WAVES

Issue No 2, January 2009

85, Jalan 21/1

46300 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-78774221
Fax: 30-78743312
www.awam.org.my

©2008 Evershed Card Collection. All rights reserved.

Women With the Wave

Some of the women
Chose to chase the wave,
Whilst others preferred to ride it.
2 WAVES Issue No 2, January 2009
IN THIS ISSUE:
Editorial
3
Gender Workshop
WWRP (cont’)
4
20th Anniversary
Staff Movement 5
Xmas Party
6
Treasure Hunt
Myths of Femi-
7
nism
Politics or wres-
8
tling match?
Evaluation &
9-10
Hopes
MY rights,
your RIGHTS
by Ho Wai Ling
It is MY RIGHT to speak
out. But have we forgot-
ten our choice of words,
tone and body language?
Respect others.
It is MY RIGHT to clean
air, water and environ-
ment. But have we forgot-
ten that we should use all
these resources without
wastage and exploitation?
Respect our environment.
It is MY RIGHT to rest
and leisure. But have we
forgotten how the domes-
tic workers work 18 hours
a day? Respect our fellow
assistants.
It is MY RIGHT to volun-
teer. But have we forgot-
ten our responsibilities
when we take up the
task? Respect the posi-
tion and trust from others.
It is MY RIGHT to pen my
view here. I respect your
choice, your views and
your contribution towards
the organisation, commu-
nity and environment.
[W]RITE AWAY!
by Farlina Said & Kang Soon Chen
“To me the WWRP is
special because of its
ability to bring a diverse
group of young women
together. The energies
that spark and the way
everyone comes to-
gether is simply terri-
fic.” – enthused Seetha,
facilitator of the Writers
for Women’s Rights Pro-
gramme (WWRP) sixth
workshop, held from 13-
16, November 2008.
“It was … emotionally
intense. So it took me
way back. But after that it
was good seeing new
people, teaching them
new things on feminism. It
was always interesting to
see how they react to
that,” said Su-Lyn, an-
other facilitator for the
workshop.
“… [T]he workshop
has opened my eyes and
helped me see the world
in a different way. Femi-
nists are not oversensi-
tive; they are just being
perceptive, and they see
the injustices against
women in the media,”
said Eileen Cham, 18,
another participant of
WWRP 6.
WWRP is a workshop
catered for young women
from the ages of 18 to 32
WWRP 6 participants, facilitators and guest speakers.
Photo credit: Maisarah Muhd Najib
with an interest towards
writing. The sixth work-
shop was conducted over
the span of three and a
half days at La Salle Hall,
PJ. There were fifteen
sessions in total, most
geared towards under-
standing gender and
women’s issues, the me-
dia, and to develop writ-
ing and analytical skills of
the participants.
“[But]… there was
more to it than just writ-
ing…” said Shobana
Hema, another participant
of WWRP 6.
“The workshop helped
me realise what I am do-
ing here … [I] never really
thought that there were
so many rape cases in
the paper, that there was
so much violence, so
many divorces, so many
ugly marital problems. I
never really looked at all
those… [W]hen I joined
the organisation, I had to.
It was part of my job to
respond to articles so it
became a routine that I…
look at issues and I'm like
‘Oh my God, there are so
many things that is hap-
pening.’ Then… [I] at-
tended the workshop.
The workshop opened
up to how women are
being discriminated in the
media. That was an eye
opener,” Shobana elabo-
rated of her experience in
Women’s Centre for
Change (WCC) in
Penang.
“Feminism is a per-
sonal experience for all of
us, whether we are men
or women. These ses-
sions were more personal
rather than intellectual
because we would gather
our experiences when we
talk about things,” Su-Lyn
continued.
Karen Lai, 31 another
participant said “…[Y]ou
really can’t write effec-
tively without touching a
nerve yourself and with-
out connecting to yourself
very deeply. I think the
workshop aims to do a lot
of things because it’s part
of gender awareness and
learning about ourselves
as women and also femi-
nism.”
“When the circle
around me is never really
affected like my house,
my family, my close fam-
ily, my personal relation-
ships, if we are all fine…
but in other words, selfish
kan?... But when I
started to join the
See page 4
WAVES Issue No 2, January 2009
The Editor’s Pen
The economic meltdown
that shook the world with
a resultant domino effect
globally has not spared
us.
Some have been laid
off while others have their
jobs on the line, faced
with an uncertain future.
Would women be the
first to be marginalised in
this? How would families,
particularly women and
children, be affected?
Would this change the
landscape of our lives
and that of AWAM’s? So
many questions begging
to be answered ….
But meanwhile, life
has to go on, the
branches will continue to
“wave” and AWAM has to
continue with its mission.
OSCC Gender Workshop
by RK Boo
For the first time in years,
we organised a gender
sensitisation workshop for
hospital staff at General
Hospital on October 23
this year.
About 30 hospital staff
members from various
departments attended the
workshop. Betty Yeoh,
Haslinah Yaacob, Billie
Day and I facilitated the
workshop.
After an introduction
by the jovial Dr Faizal bin
Salikin from the One Stop
Crisis Centre (OSCC),
Betty conducted a ses-
sion on Sex and Gender.
Many participants
called out typical stereo-
types when questioned
on the typical characteris-
tics of women versus
men.
Betty then debunked
those stereotypes when
she switched the labels
around and asked partici-
pants if women could also
be aggressive, or if men
could also be gentle, and
various other characteris-
To borrow a famous
maxim, “The impossible is
often the untried” ... per-
haps this is the moment
that we have to seize to
try the “untried”! We need
to figure out what that
means to each of us, per-
sonally as well as in our
relationship with AWAM.
We continue to invite
our members to come
and join our activities, to
help us continue
“waving”, supporting, ena-
bling and energising each
other. All our committees
are begging for new
“blood”. May the new year
despite its uncertainties
be the impetus for us to
try the untried!
Like our first, this sec-
ond issue of the e-
tics.
A scary side of the
usually demure Haslinah
emerged when she con-
ducted the next session
on violence against
women. Acting like a
tough commando, she
ordered everyone in the
room to be silent as she
divided the participants
into four groups.
One group was blind-
folded and their hands
were tied; they were also
told to kneel on the floor,
while another group went
through the same treat-
ment but were allowed to
stand up.
The third group was
observers while the fourth
group stood without being
blindfolded.
As the second group
knelt on the floor,
Haslinah barked at them
and prodded a few people
who were reluctant at
kneeling down.
The fourth group then
approached the two blind-
folded groups and asked
newsletter would not have
been possible without the
WWRPers’ involvement.
Their enthusiasm and
dedication, attributed in
no small measure to the
fire generated at the re-
cent WWRP’s workshop,
is infectious to say the
least! So syabas to
WWRP!
Many more willing
hands and passionate
hearts are very much
needed to continue our
journey throughout the
year.
Together, whether
new or old members,
young or not so young,
energised or jaded, happy
or angry, healthy or not
so healthy, we have a life
to live and hands to
WAVE ….. so, come on!
them softly if they could
untie the blindfolds. There
was much hesitation
among most of the blind-
folded participants.
After some time,
Haslinah ended the role
play and asked for feed-
back. Most of the partici-
pants who had been
blindfolded refused to let
other participants remove
their blindfolds as they felt
afraid. Haslinah then ex-
plained that those were
the effects of violence.
I facilitated the final
session on basic helping
skills. This session was
3
Editorial Team
Bernie Chow – Editor
Boo Su-Lyn – Assistant
Editor
Apsara Murale
Dahlia Martin
Farlina Said
Gan Pei Ling
Kang Soon Chen
Maisarah Muhd Najib
Malati Mal
See Ju-Vern
All contributions are
welcome!
Got something to say, a
story to share, a tale to
tell, an article to write, a
feedback or an encour-
agement to give? Give it
to us at
waves.awam@gmail.com
We are dying to hear from
you!
mostly practical, with par-
ticipants going through
numerous role plays to
practice basic helping
skills.
All in all, it was an
excellent workshop.
Evaluation from partici-
pants showed that their
expectations were met
and that the workshop
advanced their knowl-
edge on the three topics
above.
Hopefully, this work-
shop will be the start of a
collaborative relationship
between AWAM and the
OSCC in the future.
4 WAVES Issue No 2, January 2009
...from page 2
women's organisation and
participated at the work-
shop, I listened to a lot of
experiences that every-
body was sharing. I
started to feel that it’s
[feminism] not just me but
it's a larger version of
everybody,” Shobana
said.
Writers for Women’s
Rights Programme
(WWRP) was started in
2005 as part of AWAM’s
efforts to build the capac-
ity of young Malaysian
women to engage with
the media. This workshop
has already been run six
times and churned out
over 60 alumni. Part of its
success lies with the hard
work put in by the coordi-
nator of WWRP, Ng Tze
Yeng.
Celebrating Dreams:
Creating Women’s Space
by Apsara Murale
AWAM's 2Oth Anniver-
sary Event was held on
the 8th of November 2008
at Tanarimba, Janda
Baik, Bukit Tinggi. The
theme of the event was
Celebrating Dreams:
Creating Women's
Spaces.
The objective of the
event was to celebrate
AWAM's 20 years of cre-
ating women's spaces in
the public realm, reclaim-
ing their rights, enlarging
their voices and regaining
their power.
It also celebrates and
recognises the efforts of
the founding members
who provided much
needed support for a rela-
tively young organisation.
The event was em-
ceed by the witty and
delightful Priya Sharma.
The informal and fes-
tive mood of the event
what with colourful sa-
rongs and sumptuous
food was kick started by a
performance of the Tugu
Drummers where the
guests participated with
the rhythms to create
exotic expressions of the
(Left) Eileen Cham checking out the
notes about Malaysia’s media history
while Shobana Hema was pasting one pants were also
of the notes onto the board.
According to Tze
Yeng, WWRP 6 was a
special one because it
was the first time that
they incorporated games
besides writing clinics.
She was also very glad at
the high level of trust be-
self followed by the
keynote speech
which was delivered
by the Vice President
of AWAM, Haslinah
Yaakob.
Judith Koh also
gave a speech which was
warmly received by the
crowd.
Later throughout the
event the eclectic guests
who came from all walks
of life were not only enter-
tained by performances
involving all the depart-
ments under the AWAM
organisation umbrella
which included amongst
others: Services, WWRP,
Training and Advocacy
etc.
Each performance
was unique as it show-
cased AWAM's work and
the ideals for which it
stood for.
The highlight of the
event was the inspira-
tional speech given by
one of AWAM’s founding
and pioneering member,
Dr Cecilia Ng.
She stressed the im-
portance of keeping up
with the times to not only
tween the coor-
dinators and
the participants
starting from
day one.
Another great
achievement of
the workshop is
that it was con-
ducted with half
the budget from
the previous
five workshops.
Resourceful-
ness aside,
previous partici-
roped in to
share their in-
volvement with the pro-
gramme with the new
WWRP participants.
On being asked about
how the committee can
improve for the workshop
next year, Tze Yeng said
that her team of organis-
remain relevant but to
effectively address the
issues facing today's gen-
eration of young women
and also to be more inclu-
sive and respectful of
diversity.
Although the ideologi-
cal and political terrain
will always be contested,
she urged us not to re-
main complacent but to
value each other’s strug-
gles and learn from them
in order to reach AWAM's
goals.
The speech struck a
chord with everyone who
was present and she was
greeted with rapturous
applause whereby after-
wards the merrymaking
continued.
Judith Koh, who was
the organiser of the
event, commented on
how organising this event
was different. Every detail
was thought out and con-
ers has learnt to be more
aware of the workshop
dynamics, something
which can only be learned
through experience.
Having been involved
in the running of WWRP
for the last three years,
Tze Yeng hopes that a
new team of young
women will take over from
her.
She shared that the
one thing which is special
about WWRP is that it is
run by young women for
young women. With the
ongoing campaign to or-
ganise sales of the Ba-
hasa Malaysia version of
Young Women Speak
Out (YWSO), it is certain
that WWRP will reach out
to more young women!
sidered through right
down to the venue of the
event.
She explained that the
venue reflected the open
space, a space beyond
boundaries, a space that
would integrate our mind
and body with nature.
But most significantly
she appreciated the ef-
forts of all her team mem-
bers who contributed
generously to the prepa-
ration of the event and to
living up to AWAM's ob-
jectives.
Upon reflection, she
definitely felt that the
preparation and the day
of the actual event effec-
tively captured the spirit
of AWAM.
As for her dreams for
the future of AWAM, Ju-
dith hoped that the spirit
of AWAM will continue to
live on for future genera-
tions to come besides
WAVES Issue No 2, January 2009
Staff Movement:
Sayonara to Honey, Elaine & RK Boo~~~
Compiled by Maisarah
Muhd Najib.
Interviewed by Bernie,
Su-Lyn & Maisarah.
Our team decided to track
down three very important
figures who left AWAM
during the course of 2008
– Honey Tan, Elaine Siew
and Boo Su-Lyn and got
them to give their take on
the experiences with
AWAM.
Honey Tan, the previ-
ous Executive Director,
singled
out her
success
in in-
creasing
the num-
ber of
partici-
pants
who participated in the
discussion sessions for
the Working Collective
meetings as one of her
most memorable contri-
butions. In her words,
“Participation not only by
those who usually speak,
but by those who found it
more intimidating to
speak out in these face-to
-face situations.”
The innovative ways
in which AWAM deals
with issues is what Honey
like best about AWAM.
According to her, out-
standing ones include the
WWRP and the White
Ribbon Campaign involv-
ing MAN.V. Although the
latter has received mixed
reviews from AWAM-ites,
Honey still believes that
there is a need to work
with men in dealing with
violence against women
and other issues relating
to equality.
Therefore, she hopes
that it will be re-looked
into so that it can be run
more successfully.
At AWAM, Honey said
that she learnt more
about detachment and
5
letting go. She also added was able to combine her some volunteers make for
that, “I remember telling love for counseling and this cause,” said Su-Lyn.
the staff often that we her passion for social jus- According to her, she
cannot save the world, tice. has learned quite a few
and that we can't According to Su-Lyn, things at AWAM.
change others, only her most notable contribu- Firstly, she learned
how we re-act to their tion is in reviving the Anu- that embracing diversity is
actions.” gerah support group necessary to achieving
According to Honey, which consists of domes- equality and non-
by keeping those tic violence survivors. discrimination on all levels
thoughts in her head – it “With new members regardless of gender, race
has helped her cope with coming into the group, I or religion among others.
AWAM better. hope that this group will Secondly, she's
When asked what her continue to sustain itself, learned that building per-
most notable contribution and maybe even spawn sonal relationships based
throughout her stint at off more support groups on trust is very important
AWAM, Elaine Siew, for- for women in general,” in any group that strives
mer Administrative Assis- she said. for a cause, “If members
tant, said AWAM's passion in the are willing to embrace,
that it fight for gender equality trust and accept each
was defi- and commitment to collec- other despite differences
nitely tivism is Su-Lyn's favour- in values and beliefs,
AWAM's ite part about AWAM. achieving goals is that
Treasure “Although collective much easier.”
Hunt in decision-making is very Lastly, Su-Lyn's last
July and difficult in a practical words for us: "Though I'm
AWAM's sense, I think that it is leaving AWAM, AWAM
20th Anni- very good of AWAM to try will always remain in my
versary celebration. and practise it nonethe- heart, and I wish her all
She also shared that less. It is also amazing to the best in her ongoing
her favourite part about see the intense commit- battle for gender equality".
AWAM is the people and ment and sacrifices that
the nature of AWAM as it
is. “AWAM has been an
essential platform for
women from all walks of
life. Here, they may seek
any sort of help or advice
that they need whenever
trouble arises”.
She also added that
she's learnt quite a lot to Sofia Lim Siu Ching (President of AWAM) &
from AWAM. But most Ben on the birth of their twins, Alex and Elsa,
importantly, “Working in on 15 October 2008!
AWAM has instilled in me
the confidence and self-
esteem that I need when
faced with frontier is-
sues.”
Su-Lyn the former
Social Worker said that
before
joining
AWAM,
she had
been a
volunteer
since
2005 –
and later joined AWAM
when she felt that she
6 WAVES Issue No 2, January 2009

Pudding, games and prezzies

to end the year!
By Maisarah Muhd Najib

On the night of 19th of To keep up with the

December 2008, AWAM giving spirit, everyone
had their annual Year was asked to attend bear-
End/Xmas Party which ing a gift valued no more
included fellow alumni of than RM5.
WWRP. After a few hours of
This provided a great good food and chatting
chance for WRRP-ers to session, the party was
get to know the people kicked of with a short
behind AWAM better. carolling session and
Some founding mem- games.
bers and ‘old-timers’ were Everyone's general
also present to lend a knowledge (ranging from
good blend of old and Marx to Harry Potter) was
new members. put to test with the first
AWAM’s immediate game – which was won
past president Judith was by Team B! Photo credit: Ho Wai Ling
kind enough to host and After a series of
prepare the dinner at her women’s only game eve- the gift they received was whelmed with the array of
home which was attended ryone then gathered once actually valued less than Santarina’s hats!
by about 35 people. again for the gift- RM5! Bless the extra gen- The night continued
The food was great exchange session. erous soul! with more fun activities,
and nothing less than The gift exchange Siu Ching, the presi- talks and laughter. It is
delicious, not forgetting session was filled with dent, also surprised the without a doubt that eve-
the yummylicious choco- surprises as well as sus- party by dropping in with ryone had a lovely night
late pudding baked by picion – for some can’t one of her twins and older together.
Yasmin. help but wonder whether girl Sarah who was over-

They hunted for equal

footing, what about you?
by Malati Mal
"Hunting for Equal Foot- people.
ing" was what the partici- One pull factor for
pants were looking for at last year’s hunt was the
last year’s AWAM Treas- star-studded guests who
ure hunt. Held at Berjaya were the participants
Times Square, the event from The Amazing Race
was both an enjoyable Asia Season 2.
and informative one. The Racers not only
Compared to its previ- handed out prizes spon-
ous events such as the sored by Reebok for the
"Motor Hunt" in 2003, lucky draw, but also
which was limited to joined each participating The audience listened side Ida and Tania or
women participants only, group to help out in the with rapt attention as the hunt with Sam and Vince,
last year’s hunt stayed treasure hunt. girls performed their skit make sure you participate
true to its theme and Kids were especially presented along with in the 2009 hunt sched-
opened its doors to both excited to be able to race slideshow of engaging uled tentatively in July!
males and children to side by side with their pictures of women from Many able hands and
enter the competition favourite TV idols. all walks of life. willing hearts are needed
allowing them to partici- Apart from that, the Wai Ling, who is also to help plan the hunt.
pate on equal footing. members from the Writers in charge of this year’s Please call AWAM if you
According to Wai Ling, for Women’s Rights Pro- event, hopes to continue are able to lend a hand in
the organising chairper- gram (WWRP) were also last year’s success and organising the event! You
son of the Treasure Hunt there to perform their will be trying to get the can also help by exciting
committee, last year’s pollylogue session which participants of the latest your friends about the
event had an increase in was a short skit with ex- session of Amazing Race event!
the number of its partici- cerpts taken from their Asia to join them. So if
pants from 300 to 650 book. you want to race along-
WAVES Issue No 2, January 2009
By Farlina Said
Often when speaking of
feminism, it is the hasher,
harder images of women
engaging in activities that
are regarded as negative
by society such as bra-
burning and lesbianism
that comes to mind on top
of the shaking fists or the
violent swing of rolling
pins.
As a matter of fact,
despite knowing the exis-
tence of different forms of
feminism –women who
simply wish to preserve
their bit of sovereignty –
most would be content to
impose judgment on the
whole population of femi-
nists as the above men-
tioned actions. Actions
that are, as a matter of
fact, stretches and exag-
gerations of the truth.
The bra-burning inci-
dent was objects symbol-
ising female oppression
such as high-heels, gir-
dles, curlers, bras and
tweezers being discarded
into trash cans. The inci-
dent had only occurred in
1968 to 1969 in reaction
to the way the Miss Amer-
ica Beauty Pageant
judged the value of a
woman’s beauty. Still, the
items were not burned.
Reports did mention that
burning was suggested
but shot down by local
authorities due to safety
reasons.
Now, perhaps forty
decades from the inci-
dent, Feminism is known
as an ideology for the
emotional, the angry and
the anarchist.
“Well, I don’t agree
that feminism was based
on emotions,” said Su-
Lyn, member of AWAM.
“It really depends on how
you look at it. Essentially,
based on history, femi-
nism began not based on
emotions but it was really
based on rights… [I] think
people mistake it for be-
ing based on emotions
because we talk a lot
about our experience and
what we go through so
people mistake it for an
emotionally based move-
ment which is not true,”
she continued.
“… [F]eminism isn’t
just about a bunch of an-
gry women… Feminism is
really about people,
whether man or woman
who are passionate about
something and more im-
portantly you do some-
thing about it,” Su-Lyn
explained.
However, it is impossi-
ble to separate the per-
sonal from the political,
Karen Lai, 31 mentions.
She is currently in the
employment of Women’s
Centre for Change,
Penang.
The very situation
seems to be true for Nina
(real name withheld upon
request).
It seemed a simple
situation. The attention of
a guy that seemed to
border on unwelcome.
They were friends. How-
ever, who was to explain
the unease she felt when
she received the seem-
ingly harmless Instant
Messages? Or the place-
ment of her pictures
online without her permis-
sion? Or the soft jibes in
class that caused her to
skip a week of class?
“If I were to tell this
guy, he’ll be like, ‘So? I
didn’t break the law,” she
said, stating the reason
why she had not at-
7
tempted to take strong
action against him. She
did inform a lecturer of
her concerns, but the
lecturer’s reply was the
common occurrence of
such a case.
“She said it even oc-
curs in the office!” said
Nina.
It was a weakness she
said she felt. The pres-
sure of being victimised
and held helpless. In ad-
dition to that would be the
misconception that
women are forever seek-
ing attention, as she men-
tioned the reactions from
her friends.
They would aid her,
she assured but, she did
not want to appear over-
paranoid. What if it is all
only in her head?
That is why, to her,
she believes feminism to
be for women to stand up
for their rights.
“It’s about women not
needing to be afraid of
speaking up. Feminists
can fight for themselves.
They are not subjugated
when they are harassed,”
See page 8
8 WAVES Issue No 2, January 2009
Politics or wrestling match?
by Malati Mal
A shirtless man clad only
in his kain pelikat, whose
entire body is covered
with angry, red claw
marks is crying in pain
while his wife applies
medicine to his wounds.
We hear how he got the
scratches from his wife’s
comment while dressing
his wound: “Who asked
you to sit in between
Rafidah and Shahrizat
...from previous page
Nina declared.
However, feminism,
being an ideology, does
not belong to a single
school of thought.
The history of femi-
nism was written with the
first wave – an effort to
earn women the right to
vote. Eventually, it was
granted in the year 1928
in Britain. The second
wave (beginning 1960s),
seek to end discrimination
while the third wave, from
the early 1990s, contin-
ued the goals of the sec-
ond wave only leaning
towards a more subjec-
tive interpretation of femi-
nism. Where the second
wave were essentialists,
insisting on only one in-
terpretation, the third
wave called for feminist
in the Wanita Umno Fel-
lowship lunch?!”
This is what the fa-
mous cartoonist Reggie
Lee drew during the clash
between the two leading
female politicians in Ma-
laysia, Tan Seri Rafidah
Aziz and Datuk Seri
Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, in
his comic column in The
Star.
His depiction of their
thought to take those of
different races into con-
sideration.
“I think the evolution of
feminism over time --
through which we have
seen the many streams or
types of feminism emerge
-- is symbolic of how it is
fluid and reflective and
allows itself to change in
order to remain relevant
to as many people as
possible. I don't think it
will be very useful if it was
stuck in form and it would
quickly become irrelevant
if it does not address dif-
ferent issues that emerge
over time,” said Vizla Ku-
maresen, 29, member of
AWAM.
Feminism, as any
form of activism would,
burns best with a fire that
suits. It is not a free-for-
rent cloak that can be
feud as a
catfight fur-
ther per-
petuates the
common
stereotype
people use
on women
who are
arguing.
These two
famous poli-
ticians were
caught in a
media
frenzy.
When read-
ing about it
in the pa-
pers I felt as if I was read-
ing a commentary on a
wrestling match, from
sensational front-page
headlines like “Wanita
Face-Off”, to side by side
full page interviews.
We seldom see news
related to female politi-
cians when reading the
papers, I wonder however
why this issue is given
such extensive coverage,
donned at the turn of the
weather.
“… [A] lot of it starts
with being conscious,
being aware of the is-
sues. It’s just about hav-
ing that interest and if you
have that interest there,
you’ll find the time. You’ll
find the energy somehow
to put the time into it,”
said Karen.
It is different tracks of
thought. Different ap-
proaches. Different ways
of fighting for a cause that
perhaps gave a spark
somewhere deep within.
“I’m not sure if I’m a
feminist,” Pei Ling, 21,
student at Universiti
Tunku Abdul Rahman
admitted.
But there is this poster
that says ‘You think you
are not a feminist? But
you want equal education
when at this time our
country, along with others
were undergoing eco-
nomic problems. The
Rafidah vs Shahrizat
news was in the front
page, while to read on the
growing numbers of
MNEs that were being
closed down I had to flip
to page 4.
This method of pitting
one women against an-
other which is being done
by the media is in a way
instigating the readers to
pick a side, turning a seri-
ous issue into what I said
earlier, a wrestling match.
The cartoonist, while
trying to make light of the
issue had helped the pub-
lic, to a certain extent,
shape their opinion on the
behaviour of women (in
politics) from a particular
slant.
Whether a cartoonist
or a columnist, it is impor-
tant for those in the media
to rise above drawing
comparisons with typical
old fashion stereotypes
and present their com-
mentaries in a more chal-
lenging and mature way.
opportunity? You want
equal job opportunity?
You want equal promo-
tion opportunity? And you
think you’re not a femi-
nist? Think again,’ Pei
Ling continued.
“Yeah, I want equal
job opportunity. I want
equal education opportu-
nity. I don’t want to be
discriminated just be-
cause I’m a girl, I don’t
get promoted. I guess I’m
a feminist in that way,”
Pei Ling declared.
There are some
strands of feminism that I
do not agree with, said Su
-Lyn.
“That doesn’t make
me any less of a femi-
nist... I have my own
stand on how feminism
is.” Su-Lyn stated.
WAVES Issue No 2, January 2009
Services
by Apsara Murale
AWAM has been provid-
ing counselling, legal in-
formation, and a support
group to assist women
who are victims of vio-
lence, besides promoting
greater understanding
and appreciation of
women's issues and gen-
der equality.
Ho Wai Ling, Services
Coordi-
nator,
ex-
plained
how
cham-
bering
students, Photo credit:
who vol- Melody Faye-
unteer at Lynn Song
AWAM
to give legal information
on a daily basis, have
gained experience in han-
dling cases, including
child custody.
According to her, the
main problem with these
cases is that the women
who seek advice have no
knowledge or awareness
of their legal rights, and
are more inclined to not
lodge a report against
their abusive husbands
for fear that they will lose
custody of their children.
Boo Su-Lyn, former
social worker at AWAM,
worked with a team of
para counsellors to pro-
vide counselling. They
provide face-to-face and
telephone counselling.
She noted that al-
though it is better to have
face-to-face counselling
as it enables thorough
counselling, a vast major-
ity of cases are handled
through the phone.
A notable Services
project is their collabora-
tion with Sisters in Islam
to undertake outreach
programmes in rural ar-
eas to educate the public
of their legal rights in fam-
ily matters.
The Services commit-
tee has also established
links with other service
providers such as hospi-
tals, the police force and
welfare department for
the past ten years to pro-
mote understanding and
awareness of gender
equality and women's
issues.
Yet despite the hard
efforts put in by Services,
both Ho Wai Ling and Su-
Lyn felt that the response
is not generally positive,
citing a lack of awareness
and support amongst the
public and volunteers.
Su-Lyn gave the ex-
ample of how irregular
some clients are coming
in for follow up counsel-
ling while Wai Ling cited
the lack of support when
it comes to volunteers.
She felt that more
information should be
provided to encourage
‘sleeping’ volunteers and
the public to help make
the programmes run by
Services a better suc-
cess.
The most notable ac-
complishment so far in
Services is the faithful
service of six trained para
counsellors, even though
clients have been irregu-
lar.
Su-Lyn and Wai Ling
noted that although on
average there are only
two clients a day, the six
of them continued to vol-
unteer consistently from
the period of May 2008 to
December 2008.
The volunteers are
trained by AWAM for two
months before undertak-
ing para counselling. The
training covers areas like
feminism, human rights,
counselling skills and
counselling theories.
This is to ensure that
the volunteers are gender
sensitised and under-
stand AWAM’s stand on
feminism and women’s
issues before they take
on the role as para coun-
sellors.
Su-Lyn felt that there
were still many areas that
Services could improve
on, one of which was to
implement more effective
WWRP & Chit Chatters
by Apsara Murale
Throughout the year
2008, the WWRP and the
Chit Chatters, which are
part of AWAM's Public
Education Committee,
have been actively in-
volved in educating and
encouraging discussion
amongst young women
about women's rights and
other human rights issues
affecting them in today's
globalised world.
Ng Tze Yeng, WWRP
and Chit Chatters Coordi-
nator, was proud to say
that the WWRP have
been doing great work in
getting women interested
and active in feminist
activism, apart from build-
ing a sense of solidarity
among the participants of
the last WWRP 6 held
from November 13 to 16
at the La Salle Hall in
Petaling Jaya.
As for Chit Chatters
she said that they were
constantly engaged in
discussions that chal-
lenged their assumptions
about society and them-
selves.
She reckoned the
most notable achieve-
ment was the presence of
new members and their
involvement with not just
the WWRP but AWAM as
well. This is a positive
outcome because it helps
to ease the problem of
the lack of volunteers.
Besides that, the re-
cent workshop has en-
couraged WWRPers in
supervision of para coun-
sellors. This is to ensure
uniformity in their ser-
vices.
But she explained that
this might be difficult if
there is a lack of human
resource or if there are
too few clients who come
in for face-to-face coun-
seling; it is generally diffi-
cult to supervise para
counsellors who counsel
via the telephone.
As for encouraging
more volunteers and pub-
9
going out, speaking to the
public and working with a
new team for the WWRP
workshop.
With regards to the
Chit Chatters, they have
recently organised a two
day ethnicity workshop
with students from differ-
ent local universities and
diverse backgrounds.
Tze Yeng explained
how she and her team felt
nervous because it was
the first time they were
broaching a difficult topic
which hit close to the
hearts of many Malay-
sians.
However, they man-
aged to pull through and
the result was positive
and it was an enriching
experience.
Although there were
many new members who
were enthusiastic about
being actively involved
with AWAM and the
WWRP, Tze
Yeng hopes
that in 2009
she will be
able to see
more par-
Photo credit: ticipants
being more
Melody Faye
assertive
-Lynn Song and taking
on leadership roles in
activities organised by
AWAM.
Their voices and tal-
ents are much needed
empowerment to help
AWAM to realise its
dreams and goals.
lic support, Wai Ling
hopes that people in gen-
eral will be more empow-
ered to take the initiative
to bring their issues to
light through different
forms of the media, such
as writing to newspapers
or community radio.
She also hopes that
the Anugerah support
group will continue its
outreach programme ef-
forts and that the para
counseling unit will be
maintained.
10
Public Education
by RK Boo
The Public Education
Committee has done tre-
mendous work in inform-
ing the public on gender
and human rights issues.
It is led by Haslinah
Yaacob (Coordinator) and
Betty Yeoh (Public Edu-
cation, Events and Advo-
cacy Manager).
At the time of writing,
Haslinah Yaacob was not
available for an interview.
Hence, comments on the
evaluation and hopes of
the Public Education
committee are taken from
Betty Yeoh and Ho Yock
Lin, active members of
the committee.
The Public Education
committee has run much
training last year, mostly
with students.
According to Betty,
schools have made re-
peat requests from
AWAM for additional
training, which indicates
that the schools must
have found the training
useful.
Advocacy & Lobbying
by RK Boo
The Advocacy & Lobby-
ing committee is currently
led by Ho Yock Lin, who
is also a
member
of Em-
power,
a sister
organi-
sation
in the
Joint
Action Photo credit:
Group Melody Faye-
for Lynn Song
Gender
Equality (JAG). Betty is
also an instrumental
member of the Advocacy
& Lobbying committee.
Yock Lin and Betty
commented that currently,
the Advocacy & Lobbying
committee mostly sup-
ports other coalitions or
NGOs on campaigns,
However, Betty and
Yock Lin felt that there is
a need to assess the di-
rect impact of trainings on
youth. Betty suggested
that one way of assessing
such impact is to plan
future trainings with
school programmes over
a two or three year span.
In terms of the com-
mittee’s work with alliance
groups, alliance group
members are enabled to
carry out Young Person
Take Charge (YPTC)
trainings at schools.
The Chit-Chatters and
Writers for Women’s
Rights Programme
(WWRP) have recently
been put under the pur-
view of the Public Educa-
tion committee.
Betty suggested that
in order to strengthen
impact, the WWRP can
synergize with other train-
ers.
Betty noted that the
accomplishment of the
Public Education commit-
projects or press state-
ments. It has not taken
the lead in advocating
any particular issue.
However, the Advo-
cacy & Lobbying commit-
tee made a notable ac-
complishment last year by
participating with JAG
organisation members on
the “Kotakan Kata” event,
where participants pre-
sented their demands to
the MPs at Parliament to
fulfil their promises. This
event was covered exten-
sively by the press.
Betty added that the
committee was involved
with the UPR (Universal
Period Review) CO-
MANGO (Coalition of
Malaysian NGOs) report,
the CEDAW (Convention
on the Elimination of all
forms of Discrimination
WAVES Issue No 2, January 2009
tee includes the involve-
ment of AWAM as mod-
ule writers and trainers in
Women's Rights and CE-
DAW (Convention on the
Elimination of all forms of
Discrimination Against
Women) training in Su-
hakam, as well as in the
Gender Module in LPPKN
(Women's Ministry) and
the National Service train-
ing program.
These involvements
recognise AWAM’s spe-
cialty in the field of gen-
der and women’s rights
based on the CEDAW
framework.
In terms of improving
the Public Education
committee in 2009, Yock
Lin suggested initiating a
good action plan, groom-
ing a pool of trainers and
conducting quality train-
ings with impact.
Betty added that we
should increase the num-
ber of trainers who can
train during working days,
or to hire an additional
Against Women) shadow
report, and initial involve-
ment in the CGG
(Coalition for Good Gov-
ernance) or JAG
Women’s Task Force.
In terms of improving
the committee this year,
Yock Lin said that the
committee needs to set
objectives that are in line
with AWAM’s three-year
plan, as well as to identify
a suitable issue to lead
advocacy work.
One strategy that can
be utilised is to source for
appropriate members to
join the committee and
groom people to speak
out.
Betty added that cli-
ents of AWAM can advo-
cate for laws to be more
supportive towards
women.
trainer due to the limited
resources of AWAM
members.
She gave an addi-
tional suggestion of im-
plementing a Training
Roadmap to develop
trainers and AWAM mem-
bers. Also, trainings
should be strategised –
some training can be
done to generate income
while others are to create
change.
In terms of generating
income, corporations can
be targeted to provide
sexual harassment train-
ings at a fee.
Examples of trainings
that create change are
gender and rights training
in National Service, and
mobile outreach pro-
grams co-organised with
Sisters in Islam (SIS)
where community mem-
bers are trained on laws
affecting women.
She also said that
members of the Writers
for Women’s Rights Pro-
gramme (WWRP) can
advocate issues through
the media, while Yock Lin
suggested working with
AWAM’s Media Team.
Yock Lin hopes that
the committee this year
will be able to focus on
what AWAM is good at in
order to create meaning-
ful results.
Betty also concurred
with Yock Lin, and added
that AWAM can either
lobby women to under-
stand their rights as en-
capsulated in the CEDAW
framework, or to work on
amending a particular law
or policy for the next few
years.