Woman! are you 'gatal'?

‘Gatal’ is such a dirty and provocative word. No woman likes it. Maybe some can tolerate it. But after one MP namely YB Abdul Fatah Harun of Rantau Panjang made a sweeping statement in Parliament against divorced women or ‘janda’ recently, ‘gatal’ becomes a scandalous word to Malaysian. So now, it’s a national scandal to call a divorced woman ‘gatal’. Please refer to Datuk Shahrizat Abd Jalil if you have any doubt. She categorically condemned the MP for that word.

Technically ‘gatal’ cannot be properly translated in English. Loosely it means promiscuous, immoral or loose but ‘gatal’ can be more than that. Whatever it is, it is not a nice word to say to divorced women. Everybody wants the MP to retract his statement and apologize nationally but so far he is adamant of his statement. Even PAS president and its women chief do not agree with the statement.

Divorce can happen because of myriad of reasons. I heard divorce may happen because of extramarital affairs, cruelty, lack of maintenance either physically or mentally, impotence, different mindset or attitude, in-laws interference etc. But the main reason is because there is no more love and affection between the couple. I heard if you love someone you would do anything to keep her or him with you, no matter what. But love can be blind and immature sometimes.

However ‘gatal’ is not the reason that I heard in divorce cases. I think if a man cannot control his woman, he cannot simply wash his hand and say to the world that his woman is ‘gatal’, that’s why he divorces her. He must be responsible and take the blame also. It takes two to tango. If he knows that his woman is ‘gatal’ then why marries her in the first place. I guess it’s just a pathetic excuse for man to protect his ego or self-worth.

One of my close friends told me that in most cases, men are actually the ‘gatal’ one. According to him, most men are womanizer and polygamous. Men simply cannot resist pretty women especially the sexy one. But I heard its natural, if a man can resist the temptation of a beautiful and sexy woman, then he is not a man, either he is a prophet or a gay. Therefore, the friend of mine said that all man are ‘gatal’ actually but with different extent or level. I find his opinion interesting and persuavasive.

At the end of the day, ‘gatal’ or not is a question of facts. So I cannot make a sweeping statement against divorced woman unless I got my facts right.