The government has today withdrawn its appeal against a relief teacher who challenged the Education Ministry and the government over a discriminatory rule, barring those who are pregnant to gain employment there.

The case came up at the Court of Appeal today, where senior federal counsel Shamsubol Hassan informed the court that the government was withdrawing its appeal.

parliament ipcmc roundtable talk 281207 edmund bon Following this, lawyer Edmund Bon ( left ) and Honey Tan - acting for Noorfadilla Ahmad Saikin, 31 - has asked for the appeal to be struck off and applied for costs of RM5,000 for preparing documents in the appeal.

The three-member bench led by Justice Clement Allan Skinner agreed to strike off the government's appeal and granted the costs of RM5,000.

The other members of the bench were Justices Rohana Yusof and David Wong Dak Wah.

It was reported on July 12, 2011 that the Shah Alam High Court had ruled in a landmark judgment that as Malaysia is a signatory of the United Nations' Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw) in 1995, the government cannot use pregnancy as an excuse not to employ Noorfadilla.

dap islamic state roundtable 100807 honey tan “The judge said that Cedaw had the force of law and is binding in Malaysia,” said Tan ( left ).

Noorfadilla took the government to court to seek a declaration that pregnancy cannot be used as an excuse not to employ a person as an untrained relief teacher (GSTT) and the revocation of the memo on her placement to be declared illegal and unconstitutional.

The memo for the month-to-month contract was revoked at a Hulu Langat District education briefing session for newly-recruited GSTT personnel, when the ministry found out she was pregnant.

She also argued that the revocation is a violation of Article 5 regarding the rights to liberty and Article 8 (2) of the federal constitution regarding there should be no discrimination based on ‘religion, race, descent, gender or place of birth... in the appointment to any office or employment under a public authority’.

Article 11 of Cedaw requires countries to protect women’s rights to work, to ensure that women have the same training and employment opportunities as men, that women receive equal pay for work of equal value, that women have access to the same benefits, compensatory schemes, and allowances as men, especially in relation to retirement and incapacity to work.