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SIUMAN ♿🧠 | #AmendAktaOKU
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Rangkaian Solidariti Demokratik Pesakit Mental | Lived experience advocates for equity & equality.

📧 kamisiuman@gmail.com | linktr.ee/KamiSIUMAN
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For Immediate Release:
Our statement for International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2024.

#IPDP #DisabilityDay #Malaysia

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3 December 2024 | For Immediate Release International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2024 - Disability Rights Under MADANI 3 December is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and this year’s theme is “Amplifying the leadership of Persons with Disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future”. Rangkaian Solidariti Demokratik Pesakit Mental (SIUMAN) would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the dismal state of disability rights in Malaysia. The Federal Constitution The Federal Constitution does not explicitly recognise disability within Article 8 (2) (Equality). This is in contrast to our Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) ratification, when gender was added to Article 8 (2) in 2001 as part of our obligations under the treaty. This distinction denies clear and direct protection against discrimination for Persons With Disabilities due to the dualist legal framework practised by Malaysia. It must also be noted that disability is also absent from Article 12 (Rights in respect of education), which is a gap that enables discriminatory and exclusionary provisions in access to education for Persons with Disabilities. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Malaysia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) in 2010. However, multiple administrations have failed to protect and promote the rights of Persons with Disabilities, enabled by our continued failure to submit our preliminary State Party’s report, due 19 August 2012. On International Day of Persons With Disabilities 2022, KPWKM indicated its intent to report to the CRPD committee in 2023. However, this has not been done, nor have there been meaningful consultations with civil society organisations or community members. It must be noted that Malaysia has reservations to Article 15 on Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Article 18 on Liberty of movement and nationality, and made interpretative declarations to Article 3 on General principles, Article 5 on Equality and non–discrimination, and Article 30 on Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport. These reservations and interpretative declarations to the UN CRPD have hampered the domestication of UN CRPD principles in Malaysia. Persons with Disabilities are estimated to be 16% of the population, the largest minority group in Malaysia, but Persons with Disabilities only have one representative in Parliament, Senator Isaiah Jacob. The Federal Constitution also explicitly disqualifies persons with psychosocial disabilities from standing as election candidates or being appointed as Senator under the vague category of “unsound mind”, a legal, not medical, concept. This broad interpretation, combined with inadequate discrimination protections, enables systemic exclusion of Persons with Disabilities from public office. Curiously, the definition of unsound mind is broad and all encompassing in this context, but when it involves a PWD in conflict with the law, only a state of psychosis would qualify as unsound mind. The proposed Mental Capacity Act does not seem to address this dissonance. This highlights a huge gap in political representation and civic participation, further disempowering the disabled community. Pelan Tindakan OKU 2016-2022 Many of these issues and existing gaps in protections were addressed in the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development’s Pelan Tindakan OKU (PTOKU) 2016-2022, specifically Teras Strategik 10 - Konvensyen Mengenai Hak OKU. However, very little information on PTOKU’s success is publicly available, and what is available indicates its monumental failure, further compounded by the lack of Parliamentary oversight. It also appears that there is no plan for Persons with Disabilities since PTOKU 2016-2022 ended. This raises questions on how resources for Persons with Disabilities are being allocated, especially with the huge difference between the estimated population, and Persons with Disabilities registered with the Social Welfare Department.
December 3, 2024 at 3:58 AM