Wanita MCA seeks Speaker’s help to check sexist remarks

TheStar news, Tuesday February 24, 2009

Women affairs: Chew thanking Pandikar Amin for accepting the memorandum yesterday.

WANITA MCA chief Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun handed over a memorandum to Dewan Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia seeking to put a stop to sexist remarks in Parliament.

She said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz had also discussed the matter with the Speaker and women MPs.

She had also met with Senate President Tan Sri Dr Abdul Hamid Pawanteh.

On Jan 15, Chew had said that Wanita MCA would go all out to stop sexist remarks from being used in Parliament, state assemblies and local councils.

Chew said the meeting with Pandikar Amin was the result of a memorandum the Wanita MCA had sent to Nazri on Jan 15.

Among others, the memorandum called for elected members who fail to adhere to the prohibition on the use of sexist language and behaviour to be suspended between two and six months without pay or allowances.

It also called for heavier penalties for repeat offenders, and compulsory orientation and gender sensitive courses.

After receiving the memorandum, Pandikar Amin suggested that a woman should become one of the two deputy speakers.

“Maybe men are not sensitive enough. There is nothing wrong in having a woman as a deputy speaker. In Britain, the speaker is a woman,” he said.

However, having a woman as deputy speaker may not help to curb MPs from uttering sexist remarks.

“There is no guarantee that a woman deputy speaker will work for that reason,” said Pandikar Amin.

MPs have improved and are behaving a lot better now, or they risk facing the music, he said.