Ambiga Sreenevasan

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Ambiga Sreenevasan speaks at the International Women of Courage Awards ceremony in 2009.

Ambiga Sreenevasan (born 1956) is a lawyer and human rights advocate from Malaysia. In 2009, she received the International Women of Courage Award. [1]

Life[change | change source]

Sreenevasan went to high school at Convent Bukit Nanasin Kuala Lumpur. in 1979, she got a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Exeter in England. She became a lawyer in 1980. She worked in two London law firms, then she became a member of the Malaysian Bar in 1982.[2] In July 2011, she received an Honorary Doctorate in Law (LLD) from the University of Exeter in England.[3]

Work[change | change source]

Sreenevasan was the president of the Malaysian Bar Council from 2007 to 2009. She was also the head of Bersih, an NGO for free and fair elections. [4]

Because Sreenevasan wanted to help with problems between ethnic groups, she received hate mail and death threats. Hundreds of people from religious groups and conservative members of government protested against Sreenevasan at the Bar Council building and called for her arrest.[5]

In 2008, as President of the Malaysian Bar she helped start LAWASIA, the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute and Transparency International-Malaysia, to study abuses of power.[6]

Bersih demonstration[change | change source]

Sreenevasan was head of Bersih 2.0, the organisation behind the July 2011 demonstration in Kuala Lumpur. There were 20,000 people at the demonstration.[7] Sreenevasan said the main problems for Malaysia were "unhappiness... in the Sarawak [election], unhappiness about corruption, [and] unhappiness about the lack of independence of our institutions."[8]

Sreenevasan said the problems from the first demonstration in 2007 were not fixed, so there was another demonstration.[9]

References[change | change source]

  1. "2009 International Women of Courage Award Winner Biographies".
  2. "Ambiga Sreenevasan". Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  3. "Ambiga to be conferred doctor of law by UK varsity". themalaysianinsider.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
  4. "Ambiga Sreenevasan – Honorary Graduates – University of Exeter". Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  5. "Ambiga Sreenevasan: "Gender Equality Is a Responsibility for All Malaysians"". DipNote.
  6. "Ambiga Sreenevasan As President of Malaysian Bar. July 22, 2011". Archived from the original on May 29, 2011. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  7. Pooch, Liz (8 August 2011). "A Reluctant Symbol for Electoral Reform in Malaysia". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  8. Boo, Su-Lyn (12 June 2011). "Bersih rally goes on, says Ambiga, PAS". The Malaysian Insider. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
  9. Boo, Su-Lyn (12 June 2011). "Ambiga asks politicians to join Bersih rally". The Malaysian Insider. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 13 June 2011.

Other websites[change | change source]