Abuse of Chinese women sparks uproar
(China Daily/AFP)
Updated: 2005-11-28 05:36

The minister was not available for comment Sunday.

Opposition lawmaker Teresa Kok, who had said the video clip tarnished the image of predominantly Muslim Malaysia, said Sunday that the postponement of Azmi's trip by Chinese authorities was likely due to the row.

"The Chinese government is very concerned about the incident. I guess they want to see more action by Malaysia before Azmi embarks on the trip," she told AFP.

Teresa said many Malaysians were also outraged by the incident and were demanding the police officers responsible be punished.

Stills from the video clip, in which a naked woman prisoner, apparently of Chinese ethnicity, is forced to perform squats while a policewoman with a headscarf looked on, was on the front page of major newspapers Friday.

Police spokesman Musa Hassan said a swift investigation would be carried out and it could be completed by Monday.

The video clip surfaced after four Chinese nationals were detained in a local police station early this month for allegedly holding false travel documents.

They had complained that they were made to strip and perform squats during their detention but all have denied being the naked woman in the video.

A major Malaysian resort in July was forced to apologise to hundreds of Chinese tourists after rude behaviour by its staff.

More than 300 Chinese tourists staged a six-hour sit-in in protest over pig drawings that staff had sketched on their room key dockets to illustrate that they were not Muslim and therefore would eat pork.

In the latest case, a woman from South China's Guangdong Province said that she was forced to enter a hotel room by four people who pretended to be police checking for her identification and sexually assaulted her.

The four men have been detained and Abdullah has called for stern action against the suspects.

Malaysia was a major destination for Chinese tourists until this year, which has seen a 42 per cent decline in Chinese tourists, according to its tourism authority.

While the nation is seeking measures to reverse the sharp drop in Chinese tourist visits, the story of harassment of women is making matters worse.

However, Wang Jian, spokesman for Guangdong China Travel Service, told China Daily that such incidents are not having a great impact on the tourism sector, with many bookings received for winter.

He said it would be helpful if Malaysian officials come to China to promote tourism in their country and dispel any wrong notions.