Malaysia angers women with travel-restriction idea

[ensho]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080504/wl_nm/malaysia_women_dc;_ylt=AgP0mQrgcSOfa4OFZOGgkHus0NUE


Malaysian women's groups reacted with outrage on Sunday to a government proposal to impose restrictions on women planning to travel overseas on their own.

The mainly Muslim country is considering requiring women to obtain the written consent of their families or employers before being allowed to travel alone outside the country, state news agency Bernama said on Saturday, quoting the foreign minister.

"It is totally ridiculous and it's a totally regressive proposal with regards to women's right to movement," said Norhayati Kaprawi, spokeswoman for Sisters in Islam.

The National Council for Women's Organisations called it unfair. "This is an infringement of our rights," council deputy president Faridah Khalid told the New Sunday Times.

The foreign and home ministries came up with the idea in response to a string of cases where women traveling alone were used by international drug syndicates to smuggle drugs across borders, Bernama said, quoting Foreign Minister Rais Yatim.

Bernama portrayed the proposal as an anti-crime measure rather than a religiously inspired idea and said it aimed to ensure that a woman's family would "monitor her departure and serve as a preventive measure against being duped."

-snip-

"It will definitely not solve the problem," she added, noting that many Malaysian men were also duped into smuggling drugs.
---------------------------------


next the men will want to put chips under our skin to keep track of us

shrieking in anger

women do not belong to men

WOMEN DO NOT BELONG TO MEN in Malaysia or any other place.

[alarimer]

1. There's another country I would refuse to visit.

On Carrier they made a stop there and the women all had to wear burqas. But I would have refused to go ashore at all under those circumstances.

[Withywindle]

7. Where in Malaysia?

I know there are some regions where there's a miliant Islamist conflict going on but most of the country is not like that at all. I've been to Kuala Lumpur and Penang and Malacca and I didn't see any burqas!

It's a very diverse country - officially Muslim but it has huge Buddhist populations as well as some Christians and Taoists and Hindus, etcetera. For the most part, people get along. It's repressive in some ways but women are certainly not treated anything like in, say, Saudi Arabia. That's why this news story is shocking - it seems out of character for the country.

[parkia00]

9. Think you got your countries mixed up

Women here are NOT forced to ear burqas. Some women ( a very small amount) wear full head dress like the Saudis. In fact any women that wear full head dress like the Saudis will most likely get stares of "oh my god!". Most simply wear a "tudong" head scarf and many simply don't. It's your choice. Maybe your minder himself or herself was in error and expect all Muslim countries to be pretty much the same?

[bbgrunt]

10. sorry, you're wrong. I lived there for 2 years and

there is no required burka. In fact, many Muslim women do not even wear a headscarf. In addition, over one-half of the population is either Indian--predominantly Hindu, or Chinese--predominantly Buddist. In Neither of these groups do women wear burkas.

[shireen]

14. you must be mistaken

Malaysia has no such rules. You've got your countries confused.

[Luna_C_06]

2. Not religiously inspired my ass!

If both women and men are being duped into being drug mules, then why are only the women being punished and watched? What would the men say if they had to ask for their family's (or employer's?!) permission to travel alone?

[VotesForWomen]

3. time for women over there to start kicking ass and taking names. nt

[suffragette]

4. Shades of "Handmaid's Tale"

Interesting how repressive governments always term discriminatory and control measures as anti-crime or safety issues.

[suffragette]

5. Update with good news

Malaysia shelves plan to restrict women traveling abroad alone
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/05/news/Malaysia-Women-Drug-Mules.php

Malaysia's prime minister shot down a plan Monday that would have required women traveling abroad alone to carry a letter from their parents verifying the reason for their journeys.

Foreign Minister Rais Yatim proposed the move over the weekend as a way of deterring the use of Malaysian women as couriers for illicit drugs, but the plan immediately drew criticism by women's rights groups.

~snip~

Separately, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who is responsible for immigration rules, told reporters that the idea "will not be practical."

"How can we ask an adult person to report to the mother or to her parents? They have to lead their own lives," Syed Hamid said. "We do not discriminate against women."

Kudos to the women's rights group who responded to this swiftly and clearly helped kill it before it was put in place.

And a huge Boo, Hiss to the Foreign Minister who proposed this.

[uppityperson]

6. Thank you for the update

[ensho]

11. yes, thanks for the update and 'right on' women of Malaysia

nt

[shireen]

8. hilarious!

I was born and raised in Malaysia, and I can tell you that most people who live there are getting a big laugh out of it. There is no way in hell Malaysian women, for that matter, Malaysian men, would tolerate that bullshit.

The Malaysian government has its fair share of idiots, like any other country around the world.


:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[ismnotwasm]

13. I'm glad to hear that

I read about this on another blog that indicated the government backed right the fuck down. It's always nice, and often more accurate, to hear from a "local" perspective.

Right on Malaysian women!
"Women's groups in Malaysia have reacted with outrage over a senior official's proposal to require women traveling overseas alone to carry written consent for their journeys from their families or employers.

The proposal, put forward by Malaysia's foreign minister, Rais Yatim, was condemned by one group as "condescending" and a step backwards."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9B311FA1-B8E1-4088-B0E8-C01A480D4B75.htm

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. Ridiculous