Portrait of a Malaysian activist

By R Mageswary
February 10, 2000

Kuala Lumpur - Visitors to her home are greeted by a poster that reads, "I have a dream". The words of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King are an inspiration to Malaysian rights activist, Irene Fernandez.

"I am still dreaming," she says with a laugh. Her dream, she says, is to see a more equal society, especially for women who face discrimination almost everywhere.

A director of the non-government organisation Tenaganita who has had numerous run-ins with the government, Irene works with sex workers and migrants and helps them to fight for their rights in a society that does not always recognize that they have rights in the first place.

"I have never stopped fighting since joining my church movement 30 years back," she says.

Born into a devout Christian family, Irene's father encouraged her to join the church movement, little realizing that it would be her stepping stone into the world of activism. She worked with young Christian groups to highlight the struggles of plantation workers.

"I was so engrossed in my work that I quit my teaching job. My father cried as it was seen as the perfect job for women," she recalls.

Her mother was worried too. Her relatives were not any happier, and neighbors spent hours telling her mother that good daughters should stay at home instead of roaming the streets and taking up public causes. "I used to work late and my neighbors told my mother that I was a bird without a nest. That hurt my mother," she says.

Today, she still works long hours. She is at her office by 7 am and works until the evening. "She is a dedicated woman. She is very demanding but it's because she does not settle for less," says a staffer, Catherine Arumanayagam.

Fernandez, 53, is equally demanding of her children - two daughters and a son. "We are more like sisters," explains Katrina, 15. She is very proud of her mother but sometimes worry gets the better of her. "I am very proud of her but am also worried because she could go to jail if the court finds her guilty. But I always console myself because she is fighting for a good cause," Katrina says.

Fernandez is currently standing trial for exposing the severe conditions in migrant workers' detention camps in Malaysia in 1995. She highlighted the fact that dozens of migrant workers died in the camps due to lack of good food, drinking water, poor hygiene and physical and sexual abuse.

Those reports did not please the government. In 1996, she was charged under the Printing Presses and Publications Act for "publishing false news" about the condition in the camps. It was a touchy issue for a government that critics painted as one that championed the rights of developing countries overseas but ignored the rights of migrant workers from other Asian countries.

At its peak, Malaysia had more than 1 million migrant laborers, mostly from nearby countries.

Today, Fernandez stands firm in the belief that migrant workers need protection in host countries: "The government treats the people like outcasts. They were welcomed when they were needed and now they are blamed for everything that happens, whether it is a robbery or rape."

Likewise, she adds, "The migrant workers are sent back immediately when they are found to be HIV positive, but why doesn't the government stop to think they were infected here? They all come into the country with a clean bill of health."

Fernandez says she expects the verdict to be out by June. If convicted, she faces a jail term of up to three years or a fine of 20,000 ringgit (about US$5,300), or both.

The case has raised for her family the possibility of Fernandez ending up in jail. "It will be very difficult but we are slowly training the kids to be more independent," says husband Joseph Paul, a management consultant and country coordinator for Amnesty International.

Fernandez's early years as an activist stemmed from her working with the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) in Penang, an island north of the federal capital of Kuala Lumpur. At CAP, "I brought up issues like women's rights as consumers, their right to breastfeed, and knocked from door to door to talk to them about various topics ranging from individual rights to security at home," she relates.

Her work took her to different countries where she gave talks and public speeches on individual rights and rights of workers. Then, Fernandez ventured out to set up the Women Development Collective (WDC), which was aimed at highlighting women's rights.

She launched an "anti-violence against women" and "citizens against rape" campaign, and has never looked back. "Tenaganita provides shelter for sex workers who are abused and unwed mothers. We initially started off giving counselling for women migrant workers which expanded to include both sexes," Fernandez says.

Looking back, she concedes that non-governmental organizations in Malaysia often have a difficult time in a political environment that does not encourage dissent and whose laws can be used to curb their work. "But we are fighting despite the odds and that's what matters."

Like many other activists, Fernandez senses a time of political ferment in Malaysia stemming from the outcry over the 1998 arrest and subsequent conviction of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, a rival of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

"The people have become more aware politically, and we see a dissent that has never been seen before, like street protests," she explains. "They are demanding a new leadership - and I believe the pressure will push even the present goverment to become more accountable."

Fernandez's work as an outspoken campaigner who does not mince words has received international recognition from various organizations and individuals. "I received thousands of Christmas cards this year from well-wishers whom I don't even know," she says.

However, she does make time for rest. At home, Fernandez relates, "I watch movies whenever I get the time. I don't talk about work at home because here I am a mother and wife. But I always remember my dream."

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