Sunday, May 4, 2008

Travel letter proposal - it's ridiculous

Come on, it's simply a ridiculous idea. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim should just scrap his idea of wanting all Malaysian women travelling out of the country alone to have a letter from parents or employers.
He shouldn't waste the time of his fellow Cabinet members with this proposal. What's there to stop someone from drug smuggling even if they are travelling with these letters? The proposal would only create more red tape and paper work. To put it simply, it is just not feasible. I am sure Dr Rais mean well as there are over 119 Malaysian women in prison worldwide for drug offences but why should women be singled out? What about single men travelling overseas alone?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Goodness gracious! Does he think that we are still primary school students that require 'permission passes' to move about?

Doing so would only invite more red tape and bureaucracy as you so rightly pointed out. There are probably more flaws in the actual implementation of the proposal that may have been skimmed over.

From the article:
"Another reason why women are targeted is that they are not as thoroughly searched as men when they leave airports."

Well, the solution to that is obvious isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Dr.Rais if the Travel Letter proposal fails, try proposing the Enforcement of Chastity Belts. Tell your colleagues they are safer and more effective.

Anonymous said...

Why not the government use various media like tv, radio, newpaper and at school to educate the rakyat the issue, what are the consequences..etc etc...

Ah Chin said...

The proposal is knee-jerk reaction that our ministers are so capable of. It came not long after another minister's (Hamid Hamidi's)kee-jerk proposal to set up a task force to save the child-prodigy- turned-hooker Farah in UK. Laughable! Shoot from the hip and you shoot your yourself in the foot.

Anonymous said...

Our Malaysian cabinet is full of ministers with peanut brains. They are so ridiculous. They make Malaysia a laughing stock. Instead of beefing up the security, they make all these stupid proposals. Has Rais heard of chemical "sniffers" to sniff out drugs and explosives. And sniffers come in two forms, namely hightech analyzers, and also the good old reliable doggies which are even more effective.

Anonymous said...

Men have been caught stuffing drugs up their asses or swallowing them. In little plastic packets. So how? Anal search for all males?

Anonymous said...

oh, come on... it's a total waste of our time, money and resourses, period.

Jing said...

feasibility is one thing, but to even suggest such an idiotic proposal is simply a reflection of an outdated and condescendingly patriarchal society which a progressive and right-minded society should no longer subscribe to.

And what is Rais Yatim trying to imply? That women are stupid? And does he think that by getting women to get these 'consent letters' and by keeping women mired in ignorance about such scams is going to help one bit? With this knee-jerk reaction that has become so characteristic of BN politicians, he is again sweeping the actual problem under the carpet, which is to educate women from falling for such scams.

By claiming to 'protect' women, such a proposal would instead cage women and limit their FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT.

Can you believe this guy is actually policy-maker?