Women's March Malaysia 2020: Chants reverberate around the streets of KL
UPDATED | About 300 people converged on the city centre today to march in conjunction with the International Women's Day.
The event began with the crowds gathering in front of the Sogo shopping mall where several speakers, including an Orang Asli activist, delivered their speeches...
UPDATED | About 300 people converged on the city centre today to march in conjunction with the International Women's Day.
The event began with the crowds gathering in front of the Sogo shopping mall where several speakers, including an Orang Asli activist, delivered their speeches.
The crowds then marched from Sogo, while flashing various placards and chanting, to Dataran Merdeka where several other speakers continued to address the crowd.
They were heard chanting "destroy patriarchy, stop violence and intimidation, we want freedom, we want equality, ban child marriage, and political manipulators can go die."
'Malaysians have yet to be free from patriarchy'
A speaker from women's group Sisters in Islam said that although Malaysians have achieved independence for 62 years, they have yet to be freed from patriarchy.
"Although we as Malaysians have been independent for 62 years, we have yet to be freed from patriarchy.
"We have yet to be free from narrow thoughts, from the society and the law which (forces) women to bow down to men," she said.
She stressed the importance of having a set of law that punishes discrimination against women.
"We want society to uplift the equality to all so we have the rights to live peacefully and with respect," she said.
Another activist claimed that the previous government failed to provide an alternative to the people, notably women, to escape suffering.
"We put a lot of hope in them, but unfortunately, not only did they fail to retain power for one term, but they failed to provide any alternatives to the people, especially women, to escape suffering.
"With the decline in the economy, women's group suffered tremendously. The allocation for children and disabled people care centres was cut," she said.
"There's also no real effort from the government to curb crimes against women," she said, adding that 83 percent of crimes against women were domestic violence issues.
She added that it was difficult for women to escape from toxic and abusive relationships due to the exorbitant property prices and room rentals.
Activists being targeted on social media
Speaking to reporters later, activist Juana Jaafar said speakers didn't introduce themselves before delivering speeches out of fear of being the subject of cyber-bullying.
"For security purposes, activists didn't introduce themselves. The march always starts and ends peacefully but when they go home, they are attacked on social media.
"Authorities don't do anything about it - people filed reports to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission but to no avail.
"Everytime after a gathering, when we go home, hell is unleashed on the Internet," Juana said.
She noted that there were people who couldn't attend the march today as they were underaged.
"We had to read their letters (to the crowds) instead. It's unfortunate because we are celebrating freedom of speech.
"This space is also open to them and issues that we highlighted today are also related to them," she said.
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