By Marissa Nazeera
Some might wonder what is the difference between a house and a home. A house may be defined as a place or merely a building to carry out activities like sleeping, eating, taking a shower, resting and for the same routine to be repeated every single day.
But a home, on the other hand, carries more than just a place where all family members reside together and is filled with love and affection showered on everyone. Most of us had also received our first education during our childhood and learned informally at home. We were taught by our parents, and even played “school” with our siblings at a place we called home.
How come then, a home (if it can really be called a home) had led us to the main concern of the spike in the number of abuses – sexual, physical and mental – among children during the movement control order since March last year up until this very day? Statistics have shown that œchild abuse cases in Malaysia had been on the increase due to repeated abuses by none other than their own parents.
Whose fault is this then?
Is this the consequence of governments failure in detecting such cases and addressing it at an early stage? Or is it caused by improper and lack of anger management control by Malaysian parents? Or is it just œthe fate that had been written by God that we all shall just accept it as it is?
Obviously, the fate can be changed if only we play our role in detecting the œdisease that prevailed in our society and take immediate steps to address the issues effectively. None of the kids would want to be born into an abusive family. Nevertheless, as members of the society, we can tell that children would choose to live in a safe and abuse-free environment.
The president of Association of Toy Libraries who is also the founder of the Childline Foundation Malaysia, Datin P.H. Wong, said since the first movement control order began, it was reported there had been an increase of 30 to 40 percent in child helplines phone calls worldwide. It is alarming to note the cry for help to evacuate the children and place them in a better care. No child or even any human being of any age would want to be trapped in a place called home, where it is also the same crime scene where they are repeatedly been abused sexually, mentally and physically.
If schools were still open, at least the children can escape from the 24/7 abuse. However, schools had remained close until further notice and the children had to obey the movement control order for as long as everyone was ordered to do so.
The children have nowhere else to run other than to bear the pain and sufferings on their own. It is not like they were free to walk out of the door even if there is no restriction order. The perpetrator is living in the same house with full power and dominance over them. It would cost them non-stop punches, beatings and kickings so long as they failed to unlock the padlock and walk out of the door.
The unheard scream of help
It is very important for any close friends, boyfriend or girlfriend, extended family members or anyone who is close to the victims to keep an eye on the children. They may hide their bruises during video calls, but they can never hide their body language. Some might send hidden signals through their œfunny social media postings or even as simple as a spam missed calls.
Also, they might reach out for help from any stranger who is close to them in terms of distance. For example, the food-delivery riders, guards or even social media friends. It may sound silly for a stranger to seek help from another stranger, but paying attention to such notices or signs coming from them might be even easier than to talk to a stranger.
What does the law says about it?
To lodge a child abuse report is a duty, especially to family members as provided for in section 28 of the Child Act 2001. Hence, according to section 2 of the same act, the phrase œmember of family is defined as a parent or a guardian, or a member of the extended family, who is a household member (ordinarily resides in the same house as the child).
When the child is brought to hospital, section 27(a) of the Child Act 2001 provides that the medical officer or medical practitioner who believes that a child he or she is examining or treating is physically or emotionally injured caused by ill-treatment, neglect, abandonment, or exposed or has been sexually abused, should report the case too. The failure to report is actually an offence and can be fined not exceeding RM5,000 or an imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both as stated in section 27 (b).
Therefore, the public must play their utmost role in reporting such cases to the police as soon as possible. One phone call can save a thousand lives. Firstly, one can report the child abuse cases through the Talian Nur hotline at 15999, or straight away call the police. Remember to inform the childs name (if possible) and also the house address to ease the officers to locate the child. It is as easy as ABC, but remember to not make fake phone calls because it will also cause backlog cases and burden the officers in performing their public duty.
The increased number of child abuse cases in Malaysia is a clear evidence that our society is in danger. It shows that even parents who give birth to their own children, can also be evil.
We have to ask ourselves are we mentally ready to marry and bear the responsibilities as parents? As the Malay saying goes, tepuk dada tanya selera before marrying someone and decide to have children. Let’s be reminded that not every parent is qualified to be parent in the right sense.
Although parents are imperfect and still learning to become good parents, it does not give them the green light to be abusive towards their children. Once a child is born into this world, there comes along an amanah from Allah SWT. ***