Rape: We must not fail them

Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle

Is this the end of the line? For a brief two weeks, the story of an alleged rapist in Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s cabinet refused to die down. Now, we have all but forgotten about it.

The man at the centre of the allegations, carried on as usual. Najib managed a short break in Dubai. Members of his cabinet did not see fit to defend the reputation of the house and of their Cabinet. They couldn’t even be bothered to defend their colleague who had been accused of this heinous crime. Either way, they knew that the story would die down and everyone could once again breathe a sigh of relief. They would probably discuss, privately, that this particular episode was a close call, unlike in 2007, when it went past, unnoticed.

The rape allegation’ first broke in 2007 but somehow, the public was not aware of it.

A blogger resurrected this story in 23 December 2010. Over the ensuing days, it built up to a crescendo and the alleged rapist could not hide any longer and was forced to break his silence.

The Prime minister then issued his statement and refuted all allegations against his minister.

The following day, the former PM issued his.

A maid, who claimed to be a friend of the rape victim, suddenly materialised from nowhere denying all knowledge of the rape, because she claimed that ‘they (the two women) shared a bed room and the victim would have told her if their boss had raped her’. Moreover, to her innocent mind, the victim had not missed sleeping in her bed. Her nightly presence in her own bed, meant that no rape took place.

Prime ministers, past and present issued denials. The alleged rapist also issued his denial. Someone said that an investigation would soon be under way.

Those assurances managed to fob us off. At least, temporarily.

So if there is going to be an investigation, who is it by? When does it start? Will the victim get witness protection? When will they expect the report to be ready?

Or are we going to see a repeat of the Penan rapes investigation, again? It is possible that this rape investigation will go the way of the other high-profile rapes – in the gutter.

It appears that any rape or sexual assault with a hint of Umno or BN politician does not go beyond the police report stage.

What has happened to the women of Malaysia? Why are they silent? Or do they think that maids are lesser human beings, fit for emptying the bins, scrubbing the loos, cooking their meals, changing their babies’ nappies? Is this how Malaysian women measure the worth and dignity of another woman?

What about the men? Are they not interested in doing the right thing – to uphold the law and make sure that a crime does not go unpunished? Do they feel that maids, especially Indonesian maids are only good for ordering about?

What about the Indonesian community living in Malaysia? Is a women’s worth not as much as a game of football?

We should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing the authorities to abandon their responsibilities. Remember how we allowed them to ignore the plight of the Penan girls?

The Family, Women and Community Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalal started the Penan rape investigations with gusto. Then, as if by royal command from her boss, Najib, all went silent. The police made their excuses. The Sarawak ministers called the Penans good storytellers. The culprits are happy, probably free to rape again.

The Penan women and the children they bore from the rapes probably hate us for not helping them enough.

It is important we do not let any subsequent rape allegation be swept aside.

There should be no dilemma between securing a conviction and ‘recovery’ for the girls. They have to if they want to get their lives back together again. After all, it is they, who suffered grievous harm.

The Penan women and the Indonesian maid bear the physical and mental scars of being raped. Despite our resources, wealth, connections, ability, intellect and drive, we have not been able to offer them the justice they deserve. We haven’t just stripped them of their rights, we managed to rob them of their dignity too.