AUGUST 25 marks Malaysia Women’s Day – an occasion to inspire women and celebrate their achievements.
Datuk Fatimah
The state-level celebration has been fixed on October 31 while one of the programmes — the Sarawak Volunteers Walk of Love: We Care We Share — will be held on October 6.
thesundaypost recently spoke to Welfare, Women and Community Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah on the government’s plans to celebrate Malaysia Women’s Day in the state.
Q: What are the plans for Women’s Day celebration in Sarawak this year?
A: The emphasis will be on the value of volunteerism where the Sarawak Volunteers Walk of Love: We Care We Share programme will take the lead.
We want to promote the values of love, kindness, generosity and compassion — the kampung spirit has, after all, been embedded since the very beginning.
We want to instill and nurture the culture of social responsibility through community involvement, and encourage people to care and share with one another.
At the event, we will join the public in small family units along with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to spread good cheer, value people and show, by example, the goodness of mankind.
A special item has been added to the presentation of awards to acknowledge and recognise our Olympians for their achievements.
Q: Why volunteerism?
A: It serves as a social safety net that makes up for what is lacking or insufficient in our community.
Although the government does provide the support, especially to the less fortunate — from rehabilitation and protection to financial assistance — we, however, cannot rely solely on the government for everything.
We must not let modernity take away the kindness of human nature as the country continues to progress and move forward. In fact, the government has declared 2013 as year of volunteerism.
We are setting out early to raise greater awareness of volunteerism, remind people to lend the needy and distressed a helping hand, and appreciate the people in our community.
Together we can be part of a bigger and greater team to help, give and share with the needy. We help with what we have such as our resources, energy, time or expertise — not necessarily money. Remember, a little kindness goes a long way.
Q: What other programmes are being planned to celebrate Women’s Day?
A: First, we will have the official opening of the event. Chief Minister Pehin Sri Taib Mahmud is expected to grace the occasion.
Also, we will launch a coffee table book on Women in Politics. A committee has been set up and headed by deputy chairperson of Sarawak Women and Family Council, Datin Dr Napsiah Mahfoz, to look through the editing and production, including research and information gathering.
From there, we hope to go into other subjects such as entrepreneurship, social, welfare and sports, to name a few.
Q: It hasn’t been easy for women to get to where they are today. As they continue to progress and develop through changing times, any motivational words for them?
A: Education, knowledge, right skills, right attitudes and a clear sense of purpose and urgency. These are the five core values I always emphasise to women.
To move forward, you need education because knowledge is crucial. Now that education is free to all, everyone should grab it.
To remain competitive, we need the right skills and attitudes. To lead a meaningful life, we must have a clear sense of purpose that will help drive us to scale great heights.
For struggling women or families, for instance, they must have a sense of urgency — meaning the determination, will and desire to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Treat it as a matter of life and death.
Have no fear of the hardships and challenges ahead because help is available. Get up and reach for the helping hand instead of sitting around and waiting for the hand to come to you.
Q: Under your ministry, what are the plans and programmes to help alleviate the hardships of the less fortunate like single mothers, the handicapped and the poor?
A: Our focus is on client development and productive welfare by helping women to become entrepreneurs.
A starting grant of RM5,000 will be given to allow them to purchase basic equipment and other necessities for starting a small business to generate income.
Some are good in sewing or repairing small electronic and electrical items while others may venture into cottage industry like baking cakes and cookies.
Our aim is to help them create something sustainable which, in turn, will take their names off the welfare assistance list. We want them to be independent and capable of supporting themselves and their families.
Single mothers also receive financial assistance from the Welfare Department. We know the monthly assistance will never be enough — that’s why we encourage them to become entrepreneurs.
In the city, we push for childcare centres. The Sarawak Single Mothers’ Association — with assistance from the Social Welfare Department — has set up a childcare centre along Ong Tiang Swee Road. Managed by the Association, it provides single mothers with permanent jobs as caretakers.
We understand single mothers find it difficult to juggle work and children, so the childcare centre is an ideal workplace for them.
Indeed, childcare centres are very much needed in the city nowadays, considering both parents are working and it’s extremely difficult to find a good maid or nanny, not to mention the costs involved.
Q: How do you give priority to women issues in urban and rural areas?
A: Now, when we talk about welfare, it’s about addressing the needs of the whole underprivileged population — not women alone. Whether urban or rural, the needs are the same — enough food, decent shelter and dry clothing.
The only additional need for the urban area is access to basic services such as a childcare centre, for instance. However, we transcend the urban-rural divide when dealing with various issues of poverty.
Q: What are your views on the representation of women across the board in terms of career opportunities, management, wages, education and the like.
A: We can see women heading departments in both the public and private sectors. It’s even more obvious in the field of education.
I don’t see equality as an issue in Malaysia. It shows the representation of women across the board has increased over the years. Statistics show girls are doing very well in schools and there are more female students in colleges and universities compared to male students.
This suggests we will see more and more women in the workforce occupying various positions in the future.
That apart, the government also recognises the potential and capabilities of women in the country. We are given a level playing field with an abundance of opportunities because the government believes women can contribute to nation-building as well.
Q: How do you see the roles of modern women?
A: Today, we see women multi-tasking — juggling work, children, family and finance.
Many have even gone beyond their fixed roles as participation of women in social and voluntary works has increased.
This is good for social development of the country. Just as companies have corporate social responsibilities, so too has mankind a social responsibility.
Q: Women the world over have fought for equality, education, political freedom and working rights — and against discrimination, sexual harassment and domestic violence, among other causes. Which is your main concern?
A: Right now, we are working on the support system for divorced non-Muslim women which is already available for Muslim women. It will help and protect the rights of divorced non-Muslim women.
According to our findings, in many cases, divorced women with dependent children will experience financial instability and it will take quite a while to recover their income. These women are usually full-time housewives who had been relying solely on their former husbands for survival.
Even with a court order requiring the husband to pay a monthly maintenance allowance for the wife and children, he may not do so — sometimes for years. This is where the problems arise.
Now for Muslim women, the support system set up under the Syariah Court will ensure the allowance is automatically deducted from the husband’s salary and remitted into the woman’s bank account every month.
However, if there are defaulted payments in the interim period, the Syariah Court will give the woman the allowance first. The husband will have to pay back once he has been located.
The committee is looking into many aspects of the issue that need to be worked on, including the different requirements in terms of cultures and traditions of the various races.
One other concern is teenage pregnancy and pregnancy outside of marriage. A protective support system is in place because we are against abortion. More efforts are needed to tackle the problem, especially through education.
We provide temporary shelter at the Welfare Department’s Taman Sri Putri in Telaga Air for the girls. The babies are cared for at the Mile 12 Children’s Home and will be put up for adoption.
The trend suggests that unwanted teen pregnancies often occurred in the long year-end school break when children have more time and freedom to go out. We are planning to organise a seminar to educate teenagers on healthy girl-boy relationship.
We also strongly encourage parents to participate because studies show parental involvement has a positive impact on a child’s life.
In addition, the ministry has conducted Train the Trainers programmes to equip counselling teachers with skills for empathic listening, and help students to develop a healthy life.
We already covered schools in Kuching last year and the next programme will be held in Sibu for schools in the central region.
Q: What are the obstacles to overcome along the way?
A: We know there is a lot more to do. The challenge is to reach out to as many people in need as possible and provide them with assistance.
Right now, we have 47,000 people in our list of the poor but I know there are more who have not registered. We need to improve the analysing system in order to identify genuine cases that deserve aid.
The work and responsibility are tremendous. So in the first phase of restructuring the Social Welfare Department recently, the state government had approved another 27 new posts, including for the Children’s Home and the Home For The Elderly.