“I for one will never use this company. If I want to be seated (next) to a man or woman, it is my choice. Who are they to play the moral police?” Siti Kasim said.
Her comments, posted this afternoon, were in response to a report in Malay Mail Online (MMO) earlier today, which quoted Noorlini Ramli, the owner and co-founder of KRZ Management Sdn Bhd, which manages TransMalaya, as saying that the segregation had been in practice since February last year.
Noorlini shared how she and her husband, Amir Khairul Amri Budiman Khairuddin, who is the CEO of the company, had come up with the initiative based on the unpleasant experiences she had as a lone traveller, as well as after having witnessed couples act inappropriately when seated together.
“I used to travel alone when I was a student at UiTM Jengka, and at that time, I witnessed some couples behaving inappropriately in the bus in full view of other passengers and I had to sit beside a foreigner who started acting funny with me.
“These were the basis of our initiative today. Single female travellers are usually exposed to more danger. We put ourselves in our passengers’ shoes,” she told the news portal.
TransMalaya provides long-haul express bus services and the issue of female passengers seated next to strangers on a long-distance journey was of top-most concern for Noorlini.
“We have heard and read reports of how female travellers get molested by strangers, so we took this effort to give them a greater sense of security and comfort.
“This is for both Muslims and non-Muslims. We simply want to avoid any untoward incidents,” she was quoted as saying on the move that she claims has the support of many customers, regardless of race and religion.
According to Noorlini, customers are told beforehand that there is gender segregation enforced on their buses.
“When our customers buy tickets from us, we would explain to them the seatings available. Some will say they are okay with having a male sitting beside them while most will opt for the female seats,” she said, according to MMO.
She stressed however, that Muslim couples who buy tickets together will be asked to produce their marriage certificate.
This was a bone of contention for lawyer Siti Kasim, who ridiculed the need to produce a marriage certificate.
“We should be insulted and angry with these kinds of people trying to make us like fools and sex maniacs,” she said when sharing the MMO article on her FB wall.
Asked about passengers of different genders who insist on sitting together, Noorlini said they are usually moved to the front in order for the bus driver to be able to monitor them.
“When that happens, we will usually give them the front seats. We will try advising them against it (sitting together), but if they do not accept our advice, then we give them the front seats so we can keep an eye on them,” MMO quoted Noorlini as saying.
The TransMalaya express service’s gender-segregation policy is reminiscent of similar policies in the state of Kelantan, where men and women are kept apart in cinemas, and there are separate payment counters for men and women in supermarkets, among other things.