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Sunday, January 25, 2015

Ministry mulls community service for parents who neglect kids

Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim says the community service hours would serve as a deterrent in order to ensure parents learn and reflect, so as to not forget their roles as parents. – The Malaysian Insider pic, January 24, 2015.Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim says the community service hours would serve as a deterrent in order to ensure parents learn and reflect, so as to not forget their roles as parents. – The Malaysian Insider pic, January 24, 2015.
The new act to address parental neglect of children could include community service as punishment and will be aligned with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that frowns on corporal punishment of children, said the Women, Family and Community Development minister today.
Community service would serve as a deterrent punishment to ensure parents "do not forget their roles as parents", said Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim.
"We are looking very seriously into this, they might have to do community service for hundreds of hours to increase awareness... we want them to learn and reflect," she said at a press conference after attending an event  in Shah Alam today.
Children's rights activists interviewed by The Malaysian Insider recently had cautioned that the act should provide options, including counselling and other forms of support, to parents, instead of being entirely punitive.
Rohani recently announced a revamp of the current Child Act 2001, saying that more than 70% of it would be amended. In view of the many changes, she said a new act would be tabled, adding that the ministry hoped to do so in Parliament in June or earlier.
"The Attorney-General has passed it back to us with comments, and now we are refining the act in legal terms."
But Rohani also said that Malaysia had to follow the guidelines set by the convention, since the country had signed the treaty under the United Nations.
However, she would not confirm if this meant spanking would be outlawed in Malaysia, as it is in countries like Sweden, where a Malaysian couple was last year tried and jailed for hitting their child.
Rohani said it was part of "Malaysian culture" to spank children "to teach them that way" but noted that it went against the CRC when asked specifically if the new act would ban parents from hitting their children.
"As we have signed the convention, we have to follow," she said.
Article 19 of the CRC which calls for all measures to protect children does not specify spanking or hitting but mentions "physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation including sexual abuse".
Other guidelines set by the CRC, she said, included letting children be part of decision making, which the new act would also take into consideration.
Rohani said the new act would also deal with emerging issues among youths, such as online protection for children, cyberbullying, suicide and self-harm.
On the ministry's funding cuts to 2 non-profit organisations in Chow Kit, Pusat Bantuan Khidmat Sosial and the KL Krash Pad, Rohani said she would clarify the situation at a separate time.
In December last year, it was reported that the ministry would stop funding the KL Krash Pad and PBKS, from January 2015 onwards.
However, the ministry's officials later informed KL Krash Pad in a meeting that they would continue to receive funding, on the condition that the centre submit a proposal every 4 months to justify their need for financial backing.
- TMI

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