This is what happens when...

This is what happens when...

by James Chin, The Malaysian Insider

MARCH 4 — ... you have narrow-minded Fascists running the country. I don’t know about you but I am increasingly frustrated by the rise of fundamentalists, religious bigots and Fascists in this country.

While our neighbours — Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand — are becoming more progressive and moving forward, we seem to be stuck in Bolehland.

The cause is well-known, what we lack is political will to do something about it.

Politicians are afraid of being accused of being un-Islamic and they try to out-do each other to see who is more conservative and more narrow-minded.

Don’t believe me? Read the following from Bernama:

Malaysian teachers say ‘no’ to sex education

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian teachers are saying “no” to teaching sex education in schools. They lack professional training in teaching the subject, National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng said Tuesday.

She said while the union fully supported the Government’s move to provide sex education in schools, “sadly, the teachers lack formal training in the complexity and sensitivity of the subject and are not confident to teach it.”

Lok said the teachers were afraid they might be sued by the parents “if they were to make mistakes in imparting the knowledge of sex to the pupils.”

Malaysia is a multiracial, religious and cultural nation with each ethnic group having its own notion on the subject, which makes teaching more challenging, she noted.

So no sex education please, we are Malaysians!

The end result, read this:

Oriental Daily reported that a youth had asked a salesgirl for help to buy condoms at a convenience shop.

The 17-year-old had gone to the counter and told the salesgirl he wanted to buy condoms at the shop in Kajang on Friday night.

When the salesgirl asked him the size, he dropped his pants and told her that was the size he wanted.

When the salesgirl screamed, the youth ran away. He was detained after the salesgirl lodged a police report.

Or this:

Tangled in web of sex myths

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian women demonstrated the depth of their ignorance by emerging the most ill-informed in a recent survey on sex-related issues conducted across Southeast Asia.

A majority of women in Malaysia believe, among other things, that sexual intercourse during menstruation cannot lead to pregnancy, wearing brassieres can cause breast cancer and that they can enlarge their breasts by touching them.

Some are confident that riding a bicycle will cause them to lose their virginity and that bleeding after sexual intercourse confirmed a woman’s virginity.

The Kotex BodyLife IQ survey was carried out among 1,800 women aged between 16 and 24 in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. In Malaysia, the women surveyed were from a cross-section of all races.

In Malaysia, the survey results show:

- Only three per cent of women can answer all questions about their bodies;

- 60 per cent believe they can enlarge their breasts by touching them;

- 57 per cent do not know where their hymen is;

- 56 per cent believe having sex during menstruation cannot lead to pregnancy;

- 55 per cent believe that wearing brassieres can cause breast cancer;

- 41 per cent believe bleeding after sex confirmed a woman’s virginity;

- 24 per cent believe women can lose their virginity by riding a bicycle; and,

- 21 per cent think eating a lot will hasten their menstruation.

Since many young people cannot get proper information on sex, where do you think they turn to?

Read this:

75 pct Malaysians learn bedroom sex secrets from Internet

Kuala Lumpur, October 13 (ANI): As many as 75 per cent of Malaysians have Internet to thank for providing them information on sex, a new poll suggests. According to the Durex Sexual Wellbeing Survey, men were ahead when compared to women in using the World Wide Web to surf about bedroom passion.

Other sources included magazines with as many as seventy-three per cent of the respondents relying on them, reports The Star Online.

Sixty-five per cent turned to books, 56 per cent to friends and peers, and 43 per cent to their partners.

Sex education at school made up for only 36 per cent. (ANI)

Is it any wonder that all the Ah Beng selling DVDs has a ready market for porn DVDs? Is it any wonder that the number of teenage pregnancies are on the rise? A lot of social and political issues in this country are caused by religious Fascists who are trying to impose their worldview on the majority.

If we don’t stand up to these people, your children will inherit a Malaysia ruled by the Bolehland Taliban.

**James Chin is a Malaysian academic. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the views of institutions he is associated with.