Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin has urged parents to contact the relevant government agencies for financial help, instead of "selling-off" their children.
That is all very well said. But what happens if the parents are ignorant of this help which is available?
For 61 years, Umno-Baru made 14 visits (every five years) to the rural areas to seduce the village headman, to encourage his flock to vote for Umno-Baru, with goody bags of milo, rice and milk powder. It is doubtful that any useful social enterprise message filtered down to the villagers.
Malaysian women are the backbone of family life in Malaysia, the economy, the workforce, the teaching institutions and factories - but they are being attacked, physically and metaphorically, like never before.
Malaysian women make easy victims.
You would think that Parliament would offer some protection for women MPs when sexist remarks are directed at them. In the end, it depends on the will of the Speaker to demand a retraction or an apology, but you might as well expect a flock of pigs to fly overhead.
Let us hope, the new Speaker will not fail the Malaysian public and its women MPs.
When Facebook posters encouraged the murder of a promising woman politician, the assemblyperson for Seri Delima, Syerleena Abdul Rashid, the police should have zoomed-in quickly to apprehend those responsible for making the threats.
If the Royal Malaysian Police Force is able to arrest those who have allegedly insulted the royalty and criticised the disgraced former PM, Najib Abdul Razak, the same speedy response should have been possible for Syerleena's aggressors.
The police are seen only to reward and protect the high and mighty, the privileged and the powerful.
Just before GE14, DAP's Syerleena (photo) had lodged a police report, because posters claiming that she encouraged the formation of a Christian state in Penang had gone viral on social media.
The death threat against Syerleena was made because her attackers alleged that she had betrayed Islam, by her cooperation with the Chinese (Cina kafir harbi), to attack Muslim institutions.
The "kafir harbi" remark first surfaced in 2016, when the Pahang mufti, Abdul Rahman Osman, demanded that "kafir harbi" be slain. He claimed that the DAP are "kafir harbi", and actively opposed Islam.
When the public reacted with fury, Abdul Rahman made a U-turn, but only after 10 days, time enough for his vitriolic message to take hold in the unquestioning and bigoted minds of the nation's gullible Muslims.
More lies emerged against Syerleena
More lies have emerged and Syerleena has been accused of vowing to attack Islamic institutions, like Jakim (the Islamic Development Department), on behalf of the DAP.
If the truth be known, many Muslims would like Jakim banned, but the critics targeted her because she is from DAP.
All of these attacks point to a collaboration by Umno-Baru and PAS, both of which are very insecure. When they are weak, they try to gain the upper ground, with lies, which they hope will cause dissent and confusion.
Malaysian women are also victims if they are poor or harbour a shameful secret.
Decades ago, baby girls were easily sold off to families, for a number of reasons; such as infertility, a means for social security for a couple's old age, companionship in old age.
When laws were tightened, the sale of babies continued on the black market, allegedly with the collusion of midwives and doctors. The irony of the regulation of this illegal human trafficking was the creation of a thriving underground trade.
A variation of the sale of baby girls is the offer of marriage made on behalf of teenage, or pre-pubescent daughters, to older men, like the recent marriage of an 11-year-old to a 41-year-old man.
An 11-year-old girl knows only what her parents tell her. She does not know about falling in love. She will never feel fulfilled without an education, or be able to explore her full potential.
She will be trapped in the cycle of looking after her old man, falling pregnant, taking care of her babies, and in a few years, not just deal with her own hormone-raging-teenage children who are only a few years younger than her, but also her husband who is senile, and probably has erectile dysfunction and double incontinence.
It would be a terrific bonus if she was enterprising enough to start a home business, like making kuih-muih or simple needlework, so he could live off her income.
If she were a headstrong woman, her husband might replace her with a younger model, by divorcing her and dumping her without any financial help, or perhaps send her packing to her family. After all, the Malay man is aware that syariah laws are very poorly enforced.
For the price of a small dowry, the man who marries a child bride is able to engage the services of a maid, baby-maker, child-carer, houseminder, cook, "lust satisfier" and more importantly, a nurse to care for him in his old age.
All in all, not a bad deal, eh?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.