Adenan vows to abolish laws discriminating women
KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem has reiterated his pledge to abolish any law or policy that is discriminatory against women.
He said he would cancel out any legislation that discriminates women to ensure that everybody is treated equally in the state. At the same time, he advised women to be assertive and speak up for their rights in all fields including religion and politics.
“Please come up with examples and I will have the law changed, so that it would suit women and they can be on par with men,” quipped the chief minister to a loud applause when speaking at the Barisan Nasional (BN) Wanita dinner at Hilton Hotel here on Monday.
He added: “Women are not equal to men, let’s be straight about this. But they ought to be treated equally.
“Women must be assertive. Don’t be too submissive. Follow my wife’s example. If you don’t champion your own rights, nobody else will. If we say we want freedom, it’s freedom for everybody, not just men.”
National BN Women chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, state BN Women chief Dato Sri Empiang Jabu and Adenan’s wife Datin Patinggi Dato Jamilah Anu were among the state dignitaries and women chiefs from BN component parties nationwide attending the dinner.
Touching on religion, Adenan said he did not want the country to be ruled by “narrow- minded ustaz” and pointed out that some ustaz wanted to play God and tell people what fatwa is.
“Fatwa is an opinion, not law. You (the women) must assert your authority, don’t let yourself be regarded as less worthy, less than a camel. In the old Arab days, the value of women was less than that of a camel. Women were regarded as property. It was Islam that raised women’s status but some people use Islam to downgrade women. We don’t want that nonsense here,” he continued.
In regards to the coming state election, Adenan pointed out he was in the process of finding more women candidates to represent Barisan as at present it only has four women elected representatives in the State Legislative Assembly. He disclosed that PBB would field more women candidates and urged other BN parties to follow suit.
To ensure that racial harmony persists in the state, Adenan mentioned that he was compiling a list of people he didn’t want to come to Sarawak and create havoc in the multi-racial community here, regardless of political affi liation.
“I don’t want extremists, racists and bigots to come to Sarawak. Leave us alone. Now we are enjoying peace and harmony, we visit each other during Chinese New Year, Gawai, Hari Raya, Christmas etc etc. When you adopt that policy, I think the people will accept it because we are peaceful people. This country is big enough for everybody.”
To stop the country from being ruled by extremists and to maintain the racial peace and harmony, he reminded that the moderates must maintain the system and be put in charge.
“Otherwise, if the nation falls into the hands of extremists, there will be trouble. The silent majority, the moderate population, must speak up against all these extremists.”
Known individuals that have been barred include Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali, lecturer Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah and a number of opposition leaders.