ACID TEST ON ANWAR’S HYPOCRISY – WILL HE BE MAN ENOUGH TO APOLOGISE FOR SEXIST GAFFE TO FORM 6 GIRL – INDEED HOW ‘MADANI’ IS IT TO TREAT WOMEN AS ‘OBJECTS OF FLIRTATION’ – AND BY DOING SO, INSTIGATE OTHER MALES TO BEHAVE IN THE SAME SEXIST FASHION

Politics, Social | June 25, 2023 4:04 pm by | 0 Comments

Bersatu wants Anwar to apologise over alleged sexist comment during dialogue session

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been criticised over an alleged sexist comment to a female student during one of his public dialogues yesterday and had been urged to issue a public apology.

Bersatu legal and constitution bureau deputy chairman Sasha Lyna Abdul Latiff said Anwar should publicly apologise to a Form Six student who posed a question to him to which he said that he would have asked for her number if he were much younger.

“It was a classic and stunning display of discriminatory, bigoted and sexist language by the 75-year-old prime minister to the 18-year-old Adriana.

“What sort of example is the country’s PM setting for the youth of the nation? That it is fine to ignore the intelligence and capacity of women, and instead treat them as an object of flirtation?

“We 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,” said Sasha in a statement.

She also urged Pakatan Harapan women leaders as well as from the federal government to speak up against “this manifest example of sexism by their own leader” or risk be branded as hypocrites.

During the ‘Temu Anwar Negri Sembilan’ forum at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Anwar was asked by the student, named Ariana on how Malaysia can become a first-class nation in the future, and what the government and youths can do towards realising this ideal.

She also asked about Putrajaya’s strategy in dealing with the declining value of the ringgit.

In response, Anwar praised how eloquently the student delivered her question and said: “If I was young, I would have asked (for your) phone number”.

The forum’s moderator then responded by saying: “If Dato’ Seri (Anwar) has gotten the number, please pass it to me.”

Anwar then replied by saying that he was merely joking, and that his wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, always watched live streams of his events.

Sasha said the questions posed by Adriana were serious, well-thought out and deserved a proper answer.

“Surely the same question would not have been asked if the question was posed by a boy or a man. To sum up, it is never okay for a leader and a leader of a nation at that, to utter such words to a student in the guise of being humorous.

Sasha said Anwar’s behaviour was the opposite of the “Madani” and other slogans that he has been promoting “from every forum and pulpit”.

NST