One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? Conundrums of the Rape Legal Reform Campaign in Malaysia^*

* This is a revised version of a paper originally presented at the meeting ‘Gender, Sexuality and Law Reform in the Middle East and North Africa and South East Asia,’ organized by Women for Women’s Human Rights—New Ways, Istanbul, Turkey, 31 March-3 April 2005.

Abstract

This article looks at how initiatives to improve laws relating to rape in Malaysia have affected the overall national discourse on sexuality and gender, including that on sexuality rights. Following the introduction which lays out the context in which the article’s analysis is grounded, the article traces the history of the rape legal reform campaign—how this began, what its initial motivations were, and which demands were finally achieved out of the first phase of lobbying by women’s groups in the mid- to late-1980s. An update and discussion on the outcome of the second phase of the anti-rape campaign (late-1990s to present day) is also provided. Through this, the article examines the movement’s successes, shortcomings and the factors governing these, as well as critiques the actions by women’s groups in advocating further reforms to the law. It concludes with a discussion on the lessons learnt and what needs to be considered to ensure that sexual spaces, discourses and rights are not marginalized further in the current political milieu.

Notes

* This is a revised version of a paper originally presented at the meeting ‘Gender, Sexuality and Law Reform in the Middle East and North Africa and South East Asia,’ organized by Women for Women’s Human Rights—New Ways, Istanbul, Turkey, 31 March-3 April 2005.