Datin Yvonne Raj, founder of ‘What We Women Want’, also a lawyer by profession and senior partner in (JGA) ‘Jerald Gomez Associates’ has been called to speak in many places, such as Grace Community Centre where she spoke at the ‘Arise Daughters of Sarah conference’, at Calvary Church, as well as overseas in Navapur, India to teach women and children in the interior of India spiritual principles to success and a peaceful home environment.
On the 27 September 2014, Datin Yvonne Raj was invited to Calvary Convention Centre to share her wealth of knowledge on “Creating Awareness on Domestic Violence”. The seminar was attended by about 150 people, both men and women and they learnt about various aspects of Domestic Violence – What is Domestic Violence, How to Identify the Signs and Cycle, Busting some Myths on Domestic Violence, How to Get Help, and How to Help.
There was a lively question and answer session and very positive feedback from the participants.
Datin Yvonne Raj has been in legal practice in Malaysia since 1991. Admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court in Western Australia in 2005, and now divides her time between her practices in Malaysia and in Australia. She served as a member of the Bar Council’s Family Law Committee and Committee on Law & Policy (National Steering Committee on Violence against Women) in the Ministry of Women and Family Development. She also worked with various women’s groups including WAO (Women’s Aid Organization) and AWAM (All Women’s Action Society of Malaysia). Datin Yvonne Raj, is an Elder at Bethel Fellowship, Malaysia and a founder of BCC (Bethel Community Centre), a charitable organization whose aim is to eradicate poverty.
Her talks attract many people, and on the 27 September 2014, it was a full house. Many participants were enriched by the seminar and learned many new things that they were not aware of, such as how to look out for the warning signs and how to provide help if anyone they know is suffering from domestic violence, but the most rewarding outcome was when 2 men came up to the organisers during the seminar and said that they needed help addressing this issue in their own lives. This was proof enough that the talk had not only enriched the congregation intellectually, but also touched them on an emotional level. The result of the talk was very much pleasing to the organisers as well as Datin Yvonne Raj herself.
Another well-known speaker, Sharmila Sekaran, co-founder and current chair of ‘Voice of the Children’, a non-governmental organisation that focuses on defending the rights of children, also a lawyer and senior partner in (JGA) ‘Jerald Gomez Associates ’, is a sought after speaker who shares on the rights of children around the world. She was admitted as an Utter Barrister to the Bar of England and Wales, and is a member of the Honorable Society of Middle Temple Inn, London. She was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya.
Sharmila Sekaran was recently on ‘BFM (The Business Station)’, discussing the issue of Child Marriage in Malaysia on the recent case of a 40-year old man marrying a 13-year old girl he allegedly raped, which has left many questioning whether the rights of the child involved has been neglected.
Sharmila has been invited to speak on various topics on Intellectual Property Enforcement and Protection in Malaysia, Singapore, Bangkok and the United Kingdom as well, as on the topics of Data Protection, the Right to Privacy, and Justice.
On the 8 August 2015 Bethel hosted two seminars by Datin Yvonne Raj, on Domestic Violence and Ms. Sharmila Sekaran, on Understanding Children’s Rights. Datin Yvonne’s talk was inspired by the success rate of similar talks at Grace Convention Centre and Calvary Church, which she had been invited to speak on the particular topic. In the talk Datin Yvonne mentioned that initially there is a three phase cycle with is made up of honeymoon period, tension and finally violence, which then repeats itself, but with each repeat of the cycle the honeymoon phase shortens until the cycle is only left with two phases, tension and violence and finally only violence. Datin Yvonne also busted some common myths.
Ms. Sharmila Sekaran, spoke on the rights of children under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and how we can understand these rights and stop them from being violated, and we can stop that from happening, highlighting how the brain grows and highlighting the negative effects of technology.
Participants gained a lot of insight from both seminars and were very interested to attend future talks. The next confirmed talk is on 23 January on Financial Planning with well known Financial Planner Mr Rajen Devadason.