Malaysia 'apartheid' row deepens

Malaysia 'apartheid' row deepens

By Jonathan Kent
BBC News, Kuala Lumpur, Mar 06

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.

Marina Mahathir is a prominent campaigner for women's rights.

Strong criticism

At the centre of this row is a newly introduced Islamic family law act.

It was intended to help standardise the rules affecting Muslims across all of Malaysia's 13 states.

Opponents say it did so by dropping standards to the lowest common denominator, allowing men to divorce or take up to four wives more easily while giving husbands greater control over their wives' property.

Conservative groups disagree.

"Her prejudiced views and assumptions smack of ignorance of the objectives and methodology of the Sharia, and a slavish capitulation to western feminism's notions of women's rights, gender equality and sexuality," the Muslim Professionals Forum (MPF) said in a statement to the BBC ...

'Women regressing'

But it is Marina Mahathir's choice of language that has caused most anger.

"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." ...