Administrator, Author at MACSA

WAO is Missing the Points on Modest Clothing

08 Aug 2018346 Views0

We would like to refer to a letter to the Star dated August 8, 2018 from the Women’s Aid Organization (WAO) headlined “More to focus on than policing women’s clothing”. The WAO seems to miss some rather important points. Firstly, study by the Women's Alliance For Family Institution and Quality Education (WAFIQ) in collaboration with Centre for Human Rights Research & Advocacy (CENTHRA) and Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) has shown that as many as 5.7% female Muslim respondents reported that they're not allowed to wear hijab, and out of this, 60.9% is from the private sector. There is a substantial number of women in the workforce in Malaysia who are very distressed that they are not able to choose what they want to wear which happens to be Shariah-compliant clothing. They

Press Statements

MACSA Welcomes Strengthening of Anti-Hate Laws

Administrator

07 Aug 2018357 Views0

The Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations in the UPR Process or MACSA notes that the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Religious Affairs in the new Pakatan Harapan government, Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa has proposed the tabling of three Bills, namely the Anti-Discrimination Bill, the National Harmony and Reconciliation Commission Bill and the Racial and Religious Hatred Act for the Parliamentary Session this October or February next year.[1] The new government has yet to publish a draft of these three proposed Bills. All we know from news reports are that these laws, in particular the proposed Racial and Religious Hatred Bill aim to curb racial and religious hatred. In short, the proposed Bills seek to criminalise hate speech. The proposed penalties a...

Media

MACSA pandang serius isu rakyat tanpa negara di Sabah (Bernama)

Administrator

31 Jul 2018349 Views0

LAHAD DATU: Gabungan Pertubuhan Masyarakat Sivil Malaysia bagi Proses Semakan Berkala Sejagat (MACSA) memandang serius isu ratusan ribu rakyat tidak bernegara di Sabah dan menggesa semua pihak agar mengambil peranan aktif menangani masalah itu. Pengerusinya Azril Mohd Amin berkata masalah tersebut memerlukan penyelesaian jangka panjang dan secara komprehensif bagi memastikan fenomena yang sudah berlarutan sekian lama itu tidak terlepas pandang serta berterusan pada masa akan datang. â€œMenerusi laporan berita, tidak kurang daripada 800,000 rakyat yang tidak berkewarganegaraan di Sabah. Bagi MACSA sendiri, sebenarnya kita cenderung untuk melihat kemungkinan kerajaan menandatangani Konvensyen Tanpa Kewarganegaraan sebagai antara penyelesaian isu ini. â€œSelain itu, kita lihat ba...

Press Statements

The Sun Still Shines Strong on National Sovereignty

Administrator

28 Jul 2018359 Views0

Many of us in the Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations in the UPR Process (MACSA) are lawyers and leading academicians, and the recent article by Eric Paulsen titled ‘The sun has set on Victorian-era laws’ gives us all pause. Eric would have us believe that our nation of Malaysia having freed herself from the shackles of British colonialism must now rid herself of sundry so-called ‘oppressive’ laws enacted during the time our ancestors had to endure the same. These include sections of the ‘archaic’ Penal Code on sodomy (sections 377A and 377B), enticement of a married woman (section 498), insulting modesty (section 509) and of course, the enactment he is currently being charged under for wantonly accusing Jakim of promoting extremism by the preparation of Friday sermons,

MediaVideo

MACSA di Bernama Radio

Administrator

13 Jul 2018347 Views0

MACSA berbicara di rancangan AlaCarte, Radio Bernama. Klik: LGBTQ+, Diskriminasi Dan Hak Asasi Mengikut Acuan Malaysia. Tetamu : 1. Prof Madya Dr Rafidah Hanim Mokhtar, Pengerusi Bersama Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society of Organisations in the UPR Process (MACSA) dan Presiden Women’s Alliance For Family Institution and Quality Education .(WAFIQ). 2. Tuan Aidil Khalid, Exco Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society of Organisations in the UPR Process (MACSA) dan Peguambela & Peguamcara Aktivis Concerned Lawyers for Justice (CLJ).

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Jenayah Matrimonial Cemar Imej Islam – Prof. Madya Dr. Rafidah Hanim Mokhtar

Administrator

07 Jul 2018356 Views0

Terdapat seruan agar kerajaan menetapkan usia minimum 18 tahun untu k perkahwinan lelaki dan wanita dalam semua rangka undang-undang tanpa pengecualian, iaitu tanpa pembabitan Mahkamah Syariah, Mahkamah Anak Negeri dan Ketua Menteri. Ia semakin lantang berikutan kes perkahwinan lelaki Malaysia 41 tahun dengan gadis warga Thailand yang baru 11 tahun. Perkahwinan ketiga lelaki itu dengan gadis tidak bersekolah, sudah tentu mendapat bantahan ramai. Dengan kemudahan persekolahan tersedia luas kini, kes yang dilihat menafikan peluang anak perempuan bersekolah dengan membebankannya dengan tanggungjawab perkahwinan, apatah lagi dalam kemelut rumah tangga poligami, adalah tidak munasabah dan zalim. Kes itu sendiri tidak mendapat kebenaran Mahkamah Syariah di negara ini. Perkahwinan ba...

Press Statements

Tighten Regulations on Underage Marriage, Instead of One-Size-Fits-All Policy

Administrator

25 Jun 2018352 Views0

Underage marriage issue Underage marriages are strongly correlated with poverty and level of education. It happens in any society where there is an imbalance of wealth distribution, and children are the weakest fragment amongst the society and are normally the most victimised. We support measures to stop forced marriages that are potentially harmful especially to very young brides or grooms, physically or socially. We categorically condemn cases where girls were forced to marry much older men, and instances where young girls were treated as objects or commodities as their families try to escape poverty. However, a good policy addresses the needs of all segments of societies. It does not aim for one-size-fits-all solutions, especially in an issue as complex as marriages that are de

Press Statements

COMANGO’s Attack of Fellow Human Rights Defenders Smacks of Diversion and Desperation

Administrator

08 Jun 2018311 Views0

The Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations in the UPR Process (MACSA) is disappointed that the Coalition of Malaysian NGOs in the UPR Process (COMANGO) has chosen to frame its own UPR stakeholder report on Human Rights in Malaysia with unprovoked, malicious attacks on their fellow human rights defenders. MACSA, like COMANGO, has in March this year submitted its own stakeholder report before the 3rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Malaysia, which will be held on 8th November in Geneva, Switzerland. We are a coalition that champions human rights and fundamental liberties enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human rights 1948 (UDHR), the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam 1990 (CDHRI) and the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration 2012 (AHRD) in accordance with the local...

Media

Gender inequality, discrimination against minorities still rife, Comango reports (Malay Mail Online)

Administrator

07 Jun 2018324 Views0

KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — In its report to the United Nations (UN) launched today, a coalition of local NGOs highlighted the continued rampancy of gender inequality and discriminations over religion, race, sexual orientation and gender identity, rights of the Orang Asli, and disabilities here. The report by Comango, which tracks progress in the field of human rights in Malaysia since the last UN’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), specifically highlighted the country’s dismal performance at the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw) review earlier this year. “The Cedaw Committee’s questions on matters that violate Muslim women’s rights were attacked by government-linked, Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations in the UPR Process (Macs

Press Statements

Constructive Engagement With Independent Members Of Civil Society The Way Forward

Administrator

25 May 2018314 Views0

It has been two weeks since the results of the watershed May 9th general election has been made known to us and Malaysians of all walks of life are still getting adjusted to life under the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government led by our new Prime Minister, YAB Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Many have thus focused on the promises of this new administration contained in their Buku Harapan manifesto, in particular with respect to those touching upon institutional reforms as well as those affecting fundamental liberties. With regard to those, the Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations in the UPR Process (MACSA) takes this opportunity to remind the new administration in no uncertain terms that for any meaningful realisation of institutional reforms and enhancement of rights to take place...