Misplaced priorities

For reasons I can no longer remember, I used to think that Datuk Seri Rais Yatim was one of the more intellectual members of the Malaysian cabinet i.e. one of the few who did not go on record with remarks that made you want to crawl into a corner and hit your head against the wall repeatedly whilst muttering nonsensically. I was even quite happy to hear that he was appointed Foreign Minister in the recent cabinet revamp, thinking that he would be a good ambassador for our country.

I should have guessed that something was bound to go awry.

Ministry wants Local Women Going Abroad Alone to Get Family Consent

KUALA KLAWANG : Local women intending to travel abroad alone may need family consent in a bid to prevent them from being used as ‘drug mules’ by international syndicates. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim said a proposal to this effect would be made soon to the Cabinet, following several incidents where women were used to smuggle drugs overseas.

Out of the 119 cases of Malaysian women hauled up before foreign courts, 90% were linked to drugs, he said. ‘Last night, my ministry, together with the Home Ministry, have jointly forwarded a report to the Cabinet on the matter. Both ministries agreed that factors like family, religion, immigration laws and preventative measures need to be considered before a Malaysian woman goes abroad alone’, Rais told reporters.

On the proposed requirement for family consent, he said it would enable the woman’s family to monitor her departure and serve as a preventive measure against her being duped by international drug syndicates – Bernama.

Hmm... where do I begin?

Perhaps with the fact that this decision was made without consultation with the ministry that deals with affairs related to women. I mean, if you’re going to devote an entire ministry (with a minister AND a special advisor), surely you would want their opinion on the matters that are under their jurisdiction, no?

One would also like to know what proportion those 119 represent. If 119 is equal to 0.05% of the women who go travelling alone, then the idea would seem rather silly as compared to a situation where it represents 95% of the group. And surely there’s similar data with regards to men travelling by themselves? Surely there are men involved in drug trafficking and therefore by this logic, all men should get letters of permission for foreign travel by their parents or guardians or whoever.

And what about cases of emergency travel? Or if the lady is estranged from her family? Or if she’s a widow? Are women to be beholden to the whims and fancies of the men in their lives?
This misogynistic behaviour is bound to receive its fair share of criticisms. Are we starting a slippery slope towards a society like that established by the Taliban, where women were not allowed outdoors ‘for their own good’? Or like that in Saudi, where medical treatment can only be given with the consent of a male guardian or where a girl who was gang-raped was punished to the full extent of the law because she sat in a car with someone from the opposite sex?

Surely more efforts should be placed on making society a safer place for the fairer of the species instead of coming up with more draconian measures on eradicating their civil liberties. Then again, this idea comes from a guy whose PhD was a critic on the negative role of the ISA, but has since changed his tune once in a position of power. So I guess civil liberties aren’t exactly on the top of his list of priorities.