PAS: forsake lipstick to avoid rape

Forsake lipstick ‘to avoid rape’ | World news | The Guardian

Women in a northern Malaysian city ruled by conservative Islamists are being urged by the city’s authorities to forsake bright lipstick and noisy high-heels “to preserve their dignity and avoid rape”.

Pamphlets have been distributed recommending that Muslim women shun heavy makeup and loud shoes. The municipal officials in Kota Bharu, capital of Kelantan state, which is run by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic party, stressed that the code was merely advice for women who wish to follow the “Islamic way”.

The party’s brand of Islam – mocked by Malaysian liberals as “Taliban lite” – has already decreed that supermarkets must have separate checkout lines for men and women. Couples caught sitting too close together on park benches are hunted down by the city’s moral enforcers and fined up to £285 in the city’s sharia courts.

A directive on dress a decade ago decreed that Muslim women must wear non-transparent headscarves that cover the chest, along with loose-fitting, long-sleeved blouses. There are fines of up to £75 and as many as 20 women are punished for breaking the rule every month.

Azman Mohamad Daham, a spokesman for the municipality, said: “Our minimum guideline is they must wear headscarves.” The goal of the modesty drive was to prevent rape and safeguard the women’s dignity, he said.

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Malaysia deputy leader denounces blogger’s claims of Mongolian slaying link as ‘garbage’

Malaysia deputy leader denounces blogger’s claims of Mongolian slaying link as ‘garbage’ – International Herald Tribune

Malaysia’s No. 2 leader accused a well-known blogger Wednesday of inventing “fabrication and total garbage” by claiming that the politician’s wife had a role in the gruesome slaying of a Mongolian woman.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak has come under intense public scrutiny after Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin signed a sworn statement claiming he has information linking Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, to the 2006 killing of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old freelance interpreter.

Najib denounced the claim as “lies, fabrication and total garbage,” and accused Raja Petra of making a “desperate and pathetic attempt to discredit and taint my political image.”

Raja Petra has authored articles in recent months also linking Najib to Shaariibuu’s death. Najib and Rosmah have both previously denied any hand in Shaariibuu’s killing.

Raja Petra was charged with sedition in May for one of those articles, but pleaded innocent. That trial is scheduled to start in October.

Najib’s comments came a day after Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi — who has identified Najib as his eventual successor — defended his deputy’s and his wife’s innocence and warned of legal action against Raja Petra.

Najib said he welcomed police investigations into Raja Petra’s claim, adding that his wife had already given a statement to the police. He did not elaborate.

Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, a close associate of Najib, is charged with abetting Shaariibuu’s slaying. Two policemen are accused of killing her and destroying her body with explosives in a jungle clearing outside Kuala Lumpur. They have been on trial since June 2007.

Abdul Razak has confessed in court to having an eight-month affair with Shaariibuu.

The prosecution contends Abdul Razak had her killed because she pestered him for money after he ended their affair. They say he used his connections to get the policemen to carry out the killing and to obtain the military-grade explosives that were used to destroy her body.

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Najib denies link with Mongolian’s murder

AFP: Malaysian deputy PM denies link with Mongolian’s murder

Malaysia’s deputy prime minister Najib Razak on Wednesday denied any links with the 2006 murder of a Mongolian woman and said the allegations were an attempt to tarnish his political career.

“I have no other conclusion except than it is a desperate and pathetic attempt to discredit my political image. I can’t see any other reason,” he told reporters.

“Everything that is claimed and written are total lies and fabricated, and it is total garbage,” he said.

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