Malaysian women's groups reacted with outrage yesterday to a government proposal to impose restrictions on woman planning to travel overseas on their own. The mainly Muslim country is considering requiring women to obtain the written consent of their families or employers before being allowed to travel alone outside the country, state news agency Bernama said on Saturday, quoting the foreign minister. ?It is totally ridiculous and it's a totally regressive proposal with regards to women?s right to movement,? said Norhayati Kaprawi, spokeswoman for Sisters in Islam. The National Council for Women's Organisations called it unfair. ?This is an infringement of our rights,? council deputy president Faridah Khalid told the New Sunday Times.

The foreign and home ministries came up with the idea in response to a string of cases where women travelling alone were used by international drug syndicates to smuggle drugs across borders, Bernama said, quoting Foreign Minister Rais Yatim. Bernama portrayed the proposal as an anti-crime measure and said it aimed to ensure that a woman?s family would ?monitor her departure and serve as a preventive measure against being duped?. But Norhayati said ?only Dr Rais Yatim knows if it is based on his understanding of Islam or because of his lack of understanding of gender issues?.