Get serious with sexist remarks, PM urged
Llew-Ann Phang and Opalyn Mok
PETALING JAYA (May 24, 2007): The prime minister should take a serious view of sexist comments from Cabinet members and parliamentarians and put an immediate stop to them, the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) said.
Women’s Centre for Change executive director Loh Cheng Kooi said as chairperson of the Gender Cabinet Committee, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should also ensure that all elected representatives attend regular gender sensitivity training.
Loh made the statement on behalf of JAG following Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu’s statement on Monday (May 21) which drew a parallel between the dilapidated state of Parliament to the looks of a 50-year-old woman.
She noted that the dust had barely settled on the “bocor” incident, and already, a minister had made yet another gender insensitive statement.
“This is not the first time the minister has made such statements,” Loh noted.
In October 2005, Samy was reported as saying in Parliament: “Toilets are like new brides after they are completed. After some time, they get a bit spoiled. Even if you do not use them frequently, you need someone to clean them every 25 minutes.”
Loh said Samy’s remarks reinforce the stereotype that a woman’s worth lies in her extrinsic attributes that depreciate in value over time, and not in her intrinsic qualities as a human being.
She said such comments, including the “bocor” remarks by two Barisan Nasional MPs earlier this month in Parliament about a DAP MP’s menstruation made a mockery of the Gender Cabinet Committee on Gender Equality, the Constitution, and the
government’s ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
In Penang, a backbencher maintained that his question on whether women should have a dress code to avoid sexual harassment was not sexist.
Shahbudin Yahaya (BN-Permatang Berangan) said in his debate on the motion of thanks to the Yang di-Pertua Negri’s speech that when he interrupted Tan Cheng Liang (BN-Jawi) on Tuesday (May 22) during the debate, he was merely asking her whether there should be a dress code for women.
“I have no intention to degrade women or make any sexist remarks at all,” he said today at the Penang State Assembly.
He blamed the media for taking his statement out of context, and said he was merely expressing his opinion that women should dress decently in public.
His comment sparked a heated debate with two state executive councillors criticising him for blaming women’s dressing for sexual harassment or violence against them.
“I do not agree with this view as evidence clearly shows that children and the elderly are among those who are raped and molested, and dressing is not related to the sexual crime at all,” state exco Datuk Dr Toh Kin Woon (BN-Machang Bubuk) said.
“The basis for sexual harassment is due to unequal power relations between the sexes,” he added.
To this, Shahbudin, who is also the state Islamic Religious Council president, said sexual predators do not just decide to rape.
“They could be encouraged by their environment every day of seeing sexily dressed women. So I feel that it is better that women dressed decently,” he said.
Tan interrupted Shahbudin saying: “In the first place, it is the men who have to control themselves.”
Jasmin Mohamed (BN-Sungai Dua) then stood up to question why it was wrong to suggest that women dress decently.
“Those who commit sexual crimes are mentally unstable and should either be treated or punished. The perpetrators are the ones who should be punished, not the victims,” Ong Thean Lye (BN-Datuk Keramat) said.
Outside the state assembly, Shahbudin told the media his remarks were not sexist.
“I am just voicing my personal opinion that women should not dress indecently as this could create lustful feelings in men,” he said.
He added that women who dressed indecently were also sexually harassing men.
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