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MALAYSIA:
Woman Activist Risks Jail to Fulfill Dream
By R. Mageswary
KUALA LUMPUR
(IPS)
- Visitors to her home are greeted by a poster that reads,
''I have
a dream''. The words of American civil rights leader Martin
Luther
King are an inspiration to Malaysian rights activist, Irene
Fernandez.
''I am still
dreaming,''
she says with a chuckle. Her dream, she says, is to see a
more equal
society, especially for women who face discrimination almost
everywhere.
A director of the
non-government
organisation Tenaganita who has had numerous run-ins with the
government
because of her work, Irene works with sex workers and migrant
workers
and helps them to fight for their rights in a society that does
not always recognise that they have rights in the first
place.
''I have never
stopped
fighting since joining my church movement thirty years
back,'' she
says in an interview.
Born into a
devout Christian
family, Irene's father encouraged her to join the church
movement
little realising that it would be her stepping stone into the
world
of activism. She worked with young Christian groups to highlight
the struggles of plantation workers.
''I was so engrossed
in my work that I quit my teaching job. My father cried as it
was
seen as the perfect job for women,'' she recalls.
Her mother was
worried
too. Her relatives were not any happier, and neighbours spent
hours
telling her mother that good daughters should stay at home
instead
of roaming the streets and taking up public causes.
''I used to work
late
and my neighbours told my mother that I was a bird without a
nest.
That hurt my mother,'' she adds.
Today, she still
works
late hours to finish her work. An early riser, Irene is at
her office
by 7 a.m. and works until the evening. ''She is a dedicated
woman.
She is very demanding but it's because she does not settle
for less,''
says a staffer, Catherine Arumanayagam.
Fernandez, 53, is
equally
demanding from her children -- two grown-up daughters and a son.
''We are more like sisters,'' explains Katrina, 15. She is very
proud of her mother but sometimes worry gets the better of her.
''I am very proud of
her but am also worried because she could go to jail if the
court
finds her guilty. But, I always console myself because she is
fighting
for a good cause,'' Katrina says.
Fernandez is
currently
standing trial for exposing the severe conditions in migrant
workers'
detention camps in Malaysia in 1995. She highlighted the fact
that
dozens of migrant workers died in the camps due to lack of good
food, drinking water, poor hygiene and due to physical and
sexual
abuse.
Those reports did
not
please the government any. In 1996, she was charged under the
Printing
Presses and Publications Act, for ''publishing false news''
about
the condition in the camps. It was a touchy issue for a
government
that critics painted as one that championed the rights of
developing
countries overseas - but did less than that when it comes to
migrant
workers from other Asian countries.
At its peak,
Malaysia
had more than 1 million migrant labourers mostly from nearby
countries.
Today, Fernandez
stands
firm on the belief that migrant workers need protection in host
countries: ''The government treats the people like outcasts.
They
were welcomed when they are needed and now they are blamed
for everything
that happens, whether it is a robbery or rape.''
Likewise, she adds,
''The migrant workers are sent back immediately when they are
found
to be HIV positive, but why doesn't the government stop to think
they were infected here? They all come into the country with
a clean
health bill.''
Fernandez says
she expects
the verdict to be out by June. If convicted, she faces a jail
term
of up to three years or 20,000 ringgit (5,263 U.S. dollars)
fine,
or both.
The case has raised
for her family the possibility of Fernandez ending up in
jail. ''It
will be very difficult but we are slowly training the kids to be
more independent,'' says husband Joseph Paul, a management
consultant
and country coordinator for Amnesty International.
Fernandez's early
years
as an activist stemmed from her working with the Consumers
Association
of Penang (CAP) in Penang, an island north of the federal
capital
of Kuala Lumpur.
At CAP ''I
brought up
issues like women's rights as consumers, their right to
breastfeed
and knocked from door to door to talk to them about various
topics
ranging from individual rights to security at home,'' she
relates.
Her work brought her
to different countries where she gave talks and public speeches
on the individual rights and rights of workers. Then, Fernandez
ventured out to set up the Women Development Collective (WDC), which
Fernandez launched the
''violence against women'' and ''citizens against rape''
campaign,
and has never looked back. ''Tenaganita provides shelter for sex
workers who are abused and unwed mothers. We initially
started off
giving counselling for women migrant workers which expanded
to include
both sexes,'' Fernandez says.
Looking back, she
concedes
that NGOs in Malaysia often have a difficult time in a political
environment that does not encourage dissent and whose laws
can be
used to curb their work. ''But we are fighting despite the odds
and that's what matters,'' Fernandez argues.
Like many other
activists,
Fernandez senses a time of political ferment in Malaysia
stemming
from the outcry over the 1998 arrest and subsequent
conviction of
former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, a rival of Prime
Minister
Mahathir Mohamad.
''The people have
become
more aware politically, and we see a dissent that has never been
seen before, like street protests,'' she explains. ''They are
demanding
a new leadership - and I believe the pressure would push even
the
present goverment to become more accountable.''
Fernandez's work as
an outspoken campaigner who does not mince words has received
international
recognition from various organisations and individuals. ''I
received
thousands of Christmas cards this year from well-wishers whom I
don't even know,'' she says.
However, she does
make
time for rest. At home, Fernandez relates, ''I watch movies
whenever
I get the time. I don't talk about work at home because here
I am
a mother and wife. But I always remember my dream.''
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