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Please scroll for original Mayalsia Cleric Statement.
 
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEW20070217081522&Page=W&Title=World&Topic=0
 
Malaysian cleric takes back his remarks about the chastity belt
Saturday February 17 2007 18:36 IST

KUALA LUMPUR: Facing flak from various women organisations across the country for recommending chastity belts for women, a well-respected cleric here has claimed that his statement was just a joke. "Joke aje. It was not seriously meant," said Datuk Abu Hassan din al-Hafiz on Friday after reports in various sections of media published his comments that women should wear chastity belts to thwart rape and incest, which are rampant nowadays.

Abu Hassan had said chastity belts would protect victims and also help reduce sex crime rate. "We have even come across a number of unusual sex cases, where even senior citizens and children are not spared. The best way to avert sex perpetrators is to wear protection," he told a gathering on Friday.

However, he changed his tune and claimed his comments at the forum were not meant to be a suggestion. "Its not practical to wear a chastity belt in this day and age. It can’t be done," Abu Hassan was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times on Saturday. In an immediate response to media reports carrying the cleric's comments, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil said the government was not interested in an idea from the pre-Islamic age of jahiliyah (ignorance).

"It is better to have a steel-like iman (faith) rather than wearing the belt. If a person is bent on doing it (rape), he would find a way to do it even if ones whole body is covered with metal," she was quoted as saying by the paper.

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----- Original Message -----
From: WUNRN
To: WUNRN ListServe
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 12:29 PM
Subject: Malaysia - Religious Leader Statement on Women & Chastity Belts to Thwart Rape & Incest
 
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http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/2/16/nation/16902904&sec=nation
 
 


‘Chastity Belts Can Thwart Rape and Incest’

HULU TERENGGANU: Women should wear chastity belts to thwart rape and incest which are rampant nowadays, a well-respected religious figure here suggested. 

Datuk Abu Hassan Din Al-Hafiz said chastity belts would protect victims and also help reduce sex crime rate.  

“We have even come across a number of unusual sex cases, where even senior citizens and children are not spared. The best way to avert sex perpetrators is to wear protection,” he told his audience at the Maal Hijrah Forum in Kampung Pelandan here last night. 

“My intention is not to offend women but to safeguard them from sex maniacs. Probably, this is the best way,” he said. 

“Besides, husbands could also feel more secure, if you know what I mean,” he added. 

Abu Hassan said the practice of wearing chastity belts could be traced to as recent as the mid-1960s.





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