Kuala Lampur, Sept. 4 -- Many years ago, I wrote a piece in the now defunct The Malaysian Insider with this same title, Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful. The title itself was borrowed from Pantene's famous 1980s advertising campaign, in which model and actress Kelly LeBrock delivered the now iconic line, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful." It was deliberately provocative then, and it still is. I did not imagine I would use it again. But politics is full of recycled problems, so here we are.

The recent fascination with the divorce of a woman politician brought it back because, after all the talk about privacy, I was left with a more familiar irritation. A woman can enter politics, win office and make decisions that affect thousands ...