Federal government urged to conduct more women devt programmes

GEORGE TOWN: The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development should hold more programmes highlighting women development and empowerment, said Penang state executive councillor Chong Eng.

This would create more awareness on the problem of gender bias and domestic violence in the country and generate greater support for the victims of such cases, said Chong Eng, who is in charge of the Social Development and Non-Islamic Religious Affairs Committee.

“These issues are still not known to some of the Malaysian communities, so many people do not know how to reach out for support and did not approach the police to lodge a report,” she told a press conference here yesterday.

She said the state government’s “Penang Safe Family Policy” provided an avenue for the setting up of first support points in counters of all government agencies.

“It is something you do not need a big budget to spend on because all we need to do is to train the existing staff and use the existing counters,” she said, when asked about her Budget 2021 wish list.

She believed the federal government could carry out such initiatives as volunteers and nongovernmental organisations have done similar programmes to aid victims of domestic violence.

Earlier yesterday, Chong Eng announced that the proposal to have a minimum 30 per cent of female representatives in local councils and on boards of government-linked companies has been approved.

She said appointments to these posts would still be based on the qualifications and suitability of the candidates.

“This makes Penang the first state in Malaysia to take a progressive step in bridging the gender gap at the decision-making level,” she added. — Bernama