Last night, the Dewan Rakyat was rocked when Tasek Gelugor MP Shabudin Yahya remarked without an iota of shame, that the future of rape victims would not be dim if they are married to their rapists, and that marriage between a victim and her rapist can help mitigate social woes.
Social media has since been flooded with responses from Malaysians alike condemning this vile, revolting, sickening comment.
Tasek Gelugor reportedly claimed this; “For a wife that was raped, if she can marry (the person) she would not go through such a bleak future. At least she has someone who can become her husband. So this will be a remedy to social problems.
The greatest irony and mockery here is that he said this when he was debating to the motion put in by DAP MP for Kulai Teo Nie Ching in the Sexual Offences Against Children Bill aimed at protecting those below 18, who called on criminalising child marriages be also included in the act.
UMNO’s Tasek Gelugor MP has failed miserably to understand that the social problems he perceives, are not to do with the probability of rape victims not being able to get themselves a husband, but the despicable act of rape, which will forever scar a person, let alone a child.
It is disturbing to note that a leader, a father and probably a grandfather would resort to making such a remark. I would like to ask YB Tasek Gelugor. Would he consent to marrying off his loved ones to their rapists? Since he made the remark with gusto, then he should also answer this question confidently. What if a girl is a victim of gang-rape? What then? Should she also marry them all? And what if it is a boy who was raped? Would Shabudin Yahya also advocate for the boy to marry his rapists?!?
It is dangerously misogynistic and perverse to still make a rapist seem like a hero, painting a picture as if he had ‘manned up’ to his act and the punishment is actually on him.
Does this UMNO MP not know that by saying this, that serial rapists or those with the intention to rape will then force himself on his victim and then marry them to consummate the marriage, just to bury their crime.
We do not want the case of the Sabahan convicted child rapist, Riduan Masmud to become a norm for criminals, especially when the occurrences of rape cases are still rampant in this country.
Two years ago, The Penang Women’s Development Centre (PWDC) reported that a whopping 31,685 rape cases, 42,449 domestic violence cases and 24,939 cases involving outrage of modesty were reported from 2000 to 2013.
PWDC board of directors member Yap Soo Huey reportedly said that an average of 3,000 rapes were reported in Malaysia each year with only two of 10 cases reported, and that based on the numbers, a girl or a women is being raped somewhere in the country, every 35 minutes.
Instead of calling for harsher penalties against rapists, Tasek Gelugor actually took pride in making his despicable case to support them and in other words, assisting rapists to legalise their unpermissable sexual acts on an unwilling victim.
I stand in solidarity with my colleague Sdri Teo Nie Ching and all other lawmakers calling for the invalidation of child marriages in view of protecting children against sexual predators.
Above all, I call on Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as UMNO President, that he is serious in combating sexual crimes against children and protecting children, then he must sack Tasek Gelugor MP Shabudin Yahya immediately instead of keeping silent and protecting this uncouth elected representative.
Rapists should be condemned and never celebrated. Definitely not in a union of marriage.