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1 Annual Report PSWS 2017 ANNUAL REPORT PERSATUAN SAHABAT WANITA SELANGOR 2017

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Page 1: 1 ANNUAL REPORT PERSATUAN SAHABAT WANITA SELANGOR …€¦ · PERSATUAN SAHABAT WANITA SELANGOR 2017. 2 Annual Report PSWS 2017 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2016 – 2018 1. PRESIDENT SARASWATHY

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Annual Report PSWS 2017

ANNUAL REPORT PERSATUAN SAHABAT WANITA

SELANGOR

2017

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Annual Report PSWS 2017

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

2016 – 2018

1. PRESIDENT SARASWATHY SUBRAMANIAM

2. VICE PRESIDENT PUSHPA DORAISAMY

3. SECRETARY SUGUNA PAPACHAN

4. TREASURER KUNASELVI MURUGAN

5. ASST. SECRETARY CHANDRAKALA CHANDRAN

6. COMMITTEE MEMBER MALA PAYARI

7. COMMITTEE MEMBER PUNITHA MARUTHEMUTHU

8. COMMITTEE MEMBER PUNITHA KRISHNAN

Vision of PSWS

We envision a society that is built on equality and justice for all regardless of their class and gender.

PSWS’ Objectives

- To build a strong women workers’ movement - To empower women to achieve decent work - To mobilise women workers for policy and legal change - To better protect their families

ABOUT PSWS

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Annual Report PSWS 2017

2017 was a difficult year for the country. By the end of the year it was apparent to many people that there was a huge corruption scandal involving the then Prime Minister. Already in November 2016 there was a mass protest by Bersih 5.0 which saw arrests of activists and the rise of Malay racists dubbed the Red Shirts who threatened to disrupt the Bersih rally.

Throughout the year it was apparent that the government of Najib Razak wanted to stay in power to protect himself and his exuberant corruption. The judiciary was tamed, the police, the Attorney General went to great lengths to do his bidding. The Attoney-General who investigated the corruption charges was summarily dismissed on the day he was to sign the arrest warrant of the Prime Minister. A Public Prosecutor who prepared the case files was murdered mysteriously.

The people and activists generally felt pessimistic about change of government. Yet people and activists began to feel that it was now or never. If the government is not ousted in the 14th General Election it may never be changed because all the institutions in the country will do the government’s will.

We saw the electoral boundaries redrawn unjustly and a court that threw out all the carefully drawn up petitions against these illogical new boundaries. Yet civil society did not give up and the 14th General Election held on 9 May, 2018 was a historical milestone for us. For the first time we kicked out the dominant party the Barisan Nasional (BN - The National Front) government which has ruled Malaysia for 61 years. The new Pakatan Harapan (PH, Coalition of Hope) who had worked with many NGOs in the past decades including Bersih (Clean – NGO that worked for a clean election). Led by former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohammad, the dictator that ruled for 22 years with UMNO (United Malay National Organisation) had changed his wings and formed a new party that worked with PH to win this election!

What does it mean for PSWS and women’s groups?

The women’s groups went on to press for 3 issues: Calling for a Gender Equality Act, Sexual Harassment Act and a Domestic Workers Act. Three Draft Bills were drawn up and the government was lobbied to table the bills or to at least consider discussing these. We were hoping that this would be something that could be used for the coming elections which could be in late 2017 or the latest mid- 2018. There were many attempts at calling for dialogues with the ministries and ministers involved. However things did not make much progress.

In the meantime there continued to be horrific cases of abuse of migrant domestic workers and angry responses from the government of sending countries especially Indonesia and Cambodia. Nepalese migrant workers were dying in large numbers without apparent reason except perhaps because of overwork. The undocumented migrant workers’ number were escalating because of

ABOUT PSWS

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Annual Report PSWS 2017

the lack of political will to draw up a comprehensive policy on migrant workers. This was one of our active campaigns in 2017. Again we were unable to engage the government on this. They came to our 4 roundtable discussions on this issue but no further progress on doing anything.

Another light in the tunnel for workers was the push for labour reforms that were suggested in the TPPA which was signed. However after Trump became US President he refused to honour the TPPA which was good in a way because the only chapter that carried any benefits to the Malaysian people was the labour chapter. But the Malaysian government announced that they intended to reform the labour laws as laid in the TPPA which was generally good for Malaysian labour.

Thus 2017 was an active year of campaigns for workers’ rights but we did not feel any nearer to getting our demands.

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Why does PSWS work with electronics sector and the informal sector?

During the ‘80s itself PSWS has been working with electronic workers and domestic workers from the informal sector. The reason is firstly most of them are women. In the electronics sector at that time, the electronics workers were not allowed to be unionized, it is only in the last few years that electronics sector were unionized under regions. These women workers were exploited and had no way of finding redress except through the formation of an union. It is from last year that we have been training leaders in these unions to assert on issues affecting women workers.

Women turn to the informal sector as the 2013 OECD1 report on Malaysia noted, that the very low labour participation rate of women which was 44% (Labour Force Report 2010), suggested that reliable and low cost childcare centres be made accessible to working women so they could return to the formal workforce. The report recognized that women leave the workforce, attending to “family commitments”. Unable to cope with rising costs women tend to move into the informal sector where there is no EPF (Employee Provident Fund – pension fund) or insurance schemes against injuries at work (SOCSO – Social Security Organisation). They would only be paid minimum wage for a few years. We have opted to work with Domestic Workers being one of the most exploited of informal sector workers.

1 file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Malaysia%20(4).pdf

UN Human Rights Declaration, Article 23.4

Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of their interests.

ABOUT PSWS

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Women Workers’ Programs

Contract cleaners

There are about five cleaners who had responded to a brochure we had distributed at a low cost flat in Kesume Lake (near Kajang), they are illiterate and have been working a number of years under this contractor who has exploited them. As for contract workers they do not have annual leave, EPF nor SOCSO. If they fall sick their pay is cut. They have received minimum wage for a number of years.

We held 12 pocket meetings with them, one once a month. We held a few trainings with them. They are registered with the local welfare office so they can receive a stipend. One of them has a special child and is eligible for welfare aid.

The challenge: They need support and their children need to be trained to assist their parents which is a great challenge.

Ponggol Harvest Festival

For the first time, we had organized a Ponggol Harvest Festival on 21 Jan, 2018 at the hall in a low cost flat in Rinching (near Kajang). Ponggol is celebrated in southern India as a thanksgiving festival to the heavens for providing abundance to the farmers. Sugarcane, a sign of prosperity, is adorned around the front door of houses. The house is cleaned and everyone wears new clothes. The highlight of the festival is the boiling over of the rice (in tamil its referred to as ponggum) in milk which has to boil over to signify the abundance that the Gods have bestowed upon us. When the rice boils over everyone shouts “Ponggol Oh Ponggol” generally three times to signify the family and community will be endowed with prosperity.

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Women Workers’ Programs

About 30 women attended the function. The session was conducted by Pushpa and Saras where four teams boiled rice with milk, nuts and coconut until it boiled over. As it boiled over team members screamed “Ponggol oh Ponggol” so as to call the spirits to bless the harvest. There were games, dances (some were choreographed by Kunaselvi and others by Saras and her team). There were presents for winners of various games and of course the pongga satham (the rice cooked in milk with nuts and

raisins) was distributed to everyone.

The challenge: As this was the first time we organized such a cultural event we had not included aspects of gender in it and highlighted them in this event. Though it was an enjoyable event it would be enlightening to know gender aspects of this event. Ponggol is not a religious event but a cultural practice of south Indian farmers.

Domestic Workers

On 15 Feb, 2017 we organized a gathering of migrant domestic workers (Filipinos and Indonesians) with a few members from PSWS at Tenaganita’s office to form a coalition of migrant and local domestic workers called the Domestic Workers Coordinating Group (DWCG). This was a historical meeting for PSWS as we had been organizing local domestic workers since the late ‘80s as we firmly believe that domestic work is work and they have the right to obtain pension and insurance benefits. With the formation of Many of them shared about the manner in which they are treated as slaves. Group (DWCG) is mostly made up of Filipino workers and there are some Indonesians too.

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Women Workers’ Programs

The event was publicized in a local tamil paper.

Eight pocket meetings were held with this group of local domestic workers who reside in Semenyih.

The Challenges: To strengthen the bonds between the local and migrant domestic workers so it can be a platform to seek reform. It is hoped that we will be forming an association or union to table the Domestic Workers’ Bill and to lobby the ministers to ratify the International Labour Organisation

(ILO) Convention 189 on Domestic Workers.

International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration in Melaka and Rinching

We celebrated IWD in two places this year, one in Melaka for the electronic workers and the other with informal workers in Rinching. The one in Melaka, with the EIEU union members was

on 31 March, 2018 and attended by 35 women unionists from the Northern, Southern and Eastern regions.

One of the speakers for the session was Dr Rohana Ariffin (author and researcher) who spoke to the audience via skype. She shared about the issues faced by women workers and her research on women workers in the Free Trade Zones in Penang.

The other speaker was Bruno Pereira from MTUC (Malaysian Trade Union Congress) who spoke on the history of the formation of the four regional unions. Many of the participants were surprised to hear about the long painful struggle in establishing the four regional EIEUs. Irene Xavier spoke about the history of IWD and elaborated on some programs of PSWS. Sham, a long time volunteer with us, assisted us in playing some games with the workers.

Many of the workers said they were very inspired by the session and especially with Dr Rohanna’s sharing and experiences. They were curious why a grandma like her would want to devote her life to this activism!

In Rinching (a small town near Kajang and in the district of Semenyih), we organized a small IWD session where we had invited Arulchelvan as the guest speaker. He is Semenyih’s town council member and Socialist Party Malaysia (PSM – Parti Sosialis Malaysia), Head of National

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Women Workers’ Programs

Networking Bureau. After his speech many thronged to him pleading for assistance in the many challenges they faced in their flat or housing area and also education of their children. We had games for the women and presents were distributed to winners.

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TRAININGS

Leadership Coaching Program for Electronics Workers

PSWS has been working with electronics workers since the ‘90s, where electronic companies straddled across various Free Trade Zones all over Peninsular Malaysia and workers, most of whom are women, struggled to form an union. Faced with this challenge PSWS was successful in creating awareness. They discussed their struggles with health and safety and unionization. In

the 21st century the electronic workers now unionized still struggle to get their unions recognized by their employers who are multi-national firms based mostly in the US. These workshops are to highlight issues of gender, health & safety and leadership.

There were two Leadership Workshops for Electronic Workers, one held on 29th October to 31 October, 2017 held in NSI (North-South Initiative) office, PJ. 22 attended this workshop.

The challenges: For these workers it’s about how to work in a democratic environment is still a challenge, as women and not being assertive leaders with the men leadership in their unions.

Livelihood Project This was launched on 1 Sept, 2017 to assist women to earn a second income. Our volunteer Rosalind taught a group of nine women how to sew crafts like pencil holders, letter holders using bright coloured materials. It was unfortunate that it did not take off as most of them did not wish to use these skills to work from home.

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TRAININGS

On 3 Dec, 2017, Rosalind taught a group of six women how to make vegetable achar and mulberry chutney. They were packed in attractive bottles and labelled. These were then sold at MANZA’s (Malaysia Australia New Zealand Association) Christmas flea market on 17 Dec, 17. The neat profit from the sale of RM600, which included the sewing craft done in Sept., was made. This was PSWS’ fund raising effort. On 12 Jan, 2018 Rosalind trained another group of five women the art of achar and chutney making. The items were sold for a sweet profit of RM40. Training of Domestic Workers and Contract Workers On 3 June, 2017 a group of 14 women workers gathered at our office for a training conducted by Menaha, Founder of Red Flag. She used games and drawings to get the women to discuss the challenges they faced as contract workers. Most of the workers were very much exploited by their contractor. During the workshop they realized the aches they had were due to carrying the pails of water up the stairs. Irene and Suguna conducted a training on 11 Mar, 2018, to two domestic workers and their children. The children usually accompanied their mums wherever they went. The training touched on the history of domestic work, the gender aspects of the work and its comparison to formal work. They did a short role play on the challenges faced by domestic workers with their employers. Collective Agreement Training Workers and unionists from Time Era Union attended four ExCo session which was conducted in the office. About 15 staff attended this session to find out more about understanding their work area and how the union could assist to improve their working conditions and their wages. This was conducted on 28 Feb, 2018. It was attended by about 20 workers. OK Tak OK conducted at a Tamil School, Kajang This program was conducted by Irene and Suguna on 4 Oct, 2017 with 150 pupils aged between

10 and 12 years old. The workshop was conducted using the program developed by Women’s Centre for Change (WCC), Penang. The short workshop was about getting the children to be aware of sexual harassment, to identify it and how to act upon it. The children were told to draw a body and mark out the areas they felt which were personal to them. The kids themselves came up with ideas how they could act upon the harassment. There were some kids who opened up to us and asked some advice.

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TRAININGS

Evaluation and Planning Workshop From 26 to 28 Jan, 2018 we held the workshop on the outskirts of Kajang where we evaluated our strengths and weaknesses. Two staff and four ExCo members were present. Suguna and Irene conducted the sessions. They were very fruitful in identifying our strengths, challenges and we were able to draw a path for our growth. Video presentation on Indira Gandhi’s struggle to get her child back after unilateral conversion to Islam The video was presented by Yati Kaprawi, a videographer and artist. She had filmed Indira Ghandi in Ipoh, Perak and how her life changed where she struggled to get her child who was snatched by her husband. He then converted her to Islam without her consent. He also converted her elder two children who she struggled through the courts and was successful in getting them back. She, a kindergarten teacher, struggled to get her youngest child back and after 9 years the court finally granted her custody of the child but is still awaiting the authorities to return her child. We used this experience in our Evaluation workshop. The question was, would we be able to struggle through the work we do with women workers. Many had said they would not be able to struggle that long. Only four women came for this session on the video screening. Other trainings Forum on Migrant Workers: Pushpa and Irene attended in Sri Lanka on 26 July, 2017. The program discussed the challenges and issues faced by migrant workers. Migrant Workers in the Industrial Sector: Pushpa attended an informative session on 12 July, 2017 in Penang. Insurance Scheme for Retrenched Workers: Pushpa attended a training at the PSM office on 9 Sept, 2017. Introduction to the Migrant Recruitment Advisor: Irene and Pushpa attended this workshop held between 17 and 20 Nov, 2017. It was conducted by International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Training course on promotion of gender equality and women empowerment: From 29 to 30 Nov, 2017 Irene and Pushpa attended the sessions which proved to be extremely useful in their work with women workers. Keying in data on migrant workers: Pushpa attended this traning in Kuala Lumpur on 11 Mar, 2018 and VCMS has been conducting several of the workshops from last year. Some of the sessions were conducted by DTP. Case Management Services Training: Pushpa and Pauline attended this training between 26 and 28 Feb, 2018. CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) Session: It was conducted in WAO (Women’s Aid Organisation) office in Petaling jaya on 28 Feb, 2018. The session was about the group of women’s group that had gone to Geneva to listen to the

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government’s report to CEDAW which was done after 12 years. The government’s report was lame and pathetic as they were unable to answer the many issues that was brought up by the committee on discrimination faced by women especially on Islamic laws. It was attended by Suguna and Pushpa.

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ADVOCACY AND NETWORKING

Legal Aid Workshops and Clinics The Legal Aid Centre (LAC) assisted us in conducting three legal workshops. Six women attended a workshop held in Kajang on 22 Aug, 2017 where legal issues such as SOCSO and other legal issues were discussed. On 28 Oct, 2017 another workshop where 26 participants attended this workshop held at our office. Several legal issues were discussed such as domestic violence, SOCSO, employment issues and others. The third session was held in Puchong where 20 participants, both men and women attended, where several legal issues were dealt with. Most of these sessions were conducted in Tamil for the benefit of participants. International Women’s Day March

On 8 Mar, 2018, several women’s groups, the number was lesser than the previous year, marched from the SOGO shopping complex to Dataran Takraw in Kuala Lumpur. EMPOWER organized this event. The low turnout was probably due to several groups involved in the preparation towards the coming elections which kept everyone on their toes. It was unfortunate that a few members of the march were attacked by several men who accused the marchers as “LGBT liberal”. A police report was made against these attackers who we believe have arisen due to the constant dissemination of

information by conservative groups against “liberal and LGBT” groups. These attackers ignorant of the cause of the march grabbed at the marchers’ placards and was shouted at several times. The marchers who were mostly new members of a woman’s group were given counselling. JAG (Joint Action Group) made a media statement on the attacks.

A Civil Society Election Manifesto: Working with several Civil Society Organisations (CSOs)

We worked with several NGOs on various aspects of civil society such as the environment, human rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights and others. We had first put up our suggestions on whatsapp and this was followed up with a session on 28 March 2018. It was coordinated by a group of young people mainly from the Teoh Beng Hock Foundation.

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ADVOCACY AND NETWORKING

Visitors

Christopher Harper: He visited us in July, 2017, and is from Masimanyane Centre South Africa. He and few others in the organization work with women facing domestic violence, rape, people with HIV and AIDS.

Japanese Researcher: She visited us to seek more information on migrant workers.

Khairuddin, International Labour Organization (ILO): He was seeking information and support on plantation workers here. He visited us in August, 2017.

Laura Foley: She visited us in December 2017, was seeing information and support on migration governance in South East Asia.

SERVICES

PSWS provides free counselling and legal services to those who visit or call us. They are available to everyone regardless of race, creed, religion, sexual orientation, status or geographical location. We are able to provide these services in Tamil, Malay or English.

Our cases

There were two cases who were given financial aid. The aid came from a well-wisher.

There were ten cases which were referred to LAC or were taken by our staff to various government departments like welfare and national registration office.

We assist a Pakistani refugee in her struggle to search for asylum in a first world country. We assist her with the help of UNHCR (United Nations Commissioner for Refugees), provides her support and counselling.

FUND RAISING

PSWS is a non-profit organisation and it relies on sponsorships, donations and partnerships with funding organisations to support our activities and our work with women workers.

We have begun in a small way to raise money through our own effort such as the sales of craft items and bottled preservatives and jams. We were able to raise less than RM1,000 to support our clients’ needs.

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APPRECIATION AND GRATITUDE

Volunteers and individual who have supported our work:

Renu

Mira

Sandy

Chandrika

There are many more who, while not named, provided support without which we would not be able to carry out our mission to improve women’s lives in Malaysia.

Supporters

Joint Action Group (JAG) for Gender Equality:

Association of Women Lawyers Malaysia (AWL) Justice For Sisters

Perak Women for Women (PWW) Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower) Sabah Women’s Action-Resource Group (SAWO) Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS) Sisters in Islam (SIS)

Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO)

Women’s Centre for Change (WCC)

Tenaganita

All Women's Action Society (AWAM)

Legal Aid Centre (LAC)

Right to Redress Coalition (R2R)

Domestic Workers Coordinating Group (DWCG)

Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC)

EIEU (Electronics Industry Employees Union) Northern Region, Southern Region, Eastern Region and Western Region