{"id":12010,"date":"2015-02-09T14:46:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T06:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/?p=12010"},"modified":"2015-02-09T14:48:33","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T06:48:33","slug":"tutup-aurat-message-to-muslims-smacks-of-victim-blaming-says-dap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/tutup-aurat-message-to-muslims-smacks-of-victim-blaming-says-dap\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTutup aurat\u201d message to Muslims smacks of victim blaming, says DAP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_0465\"<\/a>Weeks after Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) was criticised in\u00a0a tweet by Lawyers of Liberty President, Eric Paulsen for allegedly \u201cpromoting extremism\u201d, now the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais)\u00a0is under fire for asking women to cover themselves to prevent rape.<\/p>\n

\u201cJais in its\u00a0Friday sermon message on \u201cTutup Aurat\u201d gives misleading information on rape, smacks of victim-blaming, and shows male bias in religious leadership,\u201d said DAP Wanita chairperson\u00a0Chong Eng in a statement today.<\/p>\n

She was referring to\u00a0a sermon last Friday which\u00a0Jais\u00a0delivered, titled \u201cAurat: Antara Kebebasan dan Maruah Diri\u201d (“Modesty: Between Freedom and Dignity), where it advised Muslim women to cover up their \u201cmodesty\u201d to prevent being harassed physically or mentally, to prevent false accusations (fitnah), \u201cevil gazes\u201d and \u201cbad incidents\u201d. Negative incidents such as rape, illicit sex, and incest can be avoided this way, it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, Jais\u2019s sermon is misinformed, irresponsible, disrespectful and smacks of male bias. This \u201ctutup aurat\u201d message does nothing to help female victims of sexual assault and abuse \u2013 but instead shifts the blame and responsibility for preventing sexual crimes onto victims, instead of the perpetrators!\u201d\u00a0the Padang Lalang assemblywoman said.<\/p>\n

Quoting studies done by Groth, Holmstrom & Burgess in 1977 to Barbaree & Marshall in 1991 related to the issue, Chong said that it was power and anger singled out as the most common motivations for rape. Other studies, from Clarke & Lewis in 1977 to Darke in 1990 link the behaviour of rapists with the intention to humiliate victims physically, mentally and verbally.<\/p>\n

Contrary to the perception of rape as the resulted of \u201cbeing tempted by a woman\u201d, Chong said that it was more a case of \u201ca bully who picks on a weak or vulnerable victim\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis explains the horrifying statistic in 2010 that 50% of rape victims in Malaysia are under 16 years old!\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

She said that in 2000, Noor Suzaily Mukhtar, who was raped and killed on a bus was wearing a long skirt and a tudung at the time of assault.<\/p>\n

\u201cNoor Suzaily Mukhtar is just one of many victims\u2013 including infants and children \u2013 who were \u2018dressed decently\u2019 at the time of the assault,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Chong Eng urged Jais\u00a0and all religious authorities to sternly warn everyone not to commit acts of sexual violence instead of perpetuating the notion that \u201cshe deserved it\u201d. In Friday sermons which are delivered to an all male crowd, she asked that boys and men be taught to respect the rights of others and not to force themselves on any females.<\/p>\n

\"jais<\/a>

Excepts from last week’s Friday sermon by Jais (from http:\/\/e-masjid.jais.gov.my\/)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"jais<\/a>

Excepts from last week’s Friday sermon by Jais (from http:\/\/e-masjid.jais.gov.my\/)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"jais<\/a>

Excepts from last week’s Friday sermon by Jais (from http:\/\/e-masjid.jais.gov.my\/)<\/p><\/div>\n

She also said that Jais\u2019s comparison of \u201cwomen who do not cover up\u201d to \u201chomes which are left unlocked\u201d was in poor taste.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough its\u00a0excuse is that this is a \u2018simple analogy\u2019, the fact is that a woman is not a house, an object, or a piece of meat to be used by anyone. A woman is a human being \u2013 and entitled to basic human rights, not to be harmed under any circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe department’s \u2018simple analogy\u2019 reduces a woman\u2019s worth to that of an object, and treats her as a passive piece of property that can be robbed, taken away and occupied by force. This \u2018simple analogy\u2019is a feudal mentality that has no place in Malaysia today \u2013 and it must change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Chong went further, suggesting that there should be concrete efforts to increase women\u2019s representation in all sectors especially in religious leadership to counter the lack of understanding of gender sensitivities and women\u2019s issues. \u2013The Rocket<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weeks after Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) was criticised in\u00a0a tweet by Lawyers of Liberty President, Eric Paulsen for allegedly \u201cpromoting extremism\u201d, now the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais)\u00a0is under fire for asking women to cover themselves to prevent rape. \u201cJais in its\u00a0Friday sermon message on \u201cTutup Aurat\u201d gives misleading information on rape, smacks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[274],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12010"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12035,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12010\/revisions\/12035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}