KUALA LUMPUR: In what activists are already describing as “shocking,” Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak on Tuesday dismissed the idea for women's rights groups in Malaysia, saying equality has been given “from the start." The prime minister argued that Malaysia is even more advanced than developed nations in this aspect. “In some developed countries, the men were allowed to vote before women but, in Malaysia women had the right to vote from the start," the PM said at the Women's Day celebration. “Don't think that everything is better (in the developed nations) as we are way ahead especially in terms of women's rights." He continued to tell the 3,000 people who gathered that the success of Malaysian women was well known “to the extent that the men are said to be an endangered species." He added the government works hand in hand with NGOs and the private sector in raising the position of women in policy making, as reflected in Budget 2013. “We provide incentives like grants, double tax reductions and allowances to private early education centres so more can be built, and women can go to work," he said. “All companies and departments should have crèches and I believe the Chief Secretary can issue a directive on this." The statements are a shocking display of “arrogance,” women's rights activist and opposition youth leader Lina Aziz told Bikyamasr.com shortly after the PM's speech. She said that Razak “lives in a world where reality is void of truth. This is the most shocking thing I have heard a Malaysian politician say in a while.” Aziz and other women point to the rising attacks against women across the country, the poor court rulings against sexual assaulter and rapists and the “overall sense that women are second-class citizens continues to pervade this country, so where he gets his information is ridiculous.” But the PM was adamant in his challenge that women's rights organizations were not needed, saying that companies should put more women in leading positions in order to show the world Malaysia's advances.
