Just yesterday, it was reported that an American woman had claimed that 50 Malaysian men had tried to grope her during her time in Kuala Lumpur, when she walked from Central Market to Shangri-La.
Many condemned the woman as they believe the claim to be unrealistic and called her a liar, among other things.
Now, the woman, Christine Hill, has responded to Malaysians in an article titled ‘A Response to Some Malaysian Press Articles‘, shared to her Twitter page.
She wrote, “When I was in my 20s and living in Malaysia, men in the streets used to grab me (and other white women) all the time if I walked in public, especially in downtown KL. To be absolutely clear here, I used to face regular attacks from Malay men walking down the street, reaching out and honking one of my breasts like you would honk a horn.”
“I told everyone I knew in Malaysia about these experiences, including senior government officials, but I often left off the gory details because they are gross and inappropriate to discuss with people at this senior level.”
She went on to share details of the backlash she received when she recounted these experiences on Twitter recently.
“Malaysians responded with a string of abusive reposts and comments that included the fact that I am old, overweight and smelly (facts one can clearly discern from the internet). Many also called me a Zionist, and one even posted a drawing of the kind of crane used for hanging executions in Iran.”
“There were also a smattering of #FreePalestine tags, which created an uncanny parallel between the abuse I was receiving online and had been subjected to when I lived in Malaysia and the much more serious assaults of 10/7,” she explained.
10/7 refers to October 7, 2023, the alleged sexually violent attack by Hamas on Israel.
“To the people writing these posts, I ask you: Do you think it would be okay to assault someone if they are a Zionist? Is it okay to insult and demean me because I support Israel, a position I only came to after seeing the grotesque attacks of last October.”
A local journalist had reached out to her to ask her which senior government official she had told about her experience in KL when she was here.
“I will never tell. We were talking on background and I would never sell someone out like that, even when I was a reporter.”
She then responded to the backlash.
“The vast majority of these responses have been deeply offensive. First, the insults to me were just gratuitous. Obviously, any intelligent person could discern that these events took place in the past when I was younger. For the record, I’ve included a picture of me when I was younger and looked like a normal young American woman.”
“Second and more importantly, these comments assume that these assaults were sexual in nature when they were actually attempts to intimidate a woman out of public spaces,” she shared.
Christine explained that her experience of assaults came at a period during which Malay women had “all been intimidated into wearing head coverings“, referring to tudungs, “which had previously been rare“.
“Now, to understand why I was targeted, as were ALL of my other white European and North American female friends under 40, it is important to understand Malaysia’s racial make up of which consists of Malays, Indians and Chinese. The Malays are almost all Muslim and have a hard time converting to another religion.”
“Most of the rest of the population is not Muslim and not involved in these kinds of Salafi/Muslim Brotherhood styled intimidation tactics. I was never assaulted by an ethnically Chinese or Indian man. I also never saw or heard of any instances when Malay Muslim men targeted Indian or Chinese women. That’s not surprising at all,” she shared.
She also brought up the May 13 incident, which is a rather sensitive topic for Malaysians.
“Malaysia has a background of significant racial tension, particularly during the 1969 race riots. The political system, including one of the favourable benefits enjoyed by the Malays, is built defusing such tensions. Any kind of cross racial harassment among Malaysian citizens is verboten and would be dealt with by the authorities right away.”
“White women, however, are outside this system and appeared to be considered fair game. It also did not help that the political leaders at the time were spewing a continuing stream of anti-colonial, anti-white rhetoric that was deeply dehumanising and which also created a number of other uncomfortable incidents.”
In the end, she discouraged people from visiting Malaysia, despite the fact that the alleged assaults she mentioned happened decades ago.
“A normal, humane response would have been to ask about my experience and express sympathy. Malaysia is full of nice people, but I don’t recommend travel there right now,” she wrote, adding that she would share more on this later.
What do you think of her response to the backlash she received on Twitter? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
Also read: Tourist Tearfully Explains How She Was Kicked Off a Bus from Penang to KL Due to Overbooking
