YOURSAY | ‘What is the cause of such perversion among these belligerent men?’
Standing up to the perverted women-haters
P Dev Anand Pillai:
Dear writer Rom Nain, all of us can fight for these poor Malay-Muslim girls but it is the Malay women in general who must come out in full force.
Is that happening? A lot will shout, scream, rant and criticise but are they willing to hit where it hurts most, i.e. when they vote?
Ninety percent of them will let non-Muslims and the braver Malays to do the fighting for them but at the end of the day, the status quo remains and the attitudes of these misogynists don't change because there is no revolt from Malay women.
If Malay women are bold and want to put their men in their places, Umno and PAS would have long lost power.
Dizzer: P Dev Anand Pillai, I agree. A lot depends on Malay women (I'm married to one) and they have a lot more power than they appear to realise.
Look at Umno - just three women in a 39-member cabinet (and two of them are appointees) when everyone knows that academically and intellectually they are way ahead of their menfolk.
Rom, many of us feel your anger. But it's interesting that you avoided addressing the issue directly (as we all do for obvious reasons).
What we have is a Malay male problem. We need to understand why this is the case - it’s a fertile ground for psychologists or sociologists, rather than politicians and prelates.
Every index supports this perception - education, crime, employment, drug abuse, etc - and it's no use fulminating against it, we need structural changes that will enable Malay boys to achieve their potential without automatically falling back on fatalism, entitlement or joining the gravy train.
There is a self-fulfilling downward spiral of inadequacy that is further reinforced when the men look at Malay women who outperform their brothers in the classroom and workplace. This is work the universities should be doing.
Xed: The Malaysian cabinet is much larger than the American one. We have an education minister and a higher education minister. And a director-general in each ministry. We have quantity but no quality.
It is time that women take over the government. Malay men should make way. Many of them have made fools of themselves.
Let me be politically incorrect. Ask the police which race is the most over-represented when it comes to sexual offences, even if khalwat, zina and other Islamic sexual offences are not counted.
Ask doctors which race is the most over-represented when it comes to medico-sexual problems. Is incest more prevalent in one race than another? What enculturation process lies behind the harassment of these young ladies?
Is it possible to discuss uncomfortable facts in this intolerant society? A society where you run the risk of being threatened, killed or maimed by those who disagree with you or are annoyed with you.
Or run the risk of being imprisoned by the state, often without trial, because civilised debate is not allowed and ‘confusing the people’, whatever that means.
For a start, these barbarians must be taught to respect women. An impossible task? When challenged, these crude creatures will likely claim that they are protecting the dignity of women.
Dizzer: Yes, Xed. I used to deal a lot with the ministries and universities, and the only chance of getting anything done was to make sure you got the mid-ranking (and hopefully higher-ranking) women onside.
It strikes me that the so-called 'race gap' in performance and ability is much smaller among the XX chromosome brigade.
Tan Kim Keong: These are the questions we must ask. What is the cause of such perversion among these belligerent men? What led them to have this misogynistic attitude, i.e. sexual objectification of women?
Proarte: The reason why these Malay men behave in a misogynist and sex-orientated manner is due to the way Islam is taught and practised in Malaysia.
Malay women are taught to feel morally superior to their non-tudung clad counterparts, never mind the fact that rape, premarital sex, adultery and corruption do not appear to be any less prevalent in those not wearing tudungs.
It is this false sense of superiority which explains the insults and vilifications for those not wearing the headscarf.
For Muslim men, it gives them the excuse to comment on the bodies of women who are seen not to be covering up appropriately. There is clearly a perverted sexual element to their judgmental behaviour.
But paradoxically, their behaviour is seen as righteous by many Malay Muslims. This is the problem of Islam in Malaysia - the lines between moral and immoral behaviour are often blurred.
This moral confusion leads to widespread hypocrisy and double standards evident in the Malay community.
The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .
These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.