The Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS) totally agrees with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz that bumiputera status should be passed on by either the mother or the father.

This is not only in keeping with the times but is a legal obligation. Malaysia is a signatory to the Convention of Elimination against Discrimination to Women (Cedaw) which means that our laws need to reflect this commitment.

Due to this convention, the constitution has already been amended once to make it clear that discrimination on grounds of gender is unacceptable in Malaysia.

The Sarawak Women for Women Society have already raised this issue through the appropriate channels and we now call for the necessary amendments to be made in Parliament and for the matter to be resolved once and for all.

The current practice is archaic in its paternalistic attitude. Why are women, who are the ones who give birth to a child, denied the right to pass on their land to their children when they marry a non-bumi?

The time has come to be consistent and for the constitution to be amended so all indigenous people across Malaysia, men and women, have the same legal standing.

Therefore, we supports the various calls to amend Article 161A of the Federal Constitution. It is timely for the definition of bumiputra to be standardised across Malaysia.

Logically, this means we should also be asking for the status to be passed on from either the mother or the father as in Sabah and not just endorsing what has been the practiced traditionally within Sarawak.

Such a move would be in keeping with Cedaw which the Malaysian Government signed, with some specified reservations, on July 5, 1995.

Article 8(2) of the Federal Constitution, the article pertaining to equality; that there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground of, amongst others, race, religion, descent, place of birth except as expressly authorised by the constitution, has already been amended.

It now includes the word ‘gender’. This change, along with other legislation and programmes, shows the government’s commitment to treat men and women equally as beholds a signatory to the convention.

Now that Article 161A is under the spot-light it is an opportunity for the country to show its progressive approach to equality of the sexes.

SWWS also supports the call to ensure all indigenous races are recognised under the article, and not just those named, as highlighted by the Deputy Dewan Raykat Speaker Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

We are relieved to see the Penan are already specified as bumiputera and hope that this is well understood by civil servants in all federal departments.

Recently we heard someone from the Education Ministry in KL referring to Penan as pri-bumi, an unacceptable term in the Sarawak context but a mistake not infrequently made by people from Semenanjung when referring to Sarawak natives.

The writer is president, Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS).