IF an epidemic is defined as a sudden rapid increase in the number of cases of a disease or medical condition in a specific community, population or region, then it’s fair to say that we’re living in an era of epidemics.
But at the same time, epidemics can be also used to describe non-communicable diseases or public health crises such as obesity. I would argue that we can also apply the term to some other crises that spread just like diseases and potentially are just as lethal.
Let’s talk about the epidemic of ignorance, for example. Despite an education system that basically teaches people just enough literacy, the amount of ignorance that seems widespread among our populace regarding global issues deserves scrutiny.
We know just enough to have a smidgen of sympathy for people far away but not enough to practice real compassion when they are nearby. Hence the ease with which we turn a blind eye to returning people to the countries they escaped from and where they may likely be, at best, discriminated against and, at worst, killed.
Ignorance fuels prejudice, and weak leadership and unclear policies only throw petrol on to the fire. The result is vulnerable people being beaten up, deprived of a means of living and healthcare, and even murdered. But what do we care, they are foreigners after all. Just pray that we never wind up anywhere where ignorance about us also rains the same violence upon us.
Then there’s the epidemic of corruption. When corrupt leaders are treated with kid gloves, it sends a message to lesser money-takers that there is always the possibility of getting away with it.
Consequently, the epidemic spreads. The giving and taking of small bribes become normalised as just part of life. Like a virus, the “small” amounts become larger because the virus of greed has lodged itself in the heart.
Homes, cars and wives’ handbags have become more expensive and therefore more commensurate ang pows must be given and taken. That’s the way it is.
The epidemic thus organically grows in tandem with the oil crisis, inflation, and other external human-made factors. Is this physically dangerous? To some people, those who tried to shed some light on this epidemic, it has been.
Then there’s the epidemic of hubris, the excessive pride, overconfidence, and arrogance that some people exhibit, especially when they are in positions of power. These people can’t stand being challenged especially on the policies and decisions they make. What more, when the questioner is a young female person.
Women are apparently supposed to shut up and take it and not ask difficult or awkward questions of older males. Hence the terrible response to Umi Umairah, a university student who made the “mistake” of asking a question about corruption in a public forum. What stood out to me was not just her courage but the simpering cowardice of the students around her who obviously had thrown only softball questions at the people onstage.
Perhaps the most invisible epidemic is the one of femicide, defined as the killing of women and girls just because they are women and girls. Otherwise known as gender-based violence, it comes from a perception of the female sex as not only weaker but also inferior.
Of late, there have been a spate of women, and especially schoolgirls, being killed, sometimes even on school premises. The most recent is the case of 16-year-old Irene Sofiya Mohd Khairool Faisal, who died from blunt force trauma caused by being hit on the head by an iron rod. A boy of the same age has been arrested and charged with her murder.
Last October 2025, another 16-year-old, Yap Shing Yuen, was stabbed to death by a 15-year-old boy who was later acquitted by the court on the grounds of insanity. A year later this month, a 19-year-old student in Kuantan, M. Elisa Jonova, was found dead, allegedly strangled by her boyfriend.
There seems to be a case almost every day of a woman being injured or killed by someone she knows. A nurse in Kelantan was recently injured after being stabbed six times by her husband. A week later a Customs Depart-ment officer was allegedly killed by her husband at their home.
The first epidemic that happens when these cases are reported is the epidemic of victim-blaming. “Oh, she must have done something” to provoke the stabber or killer. One speculation is that the victim had rejected the advances of the killer or had dared to challenge the stabber on some misdeed. Somehow this is supposed to justify their murders.
But why are the men and boys being let off? Sure, they were arrested, charged, and will face trials. But none of this would have happened if their response to whatever disputes they may have had was such violence. Women are supposed to be the emotional sex, yet clearly it is men who are unable to restrain their emotions at all. Is that because we don’t teach them from young how to handle conflict? Do we tell boys that to not show weakness, they must always be aggressive? Isn’t the biggest insult to fling at a boy is to say he’s like a girl?
No wonder they perceive women as weak and should always submit to their will. If they don’t, the punishment is the least sophisticated of all, by just punching them or by using any instruments at hand.
It’s not a new epidemic. In 2000, young computer engineer Noor Suzaily Mukhtar was raped and killed by a bus driver. Then there was the brutal case of Canny Ong in 2003. There have been numerous cases of women killed before, during, and after Noor Suzaily and Ong. People might think these are aberrations in our normal peaceful lives, but every girl and woman knows the precautions she is supposed to take when she is out: Don’t walk along dark streets or into car parks alone, always watch your drink, always get your keys out before you get to your car or home so you can enter it swiftly. But as we have seen, the danger can come both from strangers and in the home. The common factor is that the perpetrators are 99% men.
We need to take this epidemic seriously if we value our female population and to stop the violence. Having female-only train carriages or car parks do not change mindsets. In fact, they may reinforce the idea that women need to be corralled to be safe.
We need data to show the foundational causes of this violence, and then analyse and implement the solutions. There needs to be constant messaging on equality and respect for women. Young boys need to be taught that punching someone is never the answer. That old adage “boys will be boys” is harmful to them if it lands them in jail.
It can be done if we have the will. But in a world where men dominate and women are often told to shut up, do we have any hope?
Marina Mahathir is tired of insecure men using their brawn instead of brains and heart to deal with women, whether it is in the home, in public, or in conflict zones.
The views expressed here are solely the writer’s own.
