Children pay for the sins of adults

THE sins of the father, it is said, are visited upon the children. Very often, it turns out to be true.

Adults make the mistakes, usually for selfish reasons – and the young and innocent pay the price, having to face situations that they are hardly equipped to face, much less handle.

Take the case of 15-year-old Russian ice skating genius Kamila Valieva.

One moment she was on an amazing high – she became the first ever female athlete to land a quadruple jump in the Winter Olympics en route to giving Russia the short programme gold medal in Beijing.

The next day, her world fell apart – she tested positive for drugs and was facing an international ban. Thankfully, saner heads prevailed and she was allowed to continue.

But she was no longer herself. On Thursday, she fell three times in her next outing, and was out of the medals. It turned out be a blessing for the medallists – they could have a medal ceremony as long as she was not on the podium.

The 15-year-old, though, was devastated and in tears. A giggly, young innocent girl had seen her innocence snatched away from her.

It’s sad what happened to her. Katarina Witt, two-time Olympic champion and one of the greatest ice skaters of all time, was disgusted.

“Kamila Valieva is a young girl and child prodigy, whose highly difficult performances and grace enchanted the whole world at only 15, a minor, depending on adults and she is not to blame here.

“She probably followed her coach and medical team. It is a shame, and the responsible adults should be banned from the sport forever,” she said.

She is right. It’s usually the adults who are to blame but it is the children who end up paying the price.

If getting banned at 15 is tough, what about getting jailed?

That is the plight of yet another 15-year-old. Raped and left behind by a 20-year-old, she is believed to have killed her newborn baby.

The girl in Terengganu has been charged with murder and cannot be bailed. She is now behind bars awaiting trial.

But she is 15. And a rape victim. Surely justice can be tempered with mercy – and understanding.

The Malaysian Bar and former law minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said seem to think so, at least. Both have called for legal representation for the girl and for her to be taken out out of the criminal system. She is no hardened criminal. She is the victim.

Surely, she can be put into a rehabilitation centre and be given a second chance. She needs help, not the punishment that comes with a murder charge.

And what of the 20-year-old man who made her pregnant? Where is that adult? Has he been charged with statutory rape and thrown into jail? Why is he not in the public eye for this offence?

These are questions that need answers. The 15-year-old cannot be held solely responsible.

It’s worse if they are younger. Which brings us to another set of 14-year-olds, twin girls and their younger brother, who is only 10.

Three years ago, when the girls were 11 and the boys just seven, their father, then a Hindu, took them away from their mother.

Nagashwaran Muniandy was then arrested for a drug-related offence and before being jailed, he converted to Islam and converted the children as well – without his wife’s knowledge.

He is from Kedah, his wife is from Penang yet he took the children to Perlis to have them converted. He is in jail in Kelantan, making it a saga involving four northern states.

What’s more, it’s learnt that he had the children in Johor as well while keeping them away from his ex-wife.

Now, some Muslim authorities like the Perlis mufti are moving to ensure the children stay in their new religion.

The mufti, Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, claims the three children are unwilling to return to their mother Loh Siew Hong.

Not only that, he has received a call from the father in prison asking him to defend the conversion.

That despite the fact that the Federal Court has ruled that all conversions must have the approval of both parents. Not to forget that the mother has won custody of the children in the High Court.

The timeline is quite clear. The Federal Court made the ruling in January 2018, the Kuala Lumpur High Court granted the mother custody in March 2020.

Yet, three months later, in July, the father had them converted. Did the father choose to have the children converted in Perlis for a reason? Only he can answer that.

Perlis, Asri has clarified, has a state constitution that allows any one parent to convert the child. Whether the state laws override the Federal Court decision remains to be seen.

The mother, meanwhile, says the children want to be with her, but have been asking her to convert. She is even willing to do that, just to please her children, even if she doesn’t believe in the faith.

I do not believe that Islam, or any other religion, works that way.

Meanwhile, the children are caught in the middle as the adults wrangle.

Despite what the mufti may say, the children are in no position to decide on their religion now. They may do so when they turn 18.

Instead, they should be enjoying childhood with their parents – or parent – not in some welfare home.

Religion should not be a bargaining chip and should not get in the way of their normal lives.

Remember Chee Hoi Lian? She is the kindergarten teacher who suddenly found herself with a child left in her care by an Indonesian woman.

Chee, despite being of different religion, raised the child as a good Muslim, even paying for her religious education.

If only more people could be like Chee, the world would be a much better place to live in.