IT'S BEEN CONFIRMED! Malaysia's first Disabled Persons Act is scheduled to be tabled in Parliament on Monday, next week. This was confirmed by Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil at Bandar Sunway last Tuesday.
The announcement was made at the Government's Disabled Day Event held at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre a day after International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3, 2007.
Recently I received a joint statement from disabled persons in Penang, who not only recommended improvements but also played a key role in 2002 in actively campaigning for the Disabled Persons Act to be passed in Parliament. Here is their reaction to the news in today's PET+BLOGSPOT:
"A number of us in Penang who had participated in a campaign for legislation of the Persons With Disabilities Act 2002 (proposed 2002 Act) welcome the news that the Persons with Disabilities Bill 2007 (PWD Bill 2007) is slated for tabling on 10 Dec 2007.
However, base on information released for the briefing given by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (the Ministry) to some NGOs in KL, these are some of our observations and major concerns:
1. This new PWD (Persons with disabilities) Bill 2007 is completely different from the proposed 2002 Act which was commissioned by the same Ministry in 2002 and to which many NGOs had given their inputs. In what way is the PWD Bill 2007 a better one?
2. To recollect, the main thrusts of the proposed 2002 Act, were:
2.1 to provide the basis for equalization of opportunities for PWD,
2.2 to eliminate discrimination and harassment against them, and
2.3 to promote their full participation as equal citizens of this country.
3. The thrusts of PWD Bill 2007 appears to be:
3.1 to provide for the registration, protection, rehabilitation, development and well being of PWD.
3.2 the establishment of the National Council for PWD to, among other things, implement the National Policy and the National Action Plan for PWD and imposes a duty on the Council to recommend changes to laws relating to accessibility.
3.3 the setting up of a Department for the Development of Persons with Disabilities to assist the National Council
3.4 the appointment of a Registrar General and Registrar to attend to registration of OKU.
3.5 to impose duties on relevant authorities to carry out the National Action Plan
3.6 to provide for incentives to the private sector to employ PWD
3.7 to provide for the rights of PWD to access public facilities, transport, education, employment, information, communication and technology, cultural life, recreational, leisure and sporting activities and for effective measures to enable PWD attain maximum independence, full physical, mental, social and vocational ability and full participation in all aspects of life including personal assistance to support-living and ensures PWD full assistance in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies.
4. We applaud and fully endorse the above provisions but are concerned that:
4.1 the proposed new structures are not really new. There already exists a National Consultative Council and a Bahagian OKU within the Ministry. The registration of OKU is also in existence and the duties and responsibilities required of the relevant authorities have been stated numerous times in many seminars/workshops, forums, etc. How will the slightly changed names of these structures be better than the existing ones?
4.2 there is an apparent lack of provisions on how the rights of PWD, so clearly spelt out, can be enforced. For example, the existing By-Law 34A of the UBBL which requires most buildings to provide physical access to PWD is not implemented by many local governments and ignored by other government departments and most schools whose buildings are even exempted from this law. Are there powers given to the Council to take enforcement/punitive actions against those who refuse to follow the provisions of the laws and the National Action Plan?
4.3 there appears to be no provisions for compulsory registration of PWD, collation of statistics from the hospitals, statistics department, schools, etc to reflect more fully the actual number of PWD so that a realistic and appropriate budget can be provided;
4.4 there are no provisions in this PWD Bill 2007 for PWD to seek redress when discriminated against, unlike the focus of the proposed 2002 Act PWD Act;
4.5 again unlike the proposed 2002 Act, there are no provisions for parents/ care-providers of PWD who need support and who need to be consulted, especially in education.
We would like to express our regret that the Ministry did not seek consultation in the drafting of this new Bill, particularly in view of the Ministry’s 2002 initiative and invitation, and we hope that the Minister will ensure that NGOs, especially those outside KL, will be consulted in the formulation of the National Policy and the National Action Plan.
We urge the Minister to follow up with an Act that will make discrimination on the ground of disability unlawful and those who discriminate against PWDs punishable and or be made to pay compensation."
The announcement was made at the Government's Disabled Day Event held at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre a day after International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3, 2007.
Recently I received a joint statement from disabled persons in Penang, who not only recommended improvements but also played a key role in 2002 in actively campaigning for the Disabled Persons Act to be passed in Parliament. Here is their reaction to the news in today's PET+BLOGSPOT:
"A number of us in Penang who had participated in a campaign for legislation of the Persons With Disabilities Act 2002 (proposed 2002 Act) welcome the news that the Persons with Disabilities Bill 2007 (PWD Bill 2007) is slated for tabling on 10 Dec 2007.
However, base on information released for the briefing given by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (the Ministry) to some NGOs in KL, these are some of our observations and major concerns:
1. This new PWD (Persons with disabilities) Bill 2007 is completely different from the proposed 2002 Act which was commissioned by the same Ministry in 2002 and to which many NGOs had given their inputs. In what way is the PWD Bill 2007 a better one?
2. To recollect, the main thrusts of the proposed 2002 Act, were:
2.1 to provide the basis for equalization of opportunities for PWD,
2.2 to eliminate discrimination and harassment against them, and
2.3 to promote their full participation as equal citizens of this country.
3. The thrusts of PWD Bill 2007 appears to be:
3.1 to provide for the registration, protection, rehabilitation, development and well being of PWD.
3.2 the establishment of the National Council for PWD to, among other things, implement the National Policy and the National Action Plan for PWD and imposes a duty on the Council to recommend changes to laws relating to accessibility.
3.3 the setting up of a Department for the Development of Persons with Disabilities to assist the National Council
3.4 the appointment of a Registrar General and Registrar to attend to registration of OKU.
3.5 to impose duties on relevant authorities to carry out the National Action Plan
3.6 to provide for incentives to the private sector to employ PWD
3.7 to provide for the rights of PWD to access public facilities, transport, education, employment, information, communication and technology, cultural life, recreational, leisure and sporting activities and for effective measures to enable PWD attain maximum independence, full physical, mental, social and vocational ability and full participation in all aspects of life including personal assistance to support-living and ensures PWD full assistance in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies.
4. We applaud and fully endorse the above provisions but are concerned that:
4.1 the proposed new structures are not really new. There already exists a National Consultative Council and a Bahagian OKU within the Ministry. The registration of OKU is also in existence and the duties and responsibilities required of the relevant authorities have been stated numerous times in many seminars/workshops, forums, etc. How will the slightly changed names of these structures be better than the existing ones?
4.2 there is an apparent lack of provisions on how the rights of PWD, so clearly spelt out, can be enforced. For example, the existing By-Law 34A of the UBBL which requires most buildings to provide physical access to PWD is not implemented by many local governments and ignored by other government departments and most schools whose buildings are even exempted from this law. Are there powers given to the Council to take enforcement/punitive actions against those who refuse to follow the provisions of the laws and the National Action Plan?
4.3 there appears to be no provisions for compulsory registration of PWD, collation of statistics from the hospitals, statistics department, schools, etc to reflect more fully the actual number of PWD so that a realistic and appropriate budget can be provided;
4.4 there are no provisions in this PWD Bill 2007 for PWD to seek redress when discriminated against, unlike the focus of the proposed 2002 Act PWD Act;
4.5 again unlike the proposed 2002 Act, there are no provisions for parents/ care-providers of PWD who need support and who need to be consulted, especially in education.
We would like to express our regret that the Ministry did not seek consultation in the drafting of this new Bill, particularly in view of the Ministry’s 2002 initiative and invitation, and we hope that the Minister will ensure that NGOs, especially those outside KL, will be consulted in the formulation of the National Policy and the National Action Plan.
We urge the Minister to follow up with an Act that will make discrimination on the ground of disability unlawful and those who discriminate against PWDs punishable and or be made to pay compensation."
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1 comment:
A step forward?
Maybe?
However I am not at all optimistic; based on what little has been said about it so far, it will, it seems, just create another Department ('jobs for the boys'), and even more bureaucratic bottlenecks which the disabled have to negotiate.
It will in effect further disable the disabled.
What is needed is a comprehensive Disability Discrimination Act which outlaws all forms of discrimination against the disabled.
The Disable Persons Act which is to be tabled in Parliament on Monday, will, in all likelihood, be toothless and ineffective, in short
it will be adding insult to the injury that all disabled persons face in Malaysia.
I hope I am wrong, let's wait and see.
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