Um, this supposed reason is absolute bull crap. I mean, it would've probably been easier to simply say to people in general (I doubt it's just women who get duped) to watch their friggin bags! This "permission slip" buisness is blatantly to control women, especially those who may be women's rights advocates. Though I'm no expert in international law, surely this must violate it?

Ah, Malaysia. The land of the pink colored "single ladies only" parking spaces, out front but none for the handicapped.

I have a feeling that this will not get passed, and is just an example of some wacky legislation that never had a chance.

Besides, if they did somehow curb women traffickers, wouldn't men just be paid to traffic it?

No one should have any illusions about where this initiative comes from; the drug-trafficking issue is just a smokescreen. Saudi Arabia has effectively the same rule and it is in keeping with the increasing radicalisation of Islam in Malaysia. No one who reads news feeds from Southeast Asia could be surprised by this move in light of numerous other gross violations of human rights in Malaysia based on Islamic views. It is very important to note that it is not the Chinese or other non-Muslim minorities suggesting these laws.

Malaysia is after all the country where you can be forcibly sent to an Islamic re-education camp for expressing a desire to leave the religion (which is virtually impossible to do on an official basis). Malaysia is also a country so deeply racist that its constitution defines a person as Muslim simply by virtue of being part of the Malay ethnic group (they even list religion on the identity card).

Until the EU and Anglophone world have the courage to withdraw political and economic ties from countries like Malaysia they have no incentive to behave justly towards women, LGBT people and other minorities.

ok now.. I am from Malaysia... I live a few minutes from it now..

cut off ties with Malaysia? What the heck are you talking about?? You think Europeans and Anglo phone cultures are superior?? How ethnocentric..

Yeah Malaysia has its problems but so does everywhere else..

So Kali.. I felt that you were on the brink o slamming Islam and maybe Malaysia as a whole... Thats a pity... I am not a Muslim personally... but I do not see Islam as a religion that is intrinsically oppressive of women either.. It is a conservative religion, but that doesn't mean it cannot be progressive..

There are many Islamic states that have become quite progressive as of late.. UAE, Malaysia, Bahrain, Turkey....

Why don't we let them progress instead of crying bloody foul..

I mean the above mentioned legislation is pretty ridiculous.. and it is not gonna pass... and... it does not reflect Islam or the whole nation of Malaysia..

Why do you post something like this instead..

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9B311FA1-B8E1-4088-B0E8-C01A480D4B75.htm

i mean the question i have is this... If this passed.. and a woman was caught trafficking and had a letter from family/work.. does she get a free pass from punishment?? if not... then the letter is useless..

Well, as another commenter said this law isn't going to be passed, but it sure sends a strong message about which direction the Malay government is aiming. I'm curious if this would only apply to ethnic Malay women? I wouldn't be surprised... I always get such a kick out of the sign at the duty-free stores in airports there saying "Muslims may not purchase alcohol." I'm from Canada (living in Singapore), so the thought of having the audacity to ask someone what their religion is let alone have a cashier enforce a rule based on one's religion is pretty absurd to me. I was in Kota Bharu last fall (the most Muslim state in Malaysia - no movie theater!) and visited the Islam Museum on one rainy afternoon... I was very surprised to see that in the royal family wedding photos more than 20 years old NONE of the women were wearing headscarves! One woman was even wearing a sleeveless dress... In general, Malay women dress a lot more 'traditionally' now. I love, love, love Malaysia and one of my favorite things about traveling there is how friendly and kind the Malay Muslims are (e.g. I was invited to a Malay wedding after knowing someone 2 days - all the grape juice you can drink!!), but some of the stories you read about the government's pro-Islam agenda are scary. Of course, everyone living in Malaysia who doesn't have 'Muslim' printed on their identity card (and that's at least 30%) doesn't have to worry about being sent to a Islamic re-education camp, but also miss out on a lot of services the gov't offers only to ethnic Malay Muslims.

I am really surprised by this. I visited Malaysia last year and am planning to teach English there because it seemed like a country where women were respected. Women run all the businesses there, and you see groups of women out at all hours without being harassed much (the main harassers tend to be not Malaysians, but Indian men). I even know some Malaysian women who travel themselves without any problems whatsoever. I hope that the assessment that the law won't pass is correct.

Kali, Malaysia is not Saudi Arabia. I feel like a broken record, but not all Muslim countries are like the Middle East, especially in Central and South East Asia.

I was in Sarawak and KL a couple of months ago, and I found no trace of radical Islam. I will caveat and say I was mostly around the ethnic Chinese community, but I didn't even see headscarves that often, unless it was on an Indonesian woman.

Although, Heina, from what I saw, almost everyone spoke English. Where were you going to teach it?

My guess would be that she was going to teach it to children. ^_~

Malaysia, as portrayed by the US media, seems to have an almost schizophrenic attitude towards its citizens. Ethnic Malay are privileged by the government but essentially forced to adhere to a rather restrictive form of Islam. Other ethnic groups seemed to be pushed to the side by strong "Malay first" elements in the government--yet they are permitted greater religious freedom and thus fewer restrictions on their personal life. I'm sure that these impressions are largely created by selective reporting, but the haphazard approach to regulating the citizenry seems so odd to me.

I guess I just don't really know how to respond to this post as a feminist, because the reported phenomenon seems to stem out of a much greater mish-mash of oppression and denial based on race.

Like most "security" measures, even if passed, this would provide no additional security to anyone. It's not as though professional drug smugglers are incapable of writing letters. In fact, since the law is not a secret, drug smugglers would be sure to always equip their mules with them. Anyone caught without a letter would almost certainly not be a drug smuggler. Thus the law would essentially do precisely the opposite of what it proposes to do, hampering only the innocent and not the guilty.

Like most "security" measures, even if passed, this would provide no additional security to anyone. It's not as though professional drug smugglers are incapable of writing letters. In fact, since the law is not a secret, drug smugglers would be sure to always equip their mules with them. Anyone caught without a letter would almost certainly not be a drug smuggler. Thus the law would essentially do precisely the opposite of what it proposes to do, hampering only the innocent and not the guilty.

Heina - Borneo (Sarawak&Sabah), in general, is a lot less Muslim than peninsular Malaysia, and KL is also pretty cosmopolitan. For Malay Muslim culture go to Alor Setar, Kota Bahru, Jerantut, Kuantan, etc.

This proposal has rapidly been flat-out rejected: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/05/asia/AS-GEN-Malaysia-Female-Drug-Mules.php

It seems that this was just a suggestion of the Foreign Minister. However, it does very much echo apartheid policy, in a country where it seems that apartheid already exists -- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4784784.stm.

If this proposal was so swiftly rejected, maybe things have been improving for women in Malaysia?

synapse2synapse: that was me, not Heina. And I did mention that I was not among ethnic Malays as much as the Chinese and Indians.

I knew it would be rejected. :)

That's good that it was rejected. I can't see that it was anything but an attempt to control women. Men could also be tricked/talked in carrying drugs, letters could be faked as well as a person could have a legitimate letter and still be taking drugs with them.