PETALING JAYA: While Malaysian women have made immense strides in the working world, gaps remain, said Penang Bar Council former chairman Petra Oon Beng Ai.
“The battle for women’s equality is still going on. We still need to fight for gender equality and not to be trodden on. We should preserve our self-esteem and support other women. Sadly, there’s been instances when we don’t support each other. We have to show our confidence in doing it,” she told theSun.
Oon, 60, who is the granddaughter of Malaysia’s first woman lawyer Lim Beng Hong, knows this only too well.
“When I was chairman from 2002 to 2004, people didn’t think I could do the job.
“For the first time, there was a four-way fight when I was seeking to become chairman. It never happened before. I had served on the committee and people had seen my track record. I got the support not just from the women, but from across the board,” she said.
Oon, a third generation to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps, said she initially wanted to be a deep sea diver. But, the call to serve others in need was stronger.
Oon was admitted as a barrister of England and Wales in 1965, then subsequently as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 1986.
When she was growing up, Oon was in awe of her grandmother’s personality.
“She was feisty and opinionated. My grandmother was known as a litigator who took up causes and represented the International Federation of Women Lawyers, an organisation that provides legal aid among others, especially for women and children.
“She was known as a serious, no-nonsense grandmother. She was a practising Christian who made us go to church. She had many “firsts” – the first woman lawyer who broke the barrier because, while the country was part of the Straits Settlements, women were not allowed to practise as lawyers. I was scared of her.
“However, towards the end, before she died, I saw more of her humour and laughter. Being in Malaysia, she had to be professional in everything she did. While she was in England where she had a home, her natural personality came through. For her, the standard had to be high because she was a woman,” Oon said from her law firm in Penang.
According to website innertemple.org.uk, her grandmother first earned a degree from University College, in London. She was the first Malaysian woman to be called to the English Bar and the Straits Settlements Bar, and the first female member of the Federal Legislative Council, the forerunner of the Malaysian Parliament.
Lim was educated at a government girls’ school in Penang, and after finishing, taught there for a few years before leaving to study law in England with her brother, Beng Tek.
Oon said her grandmother had never intended to take up law.
“But when her brother was sent off to read law, she demanded an equal opportunity to do so. Although, she and her father didn’t see eye-to-eye, he gave her his full support when she wanted to study in England.
“My grandmother had always put God first. She was a feminist and participated in debates that displayed her oral skills.”
Lim was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1953 for her work as well as for contributing to society.
