The call for the amendment of legislation biased against men and fathers began as the public received it's first lesson on men's rights today.

The public forum, the first of its kind, entitled 'Children Need Fathers Too' was held by the Bar Council in its auditorium in Kuala Lumpur.

Organised by the council's Family Law committee, the forum kicked off with testimonials from three fathers currently undergoing legal proceedings.

One of the speakers, senior family lawyer Chew Swee Yoke said fathers must be advised on the principles which could help them as well as those that go against them.

She proceeded to list the three legislation found in Malaysia's Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 that are gender-biased against men.

They are:

The presumption in a child custody battle is in the favour of the mother when the child is below the age of seven;

A man has a legal duty to maintain his wife whereas a woman has such a duty only if he's incapacitated from carrying on his livelihood by reason of mental or physical ill-health;

The common law principles that the natural mother of an illegitimate child has rights to guardianship and custody; the father cannot claim.

Judicial limit

Chew also said a judicial age limit cannot be placed on child's in gauging his/her ability to express his/her wishes found in the Convention on the Rights of the Child which Malaysia is a signatory since 1991.

"Our judges here said that children of eight or nine are not old enough to express their wishes. That is outdated.

"What the courts must look at is whether the child has sufficient understanding or not," she told some 100 people who attended the forum.

Another issue mooted by Chew was the setting up of a fast-track court system aimed at settling child custody cases within six months.

Chew explained that while delays are accepted when parents fight over property and division of assets, there are issues that cannot wait.

"Who is the child suppose to live with? When is the child able to see his father? These are issues which cannot go on for nine months or one year and sometimes it goes on to three to six years."

"I hope that our courts would fast track so that these cases are decided within six months," she said.

The forum's aim was to create awareness in educating the public particularly in relation to a father's rights and highlighted issues faced by fathers and measures that can used in addressing plights from a legal and a non-legal perspective.

Chaired by lawyer Foo Yet Ngo, the other panelists included psychologist Paul Jambunathan, counselor Grace Yap, UK-based non-government organisation Families Need Fathers representative Steve Stevenson.