Apology ain't good enough, says FongI like the last suggestion--making male chauvinist pig MPs do work for women's organizations. What a humbling experience! Then perhaps, they will learn how to behave like gentlemen and treat women courteously.
Yoges Palaniappan
May 18, 07 4:00pm
DAP parliamentarian Fong Po Kuan, who bore the brunt of the sexist
remarks made by her Barisan Nasional counterparts Bung Mokthar Radin and
Mohd Said Yusof, is not satisfied with their public apology.
The two apologised to “all women in the country offended by the remarks”
following a meeting with Women, Family and Community Development
Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil this morning.
However, Fong claimed that Bung Mokthar and Mohd Said were not sincere.
"They’re not sincere, especially after what happened on Wednesday where
they apologised and later retracted their apologies," she said when
contacted.
“They are not remorseful. They are just finding excuses to justify their
behaviour by saying it was necessary to do it to defend the government
during debates in the Parliament," she added.
Fong, who feels that an apology is not sufficient punishment for the
duo, said she will discuss with DAP leaders regarding her next move.
Long-term solution
Meanwhile, Women’s Development Collective (WDC) executive director Maria
Chin Abdullah said the focus should be on a long-term solution.
“An apology is just a small part, I rather not focus so much on it. What
is more important is that whether they are going to do it again, and
what will be done if it occurs again?” she said.
Maria told malaysiakini that the government has an obligation to ensure
that sexism does not occur in Parliament again.
“We don’t want to go through the same exercise of staging protests and
accepting apologies from MPs again and again,” she said, adding that a
stop must be put to this.
“MPs like Bung Mokhtar and Badruddin Amiruldin (BN-Jerai) have a history
of hurling sexist remarks in Parliament. It has been happening since
1995 and it cannot be allowed anymore,” she said.
Maria said any MP who uses derogatory remarks against women should be
suspended and his pay and allowances cut until his suspension is over.
“We also propose that the (errant) MPs be made to do community service
with a women’s organisation for that period,” she added.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
not enough for Fong
Now, the MPs have apologized to ALL women. Is that enough for MP Fong Po Kuan? Apparently not.
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2 comments:
Parliamentarians must accept the fundamental 'bottomline' that leadership is by example. If they cannot even regualte and watch the words that spill out of their mouths, one is justified in concluding that their minds are not capable of providing leadership in thought which ultimately determines all action.
What we therefore need is a two-pronged strategy: One, to ensure that the apology is beyound suspicion. Second, that punitive measures are put in place to convince both leaders and the public that we are a civilised society on its way to being declared a model nation that arrives at 2020 in an examplary manner. Otherwise, we are only paying lip service and silently entrenching a culture that will become the scorn of future times.
Yes, I agree with you that leadership is definitely by example. Why bother to follow a leader who can't even control his own mouth, much less that affairs of the state?
It's rather hard to prove the sincerity of an apology though...only the one who is insulted can gauge the sincerity of the apologies of the people who insulted her.
And I disagree with the use of punitive measures. The use of punitive measures seem to contradict the very thing that we're trying to portray--ie: that we're a civilized nation. To say that we need to punished indicates that we're so barbaric that we can only behave ourselves through punishment.
Civility can only be learned through education that starts from young. A lot harder to do, of course, since we're talking about changing a culture. But, sigh...if it takes several generations to do it, why not start?
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