WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

MALAYSIA - 'OBEDIENT WIVES' CLUB - DIVISIVE VIEWS

See TWO PARTS of this WUNRN Release.

___________________________________________________________________

 

http://www.asiaworks.com/news/2011/06/05/malaysia-obedient-wives-club-good-sex-is-a-duty-ap/

Malaysia - ‘Obedient Wives’ Club

By EILEEN NG, Associated Press

RAWANG, Malaysia – As a new bride, 22-year-old Ummu Atirah believes she knows the secret to a blissful marriage: obey her husband and ensure he is sexually satisfied.

Ummu and some 800 other Muslim women in Malaysia are members of the “Obedient Wives Club” that is generating controversy in one of the most modern and progressive Muslim-majority nations, where many Muslim Malaysian women hold high posts in the government and corporate world.

The new club, launched Saturday, says it can cure social ills such as prostitution and divorce by teaching women to be submissive and keep their men happy in the bedroom.

“Islam compels us to be obedient to our husband. Whatever he says, I must follow. It is a sin if I don’t obey and make him happy,” said Ummu, who wore a yellow headscarf.

The club, founded by a fringe Islamic group known as Global Ikhwan, has been dismissed by politicians and activists as a throwback to Medieval times and an insult to modern women of Malaysia. But the group’s activities, which previously included the setting up of a Polygamy Club, show that pockets of conservative Islamic ideas still thrive in Malaysia.

Groups such as Global Ikhwan are unlikely to gain much popularity beyond generating shock value. Still, there is concern that radical groups could garner support among other Muslims, who make up 60 percent of the 28 million population, and upset decades of carefully nurtured racial and religious harmony.

“Unfortunately even today, there are still many Muslim women who are ignorant of their rights or culturally inhibited to exercise their rights in full,” said Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, a female Muslim minister in charge of family policy.

Despite the group’s conservative Islamic background, Rohayah Mohamad, one of the founders of the club, openly talks about the virtues of marital sex even though most of her colleagues are shy about the topic.

“Sex is a taboo in Asian society. We have ignored it in our marriages but it’s all down to sex. A good wife is a good sex worker to her husband. What is wrong with being a whore … to your husband?” she said.

“This way, the family institution is protected and we can curb social ills,” said Rohayah, the club’s vice president who is also a trained physician.

She said wives must go beyond the traditional roles as good cooks or good mothers and learn to “obey, serve and entertain” their husbands to prevent them from straying or misbehaving.

Indirectly, “disobedient wives are the cause for upheaval in this world” because men are not happy at home and their minds and souls are disturbed, she said.

Authorities recently said Malaysia’s divorce rate has doubled from 2002 to 2009 with higher rates among Malay Muslims.

“When husbands come home, wives do not welcome their husbands with warm alluring smiles and sexy dressing … That is the reality today,” she said.

The Global Ikhwan group is an offshoot of former members of the Al-Arqam sect outlawed in 1994 after its teachings were found to have deviated from Islam. It is funded by the group’s restaurants, grocery stores, poultry and other businesses abroad.

Most of the 800 women who are members of the new club, including Ummu the new bride, also belong to Al-Arqam.

Expectedly, the club has faced intense criticism.

Some Malaysians started a Facebook page called “We do not want sexist nonsense from Global Ikhwan.”

One Muslim man, Amirul Aftar, wrote: “I do not want a wife to submit to my every beck and call. I want a wife who understands me … we are not your masters, we are your equal.”

Women’s group, Sisters in Islam, said Islam advocates marriages based on mutual cooperation and respect. It said domestic violence happens regardless of women’s behavior.

“Communication, not submission, is vital to sustain any healthy relationship,” it said.

__________________________________________________________

Women Living Under Muslim Laws - http://www.wluml.org/node/7263

MALAYSIA - 'THE OBEDIENT WIVES' CLUB SIGNALS FAILURE TO UPHOLD WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN THE FAMILY

Source: APMM/VNC/WLUML - 13 June 2011

The ASEAN Progressive Muslim Movement (APMM), a network of twenty one (21) non-governmental organizations working for the protection and promotion of women’s rights in the ASEAN region, jointly with Women Living Under Muslim Laws and the Global Campaign to Stop Violence Against Women in the name of "Culture" (Violence is not our Culture Campaign), view the recent formation of The Obedient Wives’ Club (OWC) in Malaysia as disturbing and offensive. The Syarie Lawyers Association (PGSM) in Malaysia has attacked the Club for encouraging women to fulfill their husbands' needs by being "good prostitutes".

The Club aims to “teach women to be submissive and keep their spouses happy in the bedroom as a cure to social ills” by learning to be good lovers so they can “obey, serve and entertain” their husbands to prevent them from straying or misbehaving. Its use of Islam to justify its call for women to become “obedient wives” is a misrepresentation of the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed which enjoin women and men to conduct their marriages on the basis of mutual co-operation and respect, for husbands to treat their wives well and help with housework. It distorts the Qur’anic concept of "nusyuz" or disobedience, which applies to both women and men, to mean only a “woman's disobedience to her husband”.

Immediately dismissed by politicians and activists as a throwback to medieval times and an insult to modern women of Malaysia, this latest initiative is by the Global Ikhwan group, a multi-national conglomerate formed by ex-members of the banned Al-Arqam group. It confirms that ultra-conservative, radical Islamic forces continue to thrive in Malaysia, and could easily spread their influence in neighboring countries in the Southeast Asia region. A chapter in Bandung Indonesia has already been established and several more branches are reportedly being set up across the country. The Global Ikhwan was also instrumental in the founding of the Ikhwan Polygamy Club in 2009 in Malaysia and Indonesia, which encourages husbands to take more than one wife to satisfy their masculine desires. .

Most importantly, these initiatives by the Global Ikhwan group seriously undermine the important gains toward gender equality in Malaysia. They signal the Malaysian government’s failure to abate the growing trend in the country towards adopting norms, rules, laws and policies that are discriminatory towards women in the name of religion (in particular Islam). These initiatives are premised on narrow interpretations of religious texts that are permeating the various social spheres, as well as decision-making levels in the country, and are barriers to women’s enjoyment of full equality in family life. Such interpretations are being legitimised by the country’s dual legal system of civil law and multiple versions of shari’a law, resulting in a continuing pattern of discrimination against women, particularly in marriage and within the family.

We call upon the Malaysian government to make an unequivocal statement against the misrepresentation of the Qu’ran and of the shari’a by radical Islamic groups. We also call on the government to commit to the principles of gender equality and justice as foundations of the country’s Muslim family laws. We also welcome any initiative by the government to initiate an open and healthy public debate on Islam and women’s rights within the family.

___________________________________________________________