Malaysian lawmaker says women drivers "slow" and "oblivious"

Mar 29, 2011, 10:24 GMT

Kuala Lumpur - Women's groups on Tuesday slammed a member of parliament from the ruling government for saying women drivers were slow and irresponsible on the road.

'Some women drivers drive slowly and seem oblivious to traffic,' lawmaker Bung Mokhtar Radin was quoted as saying by Star newspaper.

'When you honk at them, they get agitated with some even showing hand gestures to other drivers,'

Opposition members and women's groups demanded a retraction and apology.

'Bung Mokhtar is an utter disgrace as a parliamentarian and an embarrassment to his party,' said Ho Yock Lin, acting president of the All Women's Action Society.

'His repeated sexist and chauvinist conduct makes a mockery out the parliamentary process and as an elected representative of the people,' she said.

It was not the first time Bung has made controversial public comments about women.

In 2007 during a debate about parliament's leaking roofs, he referred to a female opposition lawmaker's menstruation by stating: 'Where is the leak? (She) leaks every month also.'

He later apologised for that remark.

Bung has also made disparaging remarks about single mothers and often peppers his remarks in parliament with sexual innuendos, always defending his statements as light-hearted banter.

But women's groups are not amused and have repeatedly called for Bung, who hails from the eastern state of Sabah on Borneo, to resign.

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