MAY 15 — A man hit his female partner in public and no one did anything except for one woman who bravely told the man off, only to be reprimanded by others telling her not to create trouble.

Beatrice Leong, the only decent person on the scene, says the man hit his tudung-clad partner several times on the head at the aerobridge in the Kota Kinabalu airport Monday, as people were boarding a Malindo Air flight headed to Kuala Lumpur.

No one did anything, not even the airline staff or airport security, as the woman cried. Other passengers either didn’t care or were too preoccupied with their phones.

When did we become such an uncaring society?

When did it become okay for a man to hit a woman?

The fact that the man did it in front of so many people speaks volumes of how apathetic Malaysians are that abusers know they can get away with it.

Justifying such behaviour in the name of Islam is even more abhorrent.

This is the 21^st century. Religious teachings that supposedly prescribe death for non-believers or wife-beatings should no longer be followed.

We have human rights now. And no, human rights is not a Western concept. Neither is keeping silent while a woman is assaulted an Asian value.

Women are not children – they’re adults with their own minds and are equal to men. Saying that a husband can “discipline” his wife by beating her “lightly” is utterly insulting. It reduces women to subservient creatures just because they decided one day to tie the knot with their lover.  

A man should never raise a hand against a woman.

Period.

Domestic violence is a crime in Malaysia (intimate partner violence, though, has yet to be criminalised).

Yet, we still behave as if it’s acceptable for a man to abuse his girlfriend or wife. We normalise it and act as if it’s part and parcel of domestic disputes.

So we look away when it happens and tell ourselves that it’s none of our business, even though a crime is happening right before our eyes.

While we turn our backs on abuse victims, we take offence instead at consensual acts, to the extent of videotaping a couple having sex on the balcony of an apartment and sending it to the media. The police are even getting involved in such a trivial matter.

Domestic or intimate partner violence does not only happen among Muslims; it cuts across race, religion and culture.

But the response of ordinary Malaysians to the abused woman at the Kota Kinabalu airport was appalling. The response of the airline staff who allowed the man to board the plane, while probably correct in legal terms, was disappointing too.

Malindo Air said the victim did not file a complaint, they did not witness the assault, and the incident did not disturb other fellow passengers (who pretended like nothing happened). Would they have acted then if the other passengers had made a fuss and demanded that the airline stop the man from boarding?

Probably.

This would have taught the man a lesson.

But no, the other passengers went about their business quietly and Malindo Air decided to let the man board with his weeping partner, who believes that such abusive behaviour is normal and “okay” in a relationship.

By not speaking up, we allow the woman to continue thinking that she deserves to be beaten whenever she does something to anger her partner.

By not speaking up, we allow the man to continue thinking that he has the right to hit his partner whenever he’s upset or when he just wants to “discipline” her.

By not speaking up, we perpetuate the cycle of violence and should the man one day end up killing his partner, her blood is on our hands.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.