Act against Thaipusam spray-painting vigilantes, says Wanita MCA

It warns that such moral policing of dressing could lead to battery and assault against women of all religions.

PETALING JAYA: Wanita MCA has urged the authorities to crack down on the Thaipusam Spraying Group, which has threatened to spray “inappropriately dressed” women with aerosol paint during the Hindu festival.

Wanita MCA chairman Heng Seai Kie said it was not enough for the police to appeal to the public to “pray instead of spray” as the threat reeked of misogyny and vigilantism, which could spiral into violence against women

A Facebook group, called the Thaipusam Spraying Group, threatened to spray-paint women who dressed inappropriately during Thaipusam.

The leader of the group, “Henry Barnabas”, targeted those wearing the sari with blouses exposing their backs.

Heng said: “MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission) must not only shut down the Facebook page.

“MCMC must work with the police to investigate and charge ‘Henry Barnabas’ with threatening public security and sedition.

“If the Thaipusam Spraying Group finds the sari offensive to the eye, will they next jump into swimming pools, rampage on a beach or jump onto the stage of body-building competitions to spray-paint bodies they deem immodestly clad?”

Heng said such moral policing could lead to battery and assault of not only Hindu women donning the traditional sari, but all females deemed indecently clad by vigilantes.

She said the Thaipusam Spraying Group could also be a front for aurat cover-up lobbyists.

She said the group’s threat was identical to that of Tadkiiratul Ummah, a self-appointed moral guardian group in Indonesia’s Aceh province, which, under a “moralisation” campaign, sprayed with paint the pants of women considered “too tight”.

Heng said 4,000 cases of domestic violence were recorded by Hospital Kuala Lumpur from January to October last year, and urged modern-minded Malaysians to show zero tolerance for any form of violence, whether against women or men. -FMT