DPM: Women must travel in groups, learn self-defence
KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has urged women to avoid travelling alone, especially during the wee hours, as there is a safety risk.
She said it was important for women to take care of themselves and learn self-defence.
Relating her experience as a medical student, Dr Wan Azizah said they would travel in groups once they were done with work in clinics and wards at night.
“These are things you have to take into account. We have to be careful and take care of ourselves.
“Don’t travel alone as much as you can, (especially) during the wee hours, when there are not many people. There is always a risk.
“Self-defence may not be so easy, but you need to learn a bit,” she said after the Malaysian Urban Forum.
However, Dr Wan Azizah, who is women, family and community development minister, said there needed to be an overall safety and monitoring mechanism.
She was commenting on the case where a woman was brutally assaulted and robbed in a lift at the Taman Mutiara Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station in Cheras here on Thursday.
The 6.45am incident was captured by a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera and a clip of the attack went viral.
Commenting on the CCTV, she said it was important to have constant monitoring of the area.
“It (the monitor) was in the control room, maybe the person who was monitoring it went for a bathroom break.
“Nobody saw the poor woman being beaten up. At least somebody could have taken action.”
Asked if there should be security escorts at train stations to accompany female commuters who were alone, Dr Wan Azizah agreed, saying: “I think there should be.”
However, she believed it would be difficult to find people to work as security escorts during the early hours.
She said people needed to be responsible for their safety.