Wake Up Call To The Malaysian Government - Towards equal treatment for the disabled

Wake Up Call By ILTC To The Malaysian Government

Towards equal treatment for the disabled.

Malaysian disabled people are really suffering from basic fundamental rights because they (Malaysian Government) keeping us still under charity approach.

In December 2007, we (ILTC) and some disabled people from various organisations for the disabled (OKU) had been hanged around in Parliament for last about 3 days.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil tabled the Persons with Disabilities Bill for first reading at the Dewan Rakyat in the presence of several disabled people.

The bill seeks to provide for the registration, protection, rehabilitation, development and well being of persons with disabilities and the creation of the National Council tasked to promote our quality of life.

On the day, we were very happy and welcomed the tabling of the Bill because it is a positive move by the Government and an official recognition that we are part of the community and deserve equal treatment.

However, I personally agreed that taking care of persons with disabilities should start in Parliament itself. On that day, we found wheel-chair accessibility in Parliament is still lacking and we had difficulties getting in. We hope this will improve once the Bill is implemented.

Even we noticed that, there was on punishment for those who breached a disabled person’s rights and having some disappointment that an anti-discrimination law against the disabled was not included.

Now, I honestly feel that we need changes and having another bill for the disabled, namely an anti-discrimination bill to protect our rights.