11 March 2006 Blog Home : March 2006 : Permalink
The daughter of Malaysia's former prime minister has launched a scathing attack on the roles and status of Muslim women in the country.
Marina Mahathir, a prominent campaigner for women's rights, compared the lot of women to that of black South Africans under apartheid.
She described Muslim women as second-class citizens who were held back by discrimination.
The comments were written for her regular newspaper column.
The column, which was due to be published in Tuesday's Star newspaper, did not appear.
'Bound and gagged'
Few comparisons could be more hurtful.
Malaysia led by Mahathir Mohamad was in the forefront of the international campaign to end white minority rule in South Africa.
But his daughter Marina has described Muslim women in Malaysia as subject to a form of apartheid - second-class citizens held back by discriminatory rules that do not apply to non-Muslim women.
Her outburst appears to have been prompted by recent changes to Malaysia's Islamic family law that makes it easier for Muslim men to take multiple wives, to divorce them and to take a share of their property.
And there is an update today:There has been an angry reaction in Malaysia to remarks by the daughter of the former PM comparing Muslim women to black South Africans under apartheid.
Conservative Muslim women's groups say Marina Mahathir brought shame on the country by saying new Islamic laws have made local women second class citizens.
Her remarks were published with cuts in her regular newspaper column on Friday after being held back for several days.
And what were these remarks?"In our country, there is an insidious growing form of apartheid among Malaysian women, that between Muslim and non-Muslim women," she said.
She has argued vociferously that the changes to the law represent a step backwards for women's rights in Malaysia.
"As non-Muslim women catch up with women in the rest of the world, Muslim women here are only going backwards," Ms Mahathir said.
"We should also note that only in Malaysia are Muslim women regressing; in every other Muslim country in the world, women have been gaining rights, not losing them."
The fact that the best the other side can do is claim that Muslim women in Malaysia are better off than those from other Muslim countries is not exactly a sign that they have right on their side....