MP: Marriage not licence to rape wives

The new section 375A does not consider rape in a marriage on the grounds that the Syariah does not consider marital rape.

GEORGE TOWN: The government’s decision to keep Section 375 and 375A of the Penal Code, and not pursue criminalizing marital rape, shows it was regressive and patriarchal. “The decision was a threat to women from all walks of life”.

“The government has shown that it was not sincere in protecting women who are in marriages with violent partners who force themselves on their wives.”

Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto was commenting on “a heinous statement” by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri on Wednesday.

“It practically threw the spanner in the works in claiming that the government has decided to keep Section 375 of the Penal Code which ‘legalizes’ marital rape,” added Kasthuri who is also Vice Chairman of Wanita DAP Penang. “It has permanently shattered the belief in this country that women and their rights are protected and upheld without fear or favour.”

In a Parliamentary reply in August 2013, she recalled that the Prime Minister’s Department stated that the decision not to acknowledge marital rape was that it was against Syariah laws and other religious beliefs.

The MP has several questions:

Who are you protecting here?

Are you protecting women or protecting men’s ‘privileges’ over their women?

Are you signing a decree that all husbands are hereby given immunity to commit rape upon their wives, and it will not be a crime unless she fulfills section 375A?

“This would have been a golden opportunity for Nancy to prove her combativeness to make amendments to the Penal Code to criminalize marital rape,” said the MP. “By doing so, i.e. amendments to the expansion of the definition of rape with regards to the many rape cases, including the finger-rape case, it will inspire confidence in the hearts and minds of civil society and the rakyat”.

Marital rape was also unIslamic, claimed Kasthuri.

She cited al-Quran Surah Al Ruum, verse 21 which reads: “As a religion that truly respects women, the husband and wife relationship in Islam is built upon the foundations of love and mutual respect” and “And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy.

Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.”

Therefore, said Kasthuri, it was grossly misleading to say that Section 375 was here to stay because of Syariah laws and other religious laws. “No religion condones that a woman should suffer in pain, physical or psychological.”

She has further questions:

The burning question here was why immunity was given to husbands to force themselves on their wives and get away with it?

Why has it become so hard to put laws in place to protect women against perpetrators within the walls of their homes?

Was it acceptable for a husband to make sexual demands of his wife even if she refuses it?

When marital rape is criminalized, she pointed out, it sends out a strong signal that any rape whether it was within a marriage or not was fundamentally wrong and unacceptable in any society. “It was comical that while ‘rape’ is a grave offence, ‘marital rape’ which also carries the word ‘rape’ was deemed alright.”

In short, rape was an offence unless it was rape within marriage.

“The government must acknowledge that marital rape was a crime and a form of violence against women and men, said Kasthuri. “While it was not surprising that more social democratic countries have outlawed marital rape, it was remarkable that even countries that have seen the perils of war have criminalized marital rape.”

She referred to countries like Zimbabwe, Turkey, Cambodia, Nepal, Mauritius, Ghana, Thailand, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Bosnia Herzegovina, and South Korea, among others, which have taken a step forward to criminalize marital rape. “Unfortunately, Malaysia stands with other countries that do not view marital rape as something critical to be outlawed.’

“It is distressing that Section 375 and 375A may eventually end up protecting men who are cruel and violent with their wives, instead of protecting women who are the victims.”

Section 375 of the Penal Code defines rape as “a man is said to commit “rape” who, has sexual intercourse with a woman against her will, without her consent, with her consent by putting her in fear of death or hurt, with her consent by way of deception, with her consent that she is unable to understand the nature and consequences of her consent and with or without her consent when she is under 16 years of age.

The new section 375A states that any man in a marriage who causes hurt or fear of death or hurt his wife shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 5 years.

It is still not regarded as rape.

This means that under the Penal Code, that even if a wife rejects sexual demands of her husband, and the sexual act has caused her hurt, pain, distress and psychological trauma, it was still not considered marital rape. And even with the current amended section, a husband can commit the act of rape on his wife.