The flap over the play, Talaq (Divorce), has shown how difficult it still remains for women to fully express themselves in this phallocentric society or to put it more bluntly, society ruled by the law of the penis!
The Tamil theatre group, Agni Kootthu, whose founder and director Ms Thenmolli was recently arrested for standing her ground at the Drama Centre and released on bail, has staged the play 3 times. Once in Dec'98 and twice in February'99 following the granting of the licence by the Singapore Police Force's Public Entertainment Licensing Unit (PELU).
This controversy has been in the papers since it exploded into print sometime in mid-October so it's not my place to recount the whole matter but to state my views from what I have read.
The National Arts Council (NAC) had asked the group to stage a preview on Monday to a panel of 13 members from the NAC, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS), PELU and 2 members from a religious group called SIJU, the South Indian Jamaithul Ulama. SIJU was the "complainant group" against the play and for this reason alone they should have been disallowed as one of the panel members! But I believe the NAC wanted to hear from all sides so they were allowed.
SIJU Secretary, Haji Ebrahim Marican in his own words to the Straits Times on 27/10 seems to have vindicated and justified the staging of the play. He has said, "In Islamic law, a husband cannot rape his wife as long as the marriage continues. He need not ask permission from his wife for sexual relations each time he wants to have it. Even if she is angry or not in the mood, he has the right to it. In any event, a husband can have sex with his wife without her consent and that will not be rape". I feel pity for his wife if he's married!
The play looks into issues such as marital violence and rape in the Indian Muslim community and the actress herself, Nargis Banu had suffered the same fate as the character she plays. These words by a supposedly influential voice gives credibility to the story of the play. If one man such as Mr Ebrahim can hold such outdated and narrow views about women I'm frightened to think about how many there are out there who think the same!
This is not a matter of religion, ethnicity or race. This play shows the trauma of an oppressive and violent environment in which women dare not and cannot speak up! Women are not third-class citizens or mere property or sex objects. They're human beings with feelings and the need to express themselves as much as men.
The law of the penis if taken to the extent where influential people utter such stupid and demeaning remarks, the value placed on women as individuals will detriorate in Singapore.
There are voiceless women out there who suffer in silence and words that seem to encourage other men to treat them like dirt and not as equals are not good for society and for women in particular.
I would like to "thank" Mr Ebrahim for his indirect "ringing endorsement" of the play and urge the NAC and especially PELU to reconsider the licence issue. You have issued it before and the play had recieved favourable press reviews "for its raw power and intensity, even reducing many in the audience to tears".
By allowing the show to go on those voiceless women will regain their voice and raise it against the injustices they suffer in the confines of home!
