Drop Bung Moktar Radin From Next Election
By Sabah Women’s Action-Resource Group (SAWO)
Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin has scandalized the people of Sabah once again.
We expect our leaders to make us proud to be Sabahans. His repeated sexist and uncouth remarks on women has made Sabahans a laughing stock to the rest of the nation and the world.
We are ashamed and demoralized that he is representing us in the Dewan Rakyat. Because of him we are a target of ridicule amongst other Malaysians.
Bung Moktar’s antics in the Dewan Rakyat made a mockery of the government’s efforts to promote gender sensitivity and equality in our society.
The Dewan Rakyat is entrusted to pass laws to safeguard the interests and well-being of women in the country. It is appalling that Bung Moktar is allowed to repeatedly make derogatory remarks about women and not get censured or disciplined immediately. This is despite the demands by other MPs for him to retract his statements.
Bung’s conduct has tainted the image of the Dewan Rakyat.
How can we Malaysians in particular women be confident that the Dewan Rakyat would strive to enact laws for the benefit of women?
Women and other NGOS have been campaigning for enactment of a Sexual Harassment Act since the start of the VAW campaign in the 1980s.
Bung Moktar’s disrespectful remarks about women in the Dewan Rakyat is very demoralizing for all those in both government and NGO sectors who have been working to increase women’s participation in the work force and in the development of our country.
His remarks will further entrench negative stereotypes of women which is one of the major constraints working against the empowerment of women.
Perhaps Bung Moktar has forgotten that half of the communities that he represents are women. By being derogatory to women, he is showing that he does not appreciate their support nor their contribution. Further, he has also shown that he does not respect the women’s husbands, fathers, sons, and all their male relatives.
We call upon the Gender Caucus in the Dewan Rakyat to increase their efforts in gender sensitizing the MPs to ensure that the Dewan Rakyat is not gender bias and sexist.
In the interest of good governance we call upon our Prime Minister as head of Barisan National and our Chief Minister as head of Sabah Barisan National not to select sexist leaders like Bung Moktar for the next general election.
