YOURSAY | Wanita MCA must have watched too many martial arts flicks

YOURSAY | ‘Domestic abuse cannot be resolved like a 1980s Jackie Chan movie.’

Wanita MCA to promote karate to discourage domestic abuse and crime

Karate class idea ignores domestic abuse realities, puts onus on victims - groups

Beman: Wanita MCA, educating both men and women about domestic abuse is more important. I would advise anyone to move away from a scene that can potentially escalate into violence.

Quite often, there is a pattern in a relationship where one party abuses the other. It may start with mildly angry verbal exchanges before one party resorts to physical violence.

Breaking such a pattern and seeking help are more desirable than learning martial arts and staying on to fight, which may lead to greater physical injuries or even death.

Wanita MCA president Heng Seai Kie must be watching too many Hong Kong martial art movies where the fighting is nice to watch. Real fighting is messy. Anything can happen.

I remember reading the news of a martial art master who confronted a burglar but was killed instead. Besides, not everyone has a natural talent for martial arts or wants to invest time in learning what should be redundant in our modern society.

Education and better laws stressing human rights and equality give a better solution than karate lessons.

By the logic of the Wanita MCA president, all women should have a black belt in karate before getting married.

Manjit Bhatia: Patriarchy. That’s your problem. And with that comes conservative patrimonialism.

When traditionalist men treat households by subjugating women, objectifying women, misogynistic men, no matter how educated they may be, will try to possess women by disparaging them to assert their imbecilic manliness. These men are cowards.

This is what the MCA behoves when advocating women retaliate against domestic violence by men.

This only aggravates the situation and children are caught in the crossfire of domestic violence, which has been present among Malaysians for generations but which Malaysians, especially men brought up by traditionalist/conservative parents, choose to ignore.

This is because they still think they have the right to possess women and treat them by putting them in their place in a master-servant relationship of complete male dominance.

Men leering and wolf-whistling at women is as criminally evil as men raping women. It is physical and psychological violence against women, premeditated or otherwise.

Men are excellent at denial. Women should expose men who abuse them in all forms of violence perpetrated against them. Criminal laws on domestic violence must be strengthened and police trained to deal with domestic violence.

Public resources need to be poured into mass and school education campaigns and psychological services, plus establishing safe houses for female victims and their children require immediate and urgent action.

Keep men out of this decision-making but also ultra-feminists who do more harm than good for women.

Anonymous_15897060865429524: If you are in a marriage where you need to regularly use karate chops on your husband, chances are you don’t need more karate lessons, you need a police report and a divorce.

This shows how clueless the out-of-touch and irrelevant aunties in Wanita MCA are. They think domestic abuse can be resolved like a 1980s Jackie Chan movie.

Domestic abuse victims experience deep psychological trauma and depression. They are dehumanised, degraded, and consistently mentally tortured. The abuse isn’t just physical, it’s mental.

To even suggest watching a how-to video on karate-for-beginners is absurdly asinine and laughable.

Jordan Tan: Domestic violence has an origin and there are causes that manifest these symptoms among families.

While classes to teach women with skills to protect themselves is with good intention, it is just firefighting. Why not confront the root causes of domestic violence?

The contributing factors are many. They range from lack of anger management skills to poverty, bad influences by social media, violence in the entertainment industry, lack of emotional intelligence, inability to cope with stresses of life, misunderstanding or an abusive childhood.

Reforming and transforming human character and uplifting society by eliminating ignorance, creating job opportunities and better management of emotions will go a long way to reduce and prevent domestic violence.

IndigoHorse9495: Men have no right to abuse any woman. This should be instilled in boys from a very early age. They learn from what they see, so fathers should set a good example.

Still, learning self-defence is a must for both genders, especially women who are more vulnerable to attacks.

IndigoKite6964: It is sad, amusing and horrifying all at once that women have to learn karate to protect themselves from their husbands. A husband who abuses his wife should be jailed for life but I know the solution is not quite that simple.

The situation when a woman tolerates the violence she suffers is complicated. The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry should provide all the avenues to support, counsel and make their poorly taught, macho husbands pay for this horrific crime.

I don't think karate to protect a wife from her husband is the solution. She might end up kicking his family jewels off its mount, not that he does not deserve it if it should happen.

DMY: Domestic violence: Acts of physical, emotional, and/or mental abuse committed by someone against others living in the same household; with the intention to demean, degrade, hurt, and/or injure the victim(s).

Domestic violence is not funny. No one should joke about it, more so public figures. It is distasteful and shows how they (MCA politicians) are completely irrelevant.

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