KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should acknowledge he had made a “sexist” remark to a female Form Six student yesterday and apologise, a leader from political rival Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia said today.
Sasha Lyna Abdul Latif, Bersatu’s legal and constitution bureau’s deputy chair, claimed that Anwar’s remark yesterday to the student — known only as Adriana — was a “classic and stunning display of discriminatory, bigoted and sexist language” and said it was inappropriate.
“In no circumstances is this kind of language acceptable; in a public televised forum, it is doubly shocking.
“What sort of example is the country’s PM setting for the youth of the nation? That it’s fine to ignore the intelligence and capacity of women, and instead treat them as an object of flirtation?” Sasha Lyna asked in a statement today.
She said it would never be okay for a leader to say such words to a student under the guise of “being humorous”, saying that Anwar should have known better and that the incident yesterday reflects poorly on him.
“A prime minister who has for 25 years chanted Reformasi and Perjuangan Rakyat should be committed in fostering a nation that is respectful and free from discrimination or prejudice or sexism. Women and girls should be able to perform in public forums and workplaces without fear of sexism rearing its ugly head,” she said.
She said women leaders in the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition and the unity government should not keep silent over their own leader’s alleged “sexism” and must speak up if they do not want to be labelled as hypocrites.
“We also urge the Prime Minister to accept that he had made a blatantly sexist comment in a public forum and apologise to the student affected and to all who participated in the event, as well as to the nation,” she said.
Sasha Lyna was referring to an incident at the “Temu Anwar Negeri Sembilan” event at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) yesterday, where the Form Six student had asked two questions, including whether Anwar was confident that Malaysia was capable of becoming a first world nation in the future and what steps should be taken by the government and the younger generation to have Malaysia be in line with developed nations.
The Form Six student identified only as Adriana had also asked what are the government’s actions to restore the value of the ringgit.
In that forum, Anwar’s immediate response was that he was proud that the student was able to ask such questions and that if he was still young, he would have wanted to ask for her phone number.
The host of the event was heard telling Anwar to pass the number to him once he obtains it, while Anwar continued by saying he was merely joking and that his wife is always watching.
Sasha Lyna today said Adriana’s questions were “serious well thought-out questions and deserved a proper answer”, and that Anwar should not have responded the way that he did.
National news agency Bernama yesterday reported Anwar’s response to Adriana’s question on restoring the ringgit’s value, where he spoke about the need to attract investments into Malaysia and the Malaysia My Second Home programme to draw money into the country, while also saying the government is thinking of several more measures.
