OWC sex book falls foul of Home Ministry

UPDATED @ 11:06:07 PM 02-11-2011

November 02, 2011

Dr Rohaya Mohamad (right), the vice president of the OWC speaks to reporters during an interview. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 — An explicit sex guide published by the Obedient Wives Club has been banned by the Home Ministry with immediate effect.

Those found in possession of the material will be liable for a fine of up RM5,000, the ministry added, while reproduction or distribution will attract a maximum of a RM20,000 fine and a three-year jail sentence.

According to the ministry’s Al-Quran Text and Publishing Control Division, the book was banned because of its links to the outlawed Al-Arqam movement and for violating the Department of Islamic Development’s (Jakim) censorship rules.

Titled “Seks Islam, perangi Yahudi untk kembalikan seks Islam kepada dunia (Islamic sex, fighting Jews to return Islamic sex to the world)”, the book aims to guide Muslim brides on how to pleasure their husbands in bed.

In its foreword, the pro-polygamy OWC said its studies showed women only gave their husbands 10 per cent of what the men desired of their wives’ bodies.

The back cover of the now-banned OWC sex book.

The risqué subject of the book and its use of explicit graphics have drawn both ridicule and condemnation from various quarters, especially from women’s organisations.

The book is the second time the OWC has hit the headlines. Previously, the club’s vice-president, Dr Rohaya Mohamad, provoked an outcry from women’s rights groups and Islamic religious authorities for advising women to behave like “a first-class whore” while in the company of their husbands if they wanted their marriages to succeed.

A Muslim group that espouses good sex as a foundation for healthy marriages and a strong society, the OWC is gaining converts in the world’s most populous Muslim country after setting up in Jordan, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

Founded by Global Ikhwan, a Malaysian company involved in businesses ranging from laundromats to pharmacies, the OWC was initially intended to help the company’s female staff to be good wives as well as productive employees.

Global Ikhwan’s officials have been linked to the now-defunct Al-Arqam religious sect that was banned by the government in 1994. Before the club, Global Ikhwan had earlier established the Polygamy Club, which encourages polygamy among Muslims.