PETALING JAYA: Former Islamic affairs minister Mujahid Yusof Rawa says Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff is “clueless” about her role as a deputy minister in charge of women’s development.
Mujahid said instead of posting marriage advice videos, Siti Zailah as a deputy minister, should be focussed on policy and issues like domestic violence, child marriage and social illnesses.
“It is not appropriate for a (deputy) minister or a lady to give advice in public about how husbands should reprimand their wives. That clearly shows she herself does not know what her function is and is trying to be something else,” he told FMT.
Yesterday, Siti Zailah had posted several video clips advising husbands to use a “gentle but firm physical touch” to reprimand their wives while urging women to take a softer approach with their husbands. Among the other tips she suggested were counselling, sleeping separately for three days and praying.
Women’s rights NGO, Sisters in Islam (SIS) also called out Siti Zailah for being ignorant on the lived realities of women.
“The rhetoric about husbands being allowed to discipline their wives is delivered without deep reflection and connection with the reality that women face,” the group said. “How can she be oblivious to the high reporting of domestic violence during the period of this pandemic?”
SIS said the narrative that a husband is allowed to gently beat his wife is no longer accepted nor tolerated, even in most Muslim-majority countries.
The videos are an embarrassment for the ministry and the entire government, they added.
“Instead of pushing for gender equality and ending domestic violence that relates to all women, she released videos perpetuating and supporting the treatment of women as unequal persons in marriage who may be subjected to discipline and correction by physical means,” said SIS. - FMT
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