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news without borders
Abdullah: Resolutions will be
conveyed to US, UK and UN
BENTONG: Malaysia will con-
vey the 10 resolutions passed at
the special Parliament sitting on
Israel’s atrocities in Gaza to the
United States Congress and the
parliaments of Britain and the
European Union, Prime Minster
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi said yesterday.
“The resolutions will also be
conveyed to United Nations (UN)
secretary-general Ban Kim Mun
and the UN General Assembly
president to demand that the UN
Security Council make a decision
to enforce the resolutions it has
taken on the Palestinian conflict,”
he told reporters after attending
a briefing on the East Coast Eco-
nomic Region (Ecer) at the Land
and District Office here.
He said the Organisation of Is-
lamic Conference (OIC) countries
and members of the Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM) would also
be informed of the resolutions
adopted by the Dewan Rakyat on
Monday.
Among others, the resolutions
called for the UN General As-
sembly to immediately set up an
international crimes tribunal to
investigate and prosecute Israelis
involved in atrocities against Pal-
estinians for war crimes.
Abdullah said Malaysia would
insist on a UN General Assembly
meeting to be convened if there
was no positive response over the
resolutions.
He also praised Mercy Ma-
laysia for its humanitarian relief
work to help the people of Gaza
and said the government was fully
supporting it in the noble effort.
In Kuala Lumpur, United
Nations Resident Coordinator for
Malaysia Kamal Malhotra said
Malaysia needed to lobby and
convince other parliaments in
the world to ensure the resolu-
tions would gain greater support
and be more effective.
“The resolutions would be
more effective and influential
in the international community
if Malaysia were able to lobby
and convince other parliaments
around the world, including
the British and European par-
liaments, to agree on similar
resolutions,” he said in a e-mail
interview with Bernama.
“Once this has happened,
these resolutions should be put
through an international parlia-
mentary body which is credible
and has an observer or consulta-
tive station within the United
Nations.”
Kamal’s comments were sup-
ported by Human Rights Com-
missioner Datuk Dr Denison
Jayasooria, who told Bernama
Malaysia must mobilise and
strengthen its partnership with
the OIC, NAM, Asean and other
countries to garner support and
force the US to play a more
decisive role in stopping Israel
from committing crimes against
humanity.
In Kuala Terengganu,
Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed
Hamid Albar said Opposition
Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ib-
rahim should use his close ties
with US leaders to influence the
superpower to tell Israel to stop
its atrocities in Gaza.
He said the issue was not a
party matter but involved human-
ity which required all quarters
to act to stop the carnage taking
place in the Palestinian territory.
“It is good he supported the
resolutions, this is important
because he understands Malay-
sians’ aspirations for the people
of Palestine and that they abhor
Israel’s atrocities on them,” he
said.
theSun
Stop ‘blaming’ the
rape victims
by Kristene Silva Marie
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: The issue of
rape has nothing to do with the way
a woman dresses. The Women’s
Aid Organisation (WAO) has said
this many times before and is now
driving this message home through
a “Back to School” public education
campaign launched yesterday.
“Rape reflects badly on the
will and self-control of men and it
does not have anything to do with
women’s choice of attire,” said WAO
Tsang,
executive director Ivy Josiah.
Josiah and
“I feel like a broken record
Tan at the
because every year I keep saying
launching
the same thing about the issue of
of the ‘Back
rape.”
to School’
She said this campaign on
campaign
Violence Against Women (VAW)
at the WAO
for 2009 is the first to
Centre.
| WEDNESDAY JANUARY 14 2009
be done through postcards and
posters, and a “censored” website
sponsored by Arc Worldwide Malay-
sia, an advertising company.
Josiah pointed out that rape
victims are usually blamed for what
happened and this should stop.
“It is not right to say ‘If only
she would take heed of where she
goes, with whom she goes and
what she wears, it would not have
happened’,” she said.
“The campaign seeks to educate
the public that no matter what you
do, rape can occur.”
Josiah said that while previous
campaigns stressed law reforms,
this campaign goes back to the
basic facts about VAW, thus
raising awareness on the issue of
rape.
Arc Worldwide managing direc-
tor Tan Kian Eng
and creative director
Theresa Tsang said
the objective of the
images used in the
postcards were to
stress that attire
does not matter in
the issue of rape
and abuse.
MPH Bookstores
Sdn Bhd will put up
the posters in their
outlets and distrib-
ute the postcards
to customers.
For details, visit
w w w. w a o. o r g .
my/censored.