TO provide safety, a new legislation is now being drafted to impose a fine upon men who enter carriages reserved for female passengers.
This was stated by Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook who added that KTMB and MRT service providers were asked to enhance their monitoring of women-only carriages.
In response to the news, netizen Bitcoin Malaya in a post on X argued that this was blatant sexism.
According to Bitcoin Malaya, not only are the women sitting in the women’s zone. They are sitting in the mixed gender zone too. On the other hand, the cabin number for mixed gender is not improving.
Pergi ke zon perempuan: perempuan duduk
Pergi ke zon campur: perempuan duduk juga.
Cabin number for mixed gender: tak bertambah
Lelaki terpaksa berdiri sempit di zon campur sebab cabin tak cukup.
Sekarang kalau cross the line, akan kena SAMAN.
If this isn’t sexism, I don’t… https://t.co/XZ0ers3c7J pic.twitter.com/lwhlGYJu3L
— Bitcoin Malaya (@bitcoinmalaya) August 15, 2024
In consequence, the men were forced to stand in the tight corner of the mixed gender zone due to the lack of seats. To add salt to the wound, now they are liable to be fined if they cross the line.
Although the implementation of the new legislation is a win for women’s rights, it appears that the additional layer of surveillance and enforcement was not taken kindly by the public as can be observed with the online community.
According to one netizen, the government should apply the segregation methods of PAS to the coaches where men and women zones are divided by half.
Perhaps then true equality could be realised within the public transport sector. He further raised a vital point for elderly males who may have trouble walking, needing to move back and forth to access their designated seats.
Darween suggested that priority should be given towards improving the efficiency of public transports instead of pandering to politics.
On the other hand, netizen Bak Samak said the enforcement of such fines is a move for Malaysia towards a communist country.
Now with the many negative feedback towards the new legislation, the age-old debate about the creation of women-only coaches has risen to the forefront once again. Are these women-only zone relevant and necessary?
According to the “Understanding Women’s Perception and Experience of Safety in Downtown Kuala Lumpur,” report published by Think City Sdn Bhd, a study in KL revealed that 27.6% of female respondents perceived the public space negatively, compared to only 9.3% of male respondents.
Studies showed that women who used public transport faced various problems such as inappropriate touching, verbal and sexual harassment.
However, the creation of women-only coaches is not without problems. During peak hours, there are some women who would use the mixed coach, causing a lack of seats for male passengers.
Although they were told to move over to the women-only coaches, some either declined or the suggestion was ignored.
All the points being considered, this is a sticky issue with no clear right or wrong answer. Women-only coaches should pose no inconvenience if all the women are to use them during peak hours.
Then again, women-only coaches won’t be needed in the first place if randy males can keep their hands to themselves.
Regardless, it is without doubt that the government will emerge as the winner here with the imposed fine being an added revenue source. – Aug 16, 2024
Main image: Bernama
