The recent proposal by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that all women travelling abroad alone be required to have a letter from parents or employers is ridiculous beyond belief and should be condemned by both the women and men of this country. It is a shameful and disgraceful proposal, which apparently has the support of the Home Ministry.
The proposal is fundamentally insulting to women as it casts doubts as to whether a woman is capable of travelling alone, being responsible for herself, to make sound decisions, or even be trusted. This proposal implies that she is not able to do any of the above and should be tracked for her own good. To quote the Foreign Minister "we will know for sure where and for what she is travelling overseas."
The pretext of protecting women is once again used to justify a paternalistic and discriminatory mindset. Besides being totally impractical and lacking common sense (thousands of women, authenticity issues of letters and signatures, the list goes on), it is essentially punishing women for being women, and is a violation of both human rights and their rights as citizens of Malaysia.
If the Foreign Minister had bothered consulting anyone working on human rights or even in his own ministry for that matter, concerning this proposal, he would learn that under the Convention on the Elimination of All-Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) of which Malaysia is a proud signatory, women have the right to travel and move freely. The fact that he stated that the proposal has already been submitted to the Cabinet implies that he felt that extensive consultation was unnecessary.
I am not surprised that the Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim, has put forth this paternalistic proposal as he is an anachronism from the past.
Irregardless of his past track record at the ministry, should he decide to pursue this initiative further, I argue that it would obviously indicate that he has lost touch with the global issues of this day and age. The continued existence of this proposal will imply that the rest of his views are similarly tainted by obsolescence and irrelevance. In that case, he should not continue to be Malaysia's top diplomat. Malaysia will be viewed as hypocritical where we promote moderation through Islam Hadhari to the world on one hand, and yet proceed to implement Taliban-like initiatives domestically in the name of protecting women.
Let's not even bother dealing with the utter impracticality and absurdity of this proposal, and the subtle implication that only men can be trusted. It should be condemned for what it is: a fundamental violation of a women's human right and an insult to our intelligence.
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