SUFFRAGISM.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 19, 5 January 1912, Page 6

SUFFRAGISM.

THE HAN EE . OF SARAWAK’S VIEWS. The white Jinnee nf Sarawak thus expresses her views on woman's sphere in the columns of “Votes for Women” : I uni u suffragette, she soys, liecause f have'the highest possible admiration for my own sex. I believe in its patience, its tact, its intuition, and, above all, in its generosity. Tile difference of opinions raging at the present moment between suffragettes and anti-suffragettes must he a matter of surprise to all who think and are ready to accept the inevitable march of events. Alter all, why should not certain independent women have the vote? What does the nation risk in making these educated beings equal in consequence with the coachman or the gardener at their gates? Oddly enough, fate has decreed that I should know Eastern women as intimately as I do my own countrywomen. I speak of Mohammedans who inhabit Sarawak, where I passed many years of my life. In that country government is not carried on by Parliamentary system, hut it is ruled by its Rajah, one or two of his Eng-

lisa officers, and by four or live Mohammedan gentlemen who are Malays The assemblage forms wnat is calk'd in Sarawak the Supreme Council, and what it decrees is absolute. But it must be remembered that the Rajah’s .Mohammedan Ministers are married men, and that their wives take a very vital interest in the government of tho country. Here suffrage! than comes in even in Sarawak, for however powerful outwardly they may he, it is sometimes difficult for those “grave and reverent Signors” to pass measures in the Council shopkl their wives sec fit to disagree. f have

often heard the Rajah himself allow that on many occasions tho objections of Malay ladies to certain clauses in a law proved to bo tho right ones, and those were changed in consequence. Needless to say, that the women’s influence in these matters was net publicly acknowledged. However that may he, Malay women have a great deal in say about the government of their country, whatever their menkind say or think; thus it will be seen that even in Sarawak snffragettism is already beginning to hold its own. After all, in the East or in the West, wherever women are determin-

ed to get a tiling, they get it. The hall is now set rolling all over the world. Women will not he slaves any longer. The greater sense of responsibility given to women by obtaining the vote must necessitate their striving for a higher education than they have hitherto had. But, on the other hand, if women arc denied the vote they will remain indifferent to the higher walks of life. Women are horn to be companions to men, and not servants. How often in history we. learn that many of flic greatest heroes of the world won!'? never have obtained their eminence without tire aid of feminine influence, which in a great measure shaped their fives. If the majority of men were generous enough they would hold out n helping hand after all to their liest friends, and in mutual understanding and sympathy tho pair would go forth and help themselves and others to build a better sort of world.