KUALA LUMPUR: Pro-women legislation is to be given due attention and
there will not be a repeat of waiting at least seven years for a Bill to
be passed, as what happened with the Domestic Violence Act.
“I guarantee you, for something good, it will not take seven years,” Datuk Seri Najib Razak said at the National Council of Women's Organisations (NCWO) golden jubilee celebrations here yesterday.
The
Prime Minister assured that the Government would hasten effort to make
changes to legislation, regulations, practices and thinking that
obstructed the progress of women.
Najib, who is also Women,
Family and Community Development Minister, invited NCWO to come up with a
working paper on advancing the cause of women.
NCWO president Tan Sri Prof Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin said the council would send an updated version of a working paper to Najib as soon as possible.
She stressed the need for changes for women to be made speedily.
NCWO
had handed over a memorandum of the draft law on domestic violence in
1987 but it was only passed by Parliament in 1994 and implemented in
1996, she noted.
Dr Sharifah said laws, policies, structures and
administrative processes needed to be reviewed and changed so that women
would no longer face discrimination.
