Lewd jokes in Parliament begin in classrooms, says Ain

Lewd jokes in Parliament begin in classrooms, says Ain

Students need to be taught that rape jokes are wrong or else they will perpetuate such comments as adults, stressed high school student and activist Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam.

This, she said, was why the government needed to stop rape culture from being normalised in schools.

During an online forum (below) with opposition leader Anwar ibrahim and political cartoonist Zunar today, the three noted how even elected representatives have been recorded making sexist, offensive remarks in the Dewan Rakyat.

“When such jokes are allowed to be treated as normal in school, in the end we see such jokes in Parliament as well. Sometimes, MPs are not even punished for it,” exclaimed Zunar.

To Ain, this pointed to the failure of the education system.

“This is because they do not understand this is wrong. This is the fault of the education system, for focusing so much on academic achievements but not on the morals and manners of students,” she said.

“If the system does not teach children from young, they will grow up and enter society (thinking such jokes are not wrong),” she added.

Anwar agreed and blamed Parliament for not taking such remarks seriously.

“It’s not that they don’t know (such remarks are wrong) but it is the system that allows it [...]

“When there are such comments in Parliament, sometimes the speaker (allows it). Maybe the speaker does not think morals and manners are important,” opined the Port Dickson MP.



Over the years, the august house has seen its fair share of offensive utterings against female MPs.

Last year, Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim made racist and sexist remarks against Batu Kawan MP Khasthuri Patto.

Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun was criticised for not making a ruling when the incident happened. He later ordered Azeez to apologise and retract his words.

Back in 2015, Azeez had to retract another sexist remark he made in the House, this time about the female menstrual cycle.

In 2016, then deputy minister Tajuddin Abdul Rahman had compared Seputeh MP Teresa Kok’s name to the male genitalia. He was heavily criticised for the sexist remark.

In 2007, Kinabatangan MP Bung Mokhtar Radin and Jasin MP Mohd Said Yusof made sexist remarks against Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan in the Dewan Rakyat.

No action was taken against them after they apologised and retracted their comments.

Related:

Führer der Bocorites, Sieg Heil