Mahathir's look east policy: a new interpretation why Malaysian muslim women should replace Arabian gulf women as the new mental image for the English term "Muslim women"

Abstract

Mention the term "Muslim women" in the West, and a mental image of Arabian Gulf women comes to mind: a dreary picture of illiterate, oppressed women with not even the most basic of rights, dressed in black from head to toe ("walking corpses" as some refer to them). The West thinks that all Muslim women are like this because they assume Muslims only live in the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The reason for this is that these regions get more media coverage than other Muslim countries, like Malaysia or India, This is due to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, oil production and the ''war on terrorism". A staggering fact ignored until recently, is that only 15% of the world's Muslims live in the Middle East, while 67% live in Asia, Indonesian Muslims alone almost outnumber the Muslim population of the entire Middle East. Moreover, we overlook that Saudi Arabia and the surrounding Middle Eastern countries, are also Asian countries. Malaysian Muslim women enjoy basic rights and political freedom. They are educated, civilised, modern and sophisticated, Their experience spans all occupations, including the military. It is high time that Malaysian Muslim women became the new role models of inspiration for Muslim women and the new international standard for what the English term "Muslim women" represents.

Ala Izzeldin M. Osman, is a lecturer in the English Department, Faculty of Languages at Sudan University of Science and Technology (SUST) in Khartoum, Sudan. She teaches English proficiency skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and literature. She is currently doing a PhD (English Literature) at Universiti Malaya.