Malaysian MP says women drivers are to blame for road accidents

Umno MP Bung Mokhtar Radin has blamed women drivers for road accidents, and in the ensuing debate, described his PAS counterpart Dr Siti Mariah Mahmood as a “monkey.” The Kinabatangan MP who is no stranger to ruffling feathers with his sexist remarks told the House that women drivers do not concentrate on the road. “Just because they are inside a car, they think that the world is theirs, they don’t look or left,” he said, adding that when honked at, women drivers get upset.

“There are times when we honk, and they show all sorts of signs,” he said. This prompted Siti Mariah to demand that Bung retract his remarks, stating that his statement was too general. However, Bung was adamant that he had spoken the truth, and lashed out at the Kota Raja MP for attempting to politicise the issue.



“We are talking about accidents, don’t politicise everything, don’t be a monkey. You want to even politicise deaths,” he snapped. At this juncture, Dzulkefly Ahmad (PAS- Kuala Selangor) came to his colleague’s aide and asked Bung what evidence he had to back his claim. He also reminded the Umno MP that his wife and mother were women.

Bung remained unapologetic and argued that he was not being disrespectful to women but merely pointing out that accidents happened to women who had just passed their driving tests. Coming to Bung’s defence, Abdul Rahman Dahlan (BN-Kota Belud) said that the Kinabatangan MP was not being disrespectful to women. “I sympathise with Kinabatangan… there are no negative implications (to his statement). Women are more careful, so they drive slower. There is no discrimination (against women),” he said.