‘Backward thinking’ MP takes a knock from NGOs
By AFP
KUALA LUMPUR: Kinabatangan MP Bung Mokhtar Radin came under fire from the civil society movements today over his remarks on women drivers made in Parliament yesterday.
Calling his latest outburst as being “sexist”, rights group Tenaganita’s programme coordinator Aegile Fernandez said the lawmaker’s latest remarks were “reflective of the kind of backward mentality of some male politicians.”
“That such a comment was made just shows the kind of backward thinking and prejudice towards women,” she told AFP.
“There are women fighter pilots who are better than men so these comments about slowness and being oblivious are silly,” she added.
All Women’s Action Society senior programme officer Abigail De Vries said it was a “disgrace that such a person is a lawmaker.”
“This is only the latest of his sexist comments,” she added.
An individual who commented on news portal Malaysiakini using the initials “HYL” criticised Bung Mokhtar for his remark.
“I really feel sorry for that starlet who married him recently. She will sooner or later realise that she had married a MCP (male chauvinist pig) who has no regard for women and belittles them,” the writer said.
Last April Bung, 51, and his second wife Zizie Ezette A. Samad, 31, both pleaded guilty to committing polygamy without authorisation.
Bung Mokhtar had married the actress without syariah court permission, but he escaped a one-month jail sentence after a religious high court took into consideration that he is a first-time offender.
