I have stop reading local newspaper for several years for a number of reason. I also has stopped watching local news, regardless whichever channel for quite a while because of several reason. But I do 'flipped' and go through online news from time to time just to get a glimpse on what is going on in the local scene. That is how this issue come into my attention and also thanks to my fellow fb friends who posted it on their wall.
It was mentioned that, the reason why the statistic of statutory rape is higher among the Malay as compared to other races is that because other races do not report the incident to the police unlike the Malay. "The Malay, unlike other races, can't accept sex with underage person, children out of wedlock and pre-marital sex"..his word..not mine. Therefore, indirectly he claimed that other race such as the Chinese, Indian, Iban, Orang Ulu, Kadazan…do accept sex with underage person, do accept children out of wedlock…do accept pre-marital sex. He also mentioned that other races but Malay, are less sensitive to issue of statutory rape. So, he is implying that other races are less sensitive to such scenario therefore when it does happen among other races, they ignore it & do not report to the authority. Are you kidding me?? Seriously???? Does that means, we (as I belong to the other races that he mentioned) keep a blind eye when our children was raped??? Or having sex when they are just 15 years old??? My word (like the Brits like to say)..what a statement..
Actually who is not being sensitive here? If he is being sensitive, he won't say such statement in the first place. Being a minister doesn't give you permission to simple say whatever you want to say. Does it ever occurred to him, that the reason why the percentage is lower is because there is nothing to report besides the one that already been reported? Does it ever cross his mind that the percentage is higher among Malay because it does happen quite frequently within the Malay community? (Don't start label me as a racist yeah, I am just stating this based on the given statistic study, written in the news.) Why? I do not have any idea nor I want to indulge into the matter because it is out of my league. What I want to highlight here is how insensitive our leaders can be when it come to sensitive issues such as this.
Are we supposed to create a statutory rape case and reported a bogus case just to show how sensitive we are toward the issue? Are we suppose to consent the thought of allowing our underage children to have sex so that we will not be in the statistic? Does it occurred to him that some of the unreported cases might be due to other reason besides being insensitive? Or does it occurred to him the reason why some does not report to the police is because they have their own 'justice system'? Or because they simply do not trust the authority and that the perpetrator will be punish? For me, statistic data mean nothing is you do not do something about it. I guess he does not expect someone to ask 'why' that he was so flabbergasted, which resulted with an insensitive answer. Still, there is no excuse for saying what he has said.
What important in my opinion is that not only the why question, but what and how. It doesn't matter whether it higher among the Malay, Chinese, Indian etc. I think what should matter most is to investigate what contribute to the percentage regardless which race you belong to. Rape is a serious crime, not only to woman but as well as men, and especially to underage individual. It take away your dignity, your self worth and for some, it takes away their reason to live. No one deserve to go through it regardless how it happen. It is not enough to say that most of statutory rape happen due to pornography or peer influence or genetic etc. We need a solid prove, written black and white. We need to go down and get our hand dirty. Statistic mean nothing without explanation, that is what we researcher were taught from the beginning.
The next part is what can we do about this statistic. It is not enough just to parade it around because even without doing any survey, anyone can come out with a statistic data. And that make me think, how would he know that those who reported the case are due to their sensitivity to the issue? As far as I am concern, when you making a police report on anything, there is no form that specifically ask you why you do the report. Can you imagine you going to the police station & the police ask you why you want to report a rape case? So, what are we as an individual, society and nation going to do about it. Next, the how question come in. How can we reduce the 80% to 40%, or the 4.3% to 1.3%? If you want to completely eradicate statutory rape..I will say, you are living in the fantasy land. One thing I realised about Msian politician, they love to make unrealistic target as if we all have Doremon magic box. Be realistic with the target and do it consistently and gradually. What important is the percentage is reducing every year isn't it? Then we will know what we did in our previous planning that we shouldn't do in our future planning or what we did not do previously that we should do in the future in order to achieve our target.
So, I agree when he said that he is not a racist when he mentioned that. Because he is just an ignorant individual, who couldn't be bother whether his words will hurt the public feeling or not. I found it so amazing how some people could just said unintellectual statement such as that and get offended when others highlight the wrongness of their act. How can we Malaysian trust and have confident in our leaders when they do not learn how to communicate with sensitivity..when they do not bother to 'investigate' statistic reports but quickly make assumption when asked..when they 'promoting' racial harmony and yet contradictory 'ignite' fire of racial tension…when they urging public to spend wisely when they 'throwing' money like what we witnessed in the Hindustan movie…How can we trust them to provide a safe environment for our children to live in when he himself is ignorant to know the why, what and how question in regard to statutory rape..
Ps. As a fellow Sarawakian…berik malu ajak eh...
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