The need to protect our children

“I AM deeply saddened and troubled by the reports about an organisation that, while claiming to uphold Islamic welfare, has been implicated in the abuse and exploitation of children under its care. This is an example of behaviour that should not be exhibited by Muslims. It is our responsibility to embody the true values of Islam in our daily lives, including sincerity, honesty, trustworthiness, justice, unity and mutual respect.”

This was part of the royal address by Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir at the Maulidur Rasul celebration in Negri Sembilan, held at the Seremban Padang on Monday. It is indeed unfortunate that the Yang di-Pertuan Besar – and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong the following day – had to make reference to the cases of the serious mistreatment of children in care homes in Selangor and Negri Sembilan at a time when Malaysians were celebrating the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, coinciding with Malaysia Day.

Certainly, it is tragic for Muslims and all Malaysians that such unspeakable horrors are happening to the children in our country.

This is not the first time that cases of abuse have been discovered and, worse still, it has been suggested that what has been found in this case is only the tip of the iceberg.

A lame statement of defence claimed that there were “only one or two cases” of sodomy. But this attracts more questions than answers: What happened to the perpetrators, how was justice served and what support has been given to the victims?

Much must change to stop these horrific acts from happening.

Part of the problem is bureaucratic. Discussions with various authorities and people involved with care homes has added to what I’ve observed as a board member of several institutions that seek to provide shelter, take care of, educate and provide other services to children.

Licensing is often complicated, involving agencies of different ministries. Even where there are written criteria about what is needed, different officials can have a different take on them (and sometimes, the same officials change their minds).

Furthermore, in obtaining such licences, there are sometimes ways to “bend the rules”. In some cases, organisations are told to “start first” as licences are pending. I sympathise with this because sometimes approval is given informally while formal letters are being prepared. But then when regulators do happen to inspect in the meantime, such arguments do not hold sway.

This inefficiency has already led so many noble, dedicated people to giving up trying to good things for the disadvantaged in our society. Unfortunately, these same weaknesses can be exploited by others who are not as ethical; in the worst case scenario, by people who intentionally want to commit evil behind the facade of a noble cause.

This inefficiency is compounded often by institutional failures in tackling such cases.

While the conduct of the police has been praised in this latest episode, citizens are asking why the relevant ministers to heads of agencies seemed to be so slow in responding. In the short term, commitments should have been made to investigate all related care homes. In the medium term, the licensing regime and oversight for all organisations dealing with children should be overhauled.

More reforms could come in the long term arising from a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI), which the Children’s Commissioner in the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia has wisely suggested.

Instead, much social media commentary has observed that the government has been energetic in other areas but relatively meek on this.

Another thing enables such evil to continue: it is when citizens feel scared to criticise things because they fear reprisals, either from the government, the alleged perpetrators themselves or those willing to use the rhetoric of race and religion to attack critics.

In some cases, we see double standards being applied, where wrongdoings are held to different standards because of the race or religion of the alleged wrongdoer.

This should not be the case; rather, people of the same race or religion ought to be more even more outraged that criminal acts are being committed by their own kind.

I pray that the children affected by this episode will receive all the mental and physical health remedies they need so that they can go on to receive excellent education and become model citizens of Malaysia.

In the meantime, I join others in asking the government to treat this matter more urgently.

Make the necessary reforms, constitute the RCI and integrate the safety of children in all aspects of policy making forthwith.

Tunku Zain Al-‘Abidin is a Trustee of Yayasan Chow Kit. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.