COMMENT Police investigation into assemblyperson Chong Eng’s statement on a Friday sermon prepared by the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) can only pose question marks on the gender mainstreaming policy of the government.

May I also dare to refer to the director-general of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) who said that Chong Eng has “run out of ideas”, and to the the Selangor mufti’s claim that a disobedient wife can, as the last resort, be beaten, in the same light?

Chong Eng, a former MP and a Penang state executive councillor now, has been involved in and has been supportive of the efforts of Malaysian women in our campaign to end violence against women (VAW). That campaign went as far back as 1984, at a public workshop in Petaling Jaya...