Yellow card for fly alone women

Yellow card for fly alone women!

Kota Kinabalu, 4 May 2008, 22:36 (+8 GMT) 

Regressive. Unfair. Bias.

These are the words published on page 4 of the New Straits Times of 4th May 2008.  The paper was reporting on a Malaysian Foreign Ministry newly proposed move to require women travelling out of the country alone to have a letter from parents or employers.  Why?  This is supposedly to be able to stop Malaysian women from being duped into carrying drugs for international syndicates.  Statistics showed that to date 119 Malaysian women are in various stages of prosecution or serving time, or awaiting time for capital punishment for drug trafficking abroad.  

Outrageous! for four reasons:

1.  that convicted drug traffickers should be given capital punishment.  Studies show that capital punishment for traffickers do not stop trafficking or deter cartels from duping people to become traffickers.  

2.   that Malaysia should react to its citizens receiving capital punishment for drug trafficking overseas when the country has the same mandatory punishment for convicted traffickers.

3.  that free-born Malaysian women cannot travel on equal terms with free-born Malaysian men.   

4.  that women who wish to carry drugs can dupe their parents or employers to provide such letters. 

Can the government assure us that this is the opinion of the Foreign Minister together with the Home Minister and not the opinion of the Cabinet?  

 Even if there are the same number of men, or less men who were duped as drug carriers, the logic of this proposal is sitll outrageous.  Free citizens, be they men or women, who have not been convicted of any crimes, or not awaiting trial should not have additional conditions imposed on them just because they are more likely to be duped if they were to travel alone.  

The proposal might render single females above 18 years who have lost both parents, and who are unemployed or self-employed, inelligble to travel alone!   

Please can good sense, equality and fairness prevail?  Otherwise, the following might sound sane and possibly be carried out!

1.  that women must not drive because they might be duped to carry an illegal object in their cars!

2.  that women must not possess their own passport so that they could not travel alone.  Their particulars must be in the passport of fathers, husbands.  Without either, then with employers.  Without that, with a guardian appointed by the Home Ministry!

3.  that women must not step out of their houses alone.  They must be accompanied by either father / husband / employer / or call the police station for an escort because they are more likely to be raped than men are likely to be sodomised!

 The scarry thing is, there are a sizeable number minority of Malaysians who find that the above ludicrous suggestions to be very good indeed, and no sarcasm is meant in this sentence!  Why, because the most educated of people can be ignorant of civil society.  This is especially so when civil society activities are not actively lived up to, or not enthusiastically encouraged by agents of the state.  The state might want to view itself as the good-intending Big Brother, and that should send chills down spines.  If it does not, I fear for the end. 

 Postscript

Thank goodness, the proposal has since been shot down.