Corrected on 11 Nov 2009 at 5.10pm
RECENTLY, a court case involving Malaysian TV personality Daphne Iking invoked an archaic law that has gotten many parties up in arms. The law in question is Section 498 of the Penal Code.
The section deals with the issue of “enticing or taking away or detaining with a criminal intent a married woman”, and is seen by some parties as being a law that, among other things, violates a woman’s right to sexual and bodily autonomy.
Some, like Seputeh Member of Parliament Teresa Kok, have argued that the law made married women “objects” that their husbands owned. However, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has announced the law is here to stay because it was infrequently used anyway.
The Fairly Current Show host Fahmi Fadzil speaks to Vizla Kumaresan to learn more about why Section 498 needs to be abolished, and the campaign that is at the forefront of this effort. Vizla is a trained (corrected) clinical psychologist and a member of the Women’s Aid Organisation. 
This video interview first appeared on PopTeeVee. The site hosts other video interviews with notable personalities on notable issues.
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