Now, Bebas has rallied behind PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli’s proposal for a Fair Work and Career Opportunity Act to be tabled in Parliament.
“It is our belief that no person should be discriminated at work solely on grounds such as gender, race, and religion or belief, and that there should be no discrimination against people with disabilities.
“Discriminatory practices should be eliminated in all processes, including hiring, such as when setting the criteria for a job and evaluating candidates; compensation, that is in terms of pay inequality; and promotion,” said Bebas, a movement that claims to promote secularism and oppose discrimination.
On Monday, the Pandan MP released a statement saying that the Fair Work and Career Opportunity Act would be the ideal solution to the ban on headscarves imposed on women employees in hotels.
“This law will guarantee job opportunities and fairness to all Malaysians, thus making discrimination based on religion, race, gender and disabilities a crime,” Rafizi said referring to the suggestion he had made in his book “Guide to Rebuilding Our Nation” published earlier this year.
In a statement released today, Bebas said one “blatant” example was when jobs were advertised with the criteria “Chinese only” or “Mandarin speaking”.
“This is a covert way of stating a racial preference, which is unacceptable.
“The government itself must lead in this regard by ensuring greater diversity in the civil service. Government-linked corporations too must avoid discrimination in recruitment, promotion and other workplace policies.”
The group called for the proposed Act to also be more inclusive by covering many other facets of unfair discrimination, including on factors such as age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, and discrimination against people with HIV.
“It should also be illegal for employers to require a pre-employment health screening, except where it is a reasonable operational concern, such as in food preparation, or to require the potential employee to disclose their HIV-positive status.”
Bebas said that the anti-discrimination theme should also be expanded beyond the work space, referring to how businesses and private home owners practice discrimination.
“There is also a need for a separate Act to provide protection in other avenues where discrimination is frequently experienced, for example in the property rental market.
“A concrete first step to reducing the continued stereotyping and stigmatisation of different groups of renters would be for property listing websites and apps to stop offering owners the option to specify their preferences of renters,” Bebas said, adding that the Civil Rights Act and Equality Act in the United States were good examples to follow.