“In order to escape accountability for his crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote forgetting. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim. If he cannot silence her absolutely, he tries to make sure no one listens.”

- Judith Lewis Herman, “Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror”

COMMENT | The public comments by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Idris Ahmad go far beyond victim shaming but are indicative of the kind of morality that PAS wishes to impose on Malaysia.

This is not a question of ignorance or an ill-advised, politically incorrect comment by an official of the government - but rather a device from the religiofascist toolbox to cow a populace into compliance.

The fact that government officials, political operatives and...