'Protecting' Women by Caging Them

Sunday May 4, 2008

Ministry wants Local Women Going Abroad Alone to Get Family Consent

KUALA KLAWANG: Local women intending to travel abroad alone may need family consent in a bid to prevent them from being used as “drug mules” by international syndicates.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said a proposal to this effect would be made soon to the Cabinet, following several incidents where women were used to smuggle drugs overseas.

Out of 119 cases of Malaysian women hauled up before foreign courts, 90% were linked to drugs, he said. (But what proportion of the total number of women travelling abroad alone were these 119?)

“Last night, my ministry, together with the Home Ministry, have jointly forwarded a report to the Cabinet on the matter.

“Both ministries agreed that factors like family, religion, immigration laws and preventive measures need to be considered before a Malaysian woman goes abroad alone,” Rais told reporters after officiating at the Malaysian Silambam Association's Jelebu branch here yesterday. (Religion???)

On the proposed requirement for family consent, he said it would enable the woman's family to monitor her departure and serve as a preventive measure against her being duped by international drug syndicates. – Bernama

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I have to say that I always thought Dr Rais was much smarter than this. Isn't it just typical of the patriarchal paternalistic approach that our male politicians adopt that they didn't seek to consult the Ministry of Women or any woman about this before they submitted this ridiculous proposal to Cabinet?

I travel alone a lot. Not once have I ever gotten into trouble with the law abroad, let alone be accused of smuggling drugs, although once, Australian immigration, without asking why I travelled so much, assumed all the many immigration chops I had in my passport MUST mean I was a drug smuggler.

Many women, like me, have to travel abroad alone for work and sometimes for holidays. Why should it be assumed that we are prime targets for drug smugglers and other criminals? Surely what women need is the education about making travel abroad safe. And that's already available. Those of us who are savvy enough know better than to agree to carry things for strangers in our luggage. Or even for friends without asking what is in the parcel. Sometimes friends may not be aware that you can't take food into certain countries. So any smart traveller will know.

Sometimes my family travels ahead of me or later than me so I have to travel alone to join them somewhere. In some families, spouses prefer not to travel on the same flights. There are always occasions when women have to travel alone.

The point is to educate our people to be smarter. But no, we want, as always to take the easy way out. Are women the only people who have been duped? Have we looked at the profile of the women who have been caught in these unfortunate situations? Are they women who have not travelled abroad much, are not savvy about situations overseas, sometimes without the requisite language skills?

When we travel, our families will usually know about it. We sms before we take off and we sms as soon as we land. We leave our hotel numbers with our spouses. That's normal behaviour.

But to have to ask for consent? What if some women have the sort of spouse who thinks that this is a good excuse to keep her at home, even though she has to travel for work? All he has to do is refuse to give consent and that would be it. And certainly he will bring religion into it.

What if I were travelling to a religious conference only for women as I have done before? Am I suppose to tell my hosts that I can't go because my government thinks I might be duped into smuggling drugs just because I am female?

The assumption is that women are like children who need to be protected for their own good. They cannot be relied on to take responsibility for themselves. Thousands of Malaysian women travel abroad on their own every year and return safely. Should we not emphasise that, rather than the relative few who get into trouble? Of course we must help these women but we can prevent more of these incidents happening by simply educating women.

And I must say, the best protection for women all round is to raise their awareness that they have rights, that they don't have to depend on men, that they don't have to be duped by people bearing promises of easy money.

How different is this proposal from the Taliban barring women from going out alone 'for their own protection'? It means that we simply accept that there are crooks out there and they are allowed to run wild. Surely the problem is that there are drug smugglers out there looking for ways to transport drugs and young innocent women are just one of the ways they found? If young male students were the next convenient conduit for them, will we now ban young boys from travelling abroad?