More victims step forward Harassment cases on the rise

KUALA LUMPUR: The number of people lodging police reports on sexual harassment has increased showing that more victims are brave enough to step forward to make a report.

Women’s Development Depart­ment director-general Datuk Munirah Abdullah Bajanudin said police statistics showed that 7,398 sexual harassment cases were reported in 2012 compared with 7,603 last year.

“The increase also showed that more women today are brave enough to step forward and give evidence relating to the violence that occurred to them,” she said during a sexual harassment at the workplace awareness seminar organised by the Crime Prevention Awareness Board yesterday.

The department’s deputy director-general Azizah Che Rashid, who read out the speech on behalf of Munirah, said as many as 1,867 sexual harassment cases had been reported from January to March this year.

“Sexual harassment has to be taken seriously because it has negative impact on the victims as well as employers,” she said.

Earlier, one of the seminar speakers, Sexual Investigation Unit head DSP Zaiton Che Lah, said only 25% of the nearly 2,700 rape cases reported yearly were brought to court each year.

She said one reason for the low figures was the long wait for the chemistry report, resulting in the release of the suspect on bail.

However, when the police had to search for the suspect again, some could no longer be located, she said.

Task force set to deliver findings

The Star
BY LOH FOON FONG

KUALA LUMPUR: The task force set up to study the Human Rights Commission’s (Suhakam) report on native land rights issues is expected to deliver its findings by the end of the month.

According to Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Hasmy Agam, some of its recommendations in its National Inquiry into the Land Rights of Indigenous Peopleswould be rejected, while others might take time to implement.

“We hope that by the end of this month, there would be a report and we will know how much (of its recommendations) will be taken into consideration,” he said during a press conference after launching the Suhakam 2013 Annual Report here yesterday.

Suhakam conducted the inquiry following numerous complaints as well as memoranda from the indigenous community on the violation of their rights, especially on customary land rights.

More than 6,500 indigenous peoples participated in the public consultations during the 18-month long inquiry that began in June 2011.

The final report was completed in April last year.

Following the inquiry, Suhakam came up with 18 recommendations, including recognising indigenous customary rights to land, as well as having redress mechanisms for land loss and preventing future loss of native customary land rights.

Acknowledging that the natives had been sidelined for far too long, Hasmy said Suhakam would hold a campaign to get the findings and recommendations adopted by the relevant authorities if the report was rejected.

However, he added that this should not be seen as Suhakam having prejudged the task force.

Post-hospital home care plan

The Star
BY LOH FOON FONG

GOMBAK: After-hospital home care services are to be provided to patients suffering from chronic diseases.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said 60 locations nationwide would be targeted for these services.

“For a start, an additional 600 staff would be needed for the domiciliary care,” he told reporters after opening the Batu 8 Gombak health clinic, which was upgraded from a community clinic, yesterday.

“We are preparing the master plan, which we hope to complete by the end of this year,” he added.

Dr Subramaniam said the services were part of efforts to improve the public health delivery system in the next four years.

Other measures included increasing the number of health district officers and public health personnel such as doctors, health assistants, public health inspectors, nutritionists and physiotherapists, he added.

The Batu 8 Gombak Health Clinic was upgraded because the population there had grown to 32,000.

“It is one of 14 community clinics in Selangor to be upgraded,” Dr Subramaniam said.

He also said that the ministry would look into bettering the career path of public health personnel.

The minister was responding to an appeal from Gombak district health officer Dr Roslan Ishak who said that public health personnel were not given as much attention as hospital staff.

Dr Roslan also asked the ministry to pay allowances to the health personnel for the long hours they put in.

Public health personnel included district health officers, medical officers, family health physicians, public health inspectors and epidemiologists, he said.

Suhakam: Lowest number of complaints in five years

The Star
BY LOH FOON FONG

KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) received the lowest number of complaints in five years, its annual report 2013 revealed.

A total of 624 complaints were received compared with 911 the year before, 1,232 in 2011, 721 in 2010 and 941 in 2009.

Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Hasmy Agam said the lower number of cases reported could be partly due to greater understanding of human rights while issues not related to human rights were directed elsewhere.

“There are other commissions that looked into various issues and other processes that could be done first and we will make sure those are done first,” he told a press conference.

Report chairman Datuk Dr Khaw Lake Tee said the figures were unusually high in 2011 due to the complaints received from the National Inquiry into the Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Hasmy said Suhakam handed over 13 annual reports to Parliament and none had been tabled and it welcomed the recommendation by the Government in 2012 to set up a Permanent Parliamentary Select Committee on Human Rights, which he hoped would subsequently lead to the tabling of the report in Parliament.

He said that currently, there seemed to be more collaborations on the issue between the two political coalitions at the committee level behind close doors, nevertheless, he hoped that the human rights issues would still be debated in Parliament.

Hasmy said he hoped the setting up of the committee would be expedited soon so that parliamentarians could give adequate attention to Suhakam’s future annual reports, as this was a normal process in other countries.

He also said that Suhakam had met Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the ministry’s officials, with the presence of Minister in the Prime Minister Datuk Paul Low recently to discuss several issues under the Home Ministry’s care.

"We are happy to know that Datuk Ahmad Zahid has given a positive response and expressed the ministry’s readiness to work with Suhakam on human rights issues,” he said.

Hasmy said they had pointed out the importance of the Government adhering to international human rights principles and portray a positive image for the country in the eyes of the international community.

Thirteen main issues were highlighted in the report, including amendments to the laws, Malaysia’s involvement in the international human rights treaties and rights to education for children with learning difficulties.

The report also highlighted the rights of care for senior citizens, freedom of assembly, challenges of human rights activists, issues on detention centres, Universal Periodic Review and the National Human Rights Action Plan.

Report on land rights of indigenous communities expected end April

BY LOH FOON FONG
(online version)

The Orang Asli settlement.- Filepic

KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) is expecting the national task force studying the findings and recommendations of the National Inquiry into the Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples to be completed by end of this month.

Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Hasmy Agam said he believed that some of the recommendations might not be employed while others might take a longer time to implement.

“We hope by the end of this month there will be a report and we will know how much will be taken into consideration,” he said during a press conference after launching the Suhakam 2013 Annual Report on Friday.

Suhakam completed the national inquiry report in April last year and announced it to the public on Aug 5.

It was released following the Government’s decision to set up a national task force to study the findings, recommendations and proposals.

Hasmy said it would hold a campaign to bring the recommendations forward in the event the national inquiry report was rejected.

Nevertheless, he said he would not prejudge the issue.

He said the orang asli had been sidelined for far too long.

Suhakam conducted the inquiry following numerous complaints as well as a memorandum from the indigenous community on the violation of their human rights, especially on customary land rights.

More than 6,500 indigenous people participated in public consultations during the 18-month long inquiry.

Suhakam came up with 18 recommendations following the inquiry, including recognising indigenous customary rights to land, having redress mechanisms for land loss and preventing future loss of native customary rights to land.

Home based healthcare services in the planning, says Subra (online version)

BY LOH FOON FONG

Published: Thursday April 24, 2014 MYT 1:36:00 PM
Updated: Thursday April 24, 2014 MYT 1:40:35 PM

Home based healthcare services in the planning, says Subra

GOMBAK: As part of the efforts to beef up public health services, the Health Ministry will be providing after-hospital home care services to patients suffering from chronic diseases.

Its Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam (pic) said on Thursday that it would target at 60 locations nationwide to provide the services.

For a start, they need an additional 600 staff members for the domiciliary care, he said.

"We are preparing the master plan, which we hope to complete by the end of this year," he said in a press conference after a ceremony to officiate the opening of the Batu 8 Gombak health clinic, which was upgraded from a community clinic.

Dr Subramaniam said the Ministry would focus on enhancing public health delivery system in the next four years and would do it through several approaches.

He said it would include providing the home care services to patients suffering from chronic diseases.

As part of the service, a stroke patient needing long-term rehabilitative care, for instance, would receive continued care after he was discharged from hospital.

"The hospital can't keep the patient for too long and this is where care is continued in the community, " he said.

Ministry will take custody of traumatised children, says Rohani

The Star

Published: Sunday April 13, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Sunday April 13, 2014 MYT 7:35:35 AM

(By LOH FOON FONG)

PETALING JAYA: The Women, Family and Community Development Min­istry will not hesitate to take into custody children who are traumatised by their parents’ ongoing custody tussles.

Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim said that the welfare of the children was of utmost importance to the ministry.

“They must come to an understanding to resolve the issue,” she said at a press conference after launching the Program Aspirasi Gemilang ‘A’ Great Eastern Life” awards ceremony here yesterday.

Rohani added that the ministry could take temporary custody of the children if they exhibited emotional disturbances, as provided for under Section 17 (1) (a) of the Child Act.

She said this when commenting on a case where a Muslim convert father had allegedly snatched his son from his Hindu ex-wife’s home despite her obtaining custody of the boy and his sister by the High Court.

The father had also been awarded custody of the children by the Syariah court last August.

On another issue, Rohani said that the ministry had submitted eight reports to the Swedish social welfare department through Wisma Putra on the welfare of the children whose parents Azizul Raheem Awalluddin, 38, and Shalwati Norshal, 46, are serving jail sentences in the country for abusing their children’s integrity.

She said the children were adapting well and were taking Bahasa Malaysia tuition classes to improve their command of the language.

They are being taken care of by an aunt and are also undergoing counselling, she said.

The Solna District Court recently sentenced Shalwati to 14 months jail and Azizul, 10 months, for the offence.

Azizul is a Tourism Malaysia director in Sweden.

Former law ministers take police to task

The Star

Published: Saturday April 12, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday April 12, 2014 MYT 10:21:48 AM

BY SARBAN SINGH, SIRA HABIBU, TASHNY SUKUMARAN, FARIK ZOLKEPLI, M. KUMAR, LOH FOON FONG, AND LOSHANA K SHAGAR

BY SARBAN SINGH, SIRA HABIBU, TASHNY SUKUMARAN, FARIK ZOLKEPLI, M. KUMAR, LOH FOON FONG, AND LOSHANA K SHAGAR

Flashback: The Star report on April 24, 2009.

   

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PETALING JAYA: Two former law ministers have taken the police to task over their claim that they could not act on S. Deepa’s claim that her ex-husband had abducted her son.

Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, now the Tourism and Culture Minister, said the issue was a clear-cut case of kidnapping.

“This is abduction. It should never have happened. Let’s not lose sight of context,” he told The Star.

“This isn’t a question of Izwan Abdullah being right under Syariah law.

“It is a civil law marriage, it is the civil court, we must respect the civil court’s ruling. They have the jurisdiction.

“The High Court judge’s ruling was correct. The police shouldn’t allow him to get away with kidnapping the child,” he added.

Nazri was law minister in 2009 when the Cabinet decided that children be raised in the “common religion at the time of marriage” should one of their parents convert.

He had said then that a spouse who converted to Islam would also have to fulfil his or her marriage responsibilities and sort out issues according to civil marriage laws.

“Religion should not be used as a tool to escape marriage responsibilities,” he said.

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said police should have never given the impression that they would not act because there were two different court orders.

“To say they respect both court orders and therefore will do nothing is irresponsible, and this leaves a negative perception of them.

“They should have contacted the Attorney-General or the Prime Minister before deciding on a course of action, or at least state that they would do so before considering action,” he added.

Meanwhile, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said he would not comment until the police referred their investigations into the matter to his Chambers.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had earlier reaffirmed that police would not take any action against Izwan despite the High Court order granting Deepa custody of their two children.

This was because Izwan Abdullah had obtained a custody order from the Syariah High Court last year.

“As there are two clashing court orders on the matter, we will wait for the courts to decide,” he said, confirming a statement by Jelebu OCPD a day earlier that the police could not act.

Khalid said the child was in no danger as he was with his father.

‘Isolated’ cases of shortage

The Star

Published: Saturday April 12, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday April 12, 2014 MYT 8:41:25 AM

BY LOH FOON FONG

   

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PETALING JAYA: Cases of water shortage among the orang asli are isolated, said the Department of Orang Asli Development (Jakoa).

Its director-general Datuk Mohd Sani Mistam said almost all orang asli villages had implemented the Water Supply and Environment Safety programme under the Health Ministry.

“Nevertheless, the department is still monitoring the water shortage crisis by communicating closely with orang asli village chiefs as well as Village Security and Development Committees,” he said in an e-mail to The Star.

He was responding to the crisis affecting orang asli communities in Tanjong Keruing in Pekan, Pahang, and Kampung Keliat in the Lojing district of Kelantan.

Mohd Sani said Jakoa was also getting the Pahang Water Supply Department to help the communities in Tanjung Keruing.

It had also informed the Rural and Regional Development Ministry of the status in Kampung Keliat as the matter was under the ministry’s purview, he added.

“If the water shortage crisis prolongs, Jakoa will request for help from the states to provide water supply trucks to the communities,” he said.

Centre for Orang Asli Concerns coordinator Dr Colin Nicholas said the cases of orang asli suffering from drought might be isolated.

However he added that they were likely to affect around 100 villages – between 10% and 15% of orang asli in Peninsular Malaysia.

An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 orang asli live in low-lying areas and they rely on water from swamps and wells, he said.

Dr Nicholas said the orang asli had been suffering from water access problems for many years.

This happened when their sources of water were polluted by mining and logging and the use of pesticides and fertilisers in plantations.

“The water sources in Kampung Keliat in Kelantan, for instance, were polluted by iron-ore mining.

“The drought has made it worse,” he said.

Related stories:

Syabas working to fine-tune rationing plan

Concern over low number of A+ scorers

The Star

Published: Tuesday April 8, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Tuesday April 8, 2014 MYT 7:38:48 AM

BY LOH FOON FONG

Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong

   

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KUALA LUMPUR: Various Chinese associations are concerned over the very low number of students obtaining A+ in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia Chinese language subject.

MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (pic) said several Chinese associations had expressed their unhappiness that only 0.63% students who took the language for the examination scored A+ compared with 88% for Malay language and 5% for Tamil.

“The Chinese associations are concerned as this may reduce the chances of top scorers getting scholarships,” he said after chairing the MCA education consultative committee meeting yesterday.

Dr Wee said that many students who achieved A+ in all other subjects did not get an A+ for the Chinese language subject, with 60% getting a B or C.

“They are frustrated with this. There will be a post-mortem to find out the real problem behind it,” he said.

The Federation of Chinese Associa-tions Malaysia vice-president Lau Chee Boon said there was concern among the Chinese community that the low A+ rate was done to discriminate against the Chinese language, and this could discourage students from taking the subject for SPM offered in SMK and SMJK schools.

Dr Wee also urged the board of directors from Chinese schools to submit reports to the Education Ministry on progress for school maintenance and repair work.

This is to ensure that they would continue to receive grants from the Government, he said, adding that many school boards had not submitted their reports.

Dr Wee also said that during the meeting, the associations also wanted the Government to give allocation to SMJK schools to resolve the shortage of Chinese school teachers.