Today, Aug 20 marks a year since 8-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin was forcibly taken away from her family. A month later the sexually-battered body of Nurin Jazlin was found in a sports bag in Petaling Jaya. The pain and suffering of her family took another blow when the post- mortem pictures of Nurin were circulated on the Internet.
No one has been charged with the abduction and murder of Nurin despite one of the largest police investigations.
The statistics on incest, rape and crimes against children are alarming. In 2007, according to police records, close to 3,500 children were raped or molested. A significant number of cases were related to incest. There was a 400% increase in child abuse cases reported between 2002 and 2006. Between 2004 and 2006, 18, 600 children were convicted of criminal offences with 2, 700 children languishing in the adult prison system in early 2008.
These cases are only the tip of the iceberg based on hospital, police, social welfare department and media reports. Sexual offences against children continue to increase. Recently, Court of Appeal President Zaki Azmi said he was ‘perplexed that sexual crimes, especially by parents, stepfathers and uncles were on the rise.’ (July 15, 2008)
Despite this alarming situation of crimes against children in the country, little attention has been given to the overall protection and welfare of children. The prime minister calls for justice with lightning speed for an accuser in a politically-related sodomy matter. Sharizat Jalil, the erstwhile minister responsible for child welfare and protection, calls for a jihad against a political rival in the coming by-election in Permatang Pauh.
Why didn’t the then minister launch a jihad against the heinous crimes against children during her tenure when she had the political clout and resources? I posed this question to an academic who is researching on child abuse in Malaysia. The young woman responded, ‘Children are not voters.’
Yes, children are not voters. As such, their concerns are not reflected in the Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan National agendas in the coming by-election. The economy, national unity, growing economic disparities, unemployment, environment, and corruption are critical issues that naturally must be on the agenda of any political party worth its salt.. But a reform agenda without child protection and child welfare concerns is an omission that cannot be forgiven as we remember Nurin Jazlin today.
Malaysia’s development policies and plans of the last 50 years have not included comprehensive child protection measures to ensure the rights, care and protection of all children in the country. For example, Malaysia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children (UNCRC) on Feb 17, 1995 with several reservations as they were found to be ‘incompatible with Malaysian policies, laws and practices’.
Among the reservations are issues of nationality that affect refugee children, freedom of speech, association, religion and torture (whipping for example). Implementation of the UNCRC has been slow.
The Child Act 2001 and the Child Witness Act 2007 are two primary pieces of legislation that provide protection to child victims of heinous crimes. However, their enforcement remains a concern given the alarming increase in violence against children. Incest continues to remain a serious problem despite amendments to the Penal Code in 2002 to increase imprisonment for individuals convicted of incest from 6 to 20 years with caning.
However, the Bar Council has pointed out that there are insufficient provisions in the Child Act 2001 for offences of sexual assaults compared to the Penal Code.
Trafficking of children for commercial sex is a growing concern stress NGOs working with children in interviews I have had with them. Hopefully, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007 will be enforced earnestly.
Child abuse and violence is a complex phenomenon requiring effective social policies and plans besides legislation. There is a social context to violence against children. There are risk factors at the individual, community and societal levels such as domestic violence, lack of community child care facilities, poverty, single parents and lack of resources for intervention programmes to prevent child abuse and maltreatment.
Without the political will to develop and implement comprehensive measures to protect our children, the cases of heinous crimes against children will escalate as revealed by the statistics from hospitals, police and the social welfare departments.
One important step would be to establish a National Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection in Malaysia to undertake a holistic and comprehensive investigation and propose solutions to address child violence in the country.
