Thiruchelvam

Ass. Treasurer: Daniella Zulkifli

Committee members:

Dahlia Lee

Bong Ying Wei

Kiran Dhaliwal

Co-opted Committee Members:

Nur Raihan Jasmani

Chong Lit San

Cheryl Chong

Sally Tan

 

Wife murder case postponed for alibi probe

Reproduced from: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1037136

Posted on 5 May 2014 - 07:47pm
Last updated on 5 May 2014 - 08:11pm

S.Tamarai Chelvi

newsdesk@thesundaily.com

Print

KUALA LUMPUR

: The High Court today allowed the prosecution's request for time to direct the investigating officer in a murder case to conduct an investigation on the "notice of alibi" of a cook charged with murdering his wife.

In doing so, High Court judge Amelia Tee Hong Geok Abdullah postponed the case which was fixed for hearing on Aug 4.

Jamaluddin Ali, 40, had claimed trial to a charge of murdering his wife, Nurhidayah A. Ghani, 29, at Lot 18, Kampung Petaling Bahagia, Batu 5 ½, Jalan Puchong, Brickfields, between 9pm on May 15 and 9pm on May 17, last year. The offence carries the death penalty on conviction.

When court sat today, DPP Lee Keng Fatt asked for a postponement as he had just received a copy of the notice of alibi by the defence team.

"We should be given reasonable time for instruction to be given to the investigating officer to investigate the alibi," he said, asking for one or two weeks to do so.

He also said the defence did not comply with the law when they did not give sufficient time for the prosecution to investigate the alibi.

However, defence lawyer Mahadi Muhammad said he had sent the copy of the notice to the Attorney-General Chamber's office at the Federal Territory at 3.45pm on April 25 and had an acknowledgement stamp.

Lee said the hearing was initially fixed for April 28 but he was on medical leave and the case was postponed to today. He added he had just received the copy.

He also said April 25 was only a few days to the hearing date on April 28 and even then, it was not sufficient time to carry out the investigation.

Judge Amelia asked if sufficient particulars had been supplied in the notice of alibi such as the number of witnesses to be called to establish the alibi. Mahadi said he plans to call only one witness.

She then postponed the case.

Mahadi was assisted by Suharin Sulaiman Siew while lawyer Cheow Wee held a watching brief for the victim's family.

Lawyer Goh Siu Lin held a watching brief for eight women NGOs which includes the Women's Aid Organisation (WAO).

Domestic violence victims need protection

Reproduced from: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2014/02/19/domestic-violence-victims-need-protection/

FMT Staff

| February 19, 2014

A coalition of women's rights organisations urge that protection be provided for those facing continuous violence.

PETALING JAYA: A coalition of women’s rights organisations expressed concern over the lack of protection provided for domestic violence-related victims citing the tragic death of a mother of four who was allegedly beaten to death by her husband in May last year.
The woman, Nurhidayah Abdul Ghani was critically injured following her divorce application. She had allegedly made numerous police reports over a period of time prior to her death.
Due to the allegations of repetitive domestic violence, women’s group part of the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) has proposed for a legal obligation to provide protection for victims of domestic violence through the criminal justice system and the implementation of Interim Protection Orders to protect those facing continuous violence caused by family members.
“Domestic violence must be taken seriously as it can escalate in severity and lead to death, as shown in this case,” said Sally Wangsawijaya, advocacy officer of the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) in a press statement today.
“Early intervention is critical as the government and the community can play their role in recognising the severity of the problem,” she added.
Echoing Sally’s sentiment was Melissa Mohd Akhir, advocacy officer with the Women Centre for Change, Penang (WCC) who stressed that the protection offered to victim survivors is crucial to prevent further violence.
Melissa also stated that the state had an obligation to practice due diligence in protecting victim survivors of domestic violence, following the recommendation of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
A recent study conducted by the Women’s Development Research Centre (KANITA), University Sains Malaysia had found that 9 out of every 100 households in Malaysia will have a woman who has experienced domestic violence.
Nurhidayah’s husband, Jamaluddin Ali was charged for murdering his wife under Section 302 of the Penal Code which carries the death penalty upon conviction.
The case was mentioned before Judge Amelia Tee at the High Court of Kuala Lumpur. The case is fixed for hearing from April 28.
The coalition includes – Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO), Women’s Centre for Change, Penang (WCC), The Association of Women Lawyers (AWL), All Women’s Action Society (AWAM), Perak Women for Women Society (PWW), Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (EMPOWER) and Sisters in Islam (SIS).

The Star - It’s a violation of the law, says association

Reproduced from: http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/04/12/Its-a-violation-of-the-law-says-association/

PETALING JAYA: Muslim convert Izwan Abdullah, who allegedly took his six-year-old-son from his ex-wife’s house, has violated the law, said Association of Women Lawyers Malaysia president Meera Samanther.

She said the police should take action against Izwan, also known as N. Viran when he married S. Deepa under civil law in 2004.

“The marriage was under civil law. Action should be taken against him since under the same law, custody of the children has been granted to Deepa,” she said.

The Syariah High Court had last year awarded Izwan custody of their son and nine-year-old daughter.

However, on Monday, the High Court awarded custody of both children to Deepa, 30.

Meera said Izwan had also violated the Guardianship of Infants Act 1961 when he converted the two children in April last year without his ex-wife’s consent.

Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism former president Datuk A. Vaithilingam said the civil court would better serve justice in this matter as it involved both a Muslim and a non-Muslim.

“The civil court is an open court while the Syariah court is closed with only Muslim participation.

“It makes sense for the civil court ruling to be upheld as here, all parties have equal opportunity and facilities to present their case,” he said.

Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) wants the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 amended to ensure that the consent of both parents is obtained before children are converted to another religion.

It also wants a provision which states that when a spouse converts, the non-converting spouse must be notified.

Association Against Parental Alienation Kuala Lumpur and Selangor secretary Ronnie Ratna said the Deepa episode was of grave concern to many Malaysians.

“Under such situations, the normal development of children can be impaired. Children in such circumstances may end up growing up with serious life-long psychological problems,” he said.

Ipoh-based lawyer Ranjit Singh Sandhu said section 51 of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act clearly stipulated that a spouse who wished to convert to Islam must first annul his or her marriage in the civil court.

“A spouse should not convert to Islam and seek an easy way out to gain custody of his children from the Syariah court without giving his former spouse a chance to be heard,” he said.

 

Interview with Health & Beauty Magazine

Our AWL President, Meera Samanther was interviewed in February, 2014 by the Health & Beauty Magazine for their April issue.

 

Women’s group, lawyers tick off deputy minister for linking statutory rape with race

 

rEPRODUCED FROM THE mALAYSIAN iNSIDER

BY JENNIFER GOMEZ
MARCH 19, 2014

Statutory rape should not be turned into an issue about race, women's group leaders said as they hit out at a deputy minister’s statement that non-Malays were less sensitive to statutory rape compared with Malays.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had said that this was the reason statistics showed a high number of Malay victims in underage rape cases, as their parents were more likely to report these incidents.

Malays make up 80% of the statutory rape cases reported in 2012 and last year, the deputy minister revealed in Parliament, compared with Chinese, Indians and other races.

"Malays have more reports compared with other races because they are Muslims who can't accept a child out of wedlock, pre-marital sex, and because these acts are wrong by Islamic law (zina)," Wan Junaidi (pic) told Parliament yesterday during question time.

Wan Junaidi’s remarks hit a raw nerve among netizens and civil society, who criticised him as being insensitive.

Prominent lawyer and activist Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan had only three words when asked to comment on Wan Junaidi's remarks – "I am speechless!" – she replied in a text message.

Women's Aid Organisation president Mok Chuang Lian said that underage rape was a serious problem and not a race issue.

She added that making statements that one particular race was more likely to report rapes than another was downplaying the real problem.

"The statistics should be used to understand the problem and how to curb it, especially among teenagers," Mok said.

Association of Women Lawyers president Meera Samanther agreed, adding that if statistics showed a high proportion of Malay children had been subjected to statutory rape, then the authorities should research on the reasons for this.

She also called on Putrajaya not to deflect the issue by providing sweeping statements unless they were verified, adding that such remarks encouraged a racial divide.

Instead, she said that public figures had an obligation to make statements that have basis and credibility.

"We are told time and time again, especially with the recent crisis that we should not 'speculate' but that is exactly what the deputy minister has just done," she said referring to Putrajaya’s repeated calls for the public and media not to speculate about the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

In Parliament yesterday, Wan Junaidi disclosed that last year, 80% or 1,147 of the 1,424 of statutory rape cases reported involved Malays.

Statutory rape covers those aged below 16, regardless of whether it involved consensual sex.

In comparison, he said, Chinese accounted for 4.3% (62 victims), Indians accounted for 2% (32) while other races made up about 13% (183).

This was consistent with the numbers for 2012, whereby out of the 1,243 underage rape victims, Malays accounted for 80%, Chinese 5%, Indians 3% while other races accounted for 12%.

Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo said Wan Junaidi should state clearly the basis upon which he said non-Malays were less sensitive to statutory rape.

"He must now show us the evidence to back up his claims.

“Can he show us how many of such rapes have occurred and gone unreported until now because those affected were of a certain race who ‘were less sensitive towards it’ or ‘could accept it’?”

Gobind said if Wan Junaidi does not have the evidence to back his statement in Parliament, he should apologise. – March 19, 2014.

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