| This is the fifth part from a series of features on social issues, focussing on children. KUALA LUMPUR - There were 819 reported cases of child abuse nationwide in the period of January-April this year, according to the Social Welfare Department's (JKM) statistics.
Of these cases, 549 involved girls and the rest, boys.
Selangor recorded the highest number of cases at 320 followed by Perak (91) and Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory at 79.
Based on the statistics for 2007 and 2008, Selangor was the state that recorded the highest number of child abuse cases in the country. The state recorded 816 of such cases in 2007 and 949 in 2008.
Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory was second at 444 and 595 cases for 2007 and 2008 respectively.
"The number of abuse cases in the Klang Valley is high, partly due to the big population size and stress.
"Furthermore, the society is now more aware of its social responsibility to report such cases," JKM's Director (Children) Nor Amni Yusoff told Bernama in an interview held at Menara Tun Ismail here recently.
Various means
Nor Amni said the public can used the various means to report child abuse cases. They can do it by calling the hotline 'Talian Nur 15999' or send e-mails and letters.
She said close to 90% of the abuse reports received by JKM came via the Talian Nur hotline launched by the Women and Family Development Ministry in December 2007.
The effectiveness of this Talian Nur can be seen from the drastic increase in the number of reported abuse cases.
Nor Amni said there was a jump of 501 reported abuse cases from 2,297 in 2007 to 2,780 cases last year.
In comparison, there was only an increase of 280 cases from 2006 to 207.
"We have held large scale publicity on this Talian Nur. This hotline is in four languages -- Malay, English, Tamil and Mandarin.
Apart from acting on reports lodged, this hotline also handles enquiries about the ministry.
"Talian Nur operates round-the-clock and is handled by a company trained by the ministry. It receives reports on abuse cases apart from enquiries on the ministry.
"For calls on information, the operator would provide the required information but if the call is on abuse, then the caller would be referred to the respective JKM officer," she said.
Immediate action
According to Nor Amni, upon receiving a report on an abuse case, the JKM officer would act within one hour to ensure that the child is immediately rescued.
"However, at times our people were unable to act as the information given was incomplete particularly the location of the home (address). There were also instances of false reports," she said. JKM would however investigate each of the reports lodged.
At least for the false alarms, the parents would know that the society's eyes and ears were on the safety of their children, she said, adding that for some abuse cases, the JKM officer or child protector would be accompanied by officers from other agencies and the police.
The rescued children would be sent to the hospital for a medical examination and the doctor's report on the case.
"We want to know whether the abuse is dangerous or the otherwise. If it is dangerous, we would lodge a police report," she said.
Apart from Talian Nur, the public can also use the Teledera (1-800-88-3040) hotline to lodge reports on child abuse cases. However the number of reports lodged via this hotline was small.
Teledera operates during the office hours. After these hours, the Red Crescent Society takes over and any report that ensues would be referred to the JKM.
Now and forever
The abuse of children is not something new in this country. In the past, these cases went unreported as the society saw it as a way to discipline the child.
Nor Amni said the society then was more tolerable on such cases as the abuse at that time was not as bad as that committed today.
"Before, the parents were not under tremendous pressure as that they experience now. To me stress plays a crucial role in the abuse of children now where the pressure on life is real heavy.
"Now most of the parents are working, there is no family support. Now we have more small families. Before we used to have more big families. Our children can be taken care by our relatives or their grandparents who live together with them.
"Before, people do not lodge reports because not only they did not care but also not to tarnish the family honour rather than giving priority to the interest of the victims.
"There were mothers who knew but refrained from lodging reports as they were unemployed and if their husbands go to jail who would support the family? That was the previous situation. Now the mothers are better off and they are not willing to see the daughters becoming sex slaves for their fathers," she said, adding that incest cases in the country involved all races.
Child Act 2001
For the abuse cases, particularly the physical abuse cases, the JKM can take legal action against the parents under the Child Act 2001.
However the department had, so far, not taken action to punish the parents as it wants to provide the opportunity for them to be rehabilitated through a counselling programme.
"For abuse cases, we try not to punish the perpetrators. Parents do not simply abuse their children, but the stress from the surrounding environment pushed them to lose their patience. In some of the abuse cases, the children were also responsible.
"For parents who do not know how to deal with the situation, they would easily lose their patience particularly if the child is hyperactive or disabled", said Nor Amni.
She said JKM would continue to monitor the parents even though a particular abuse case was closed.
For the abused child who needs to be separated from their parents, the child would be placed with a foster family or an institution of the JKM usually for three years.
"If we find that the parents, after attending counselling, can have their child back, then we can shorten the period of the child's stay at our institution.
"However if the parents remained unchanged even after the three years, we would go back to the court to ask for extension and there were cases where the child reached 18 years old, " said Nor Amni.
She said there were cases where the parents could not be traced after three years, forcing the child to stay at the institution until the person is 18 years old.
Child's rights
Each of JKM's policies and programmes is designed to protect the rights of all children in Malaysia.
According to Nor Amni, this is in line with the United Nations' Convention of The Rights of The Child (CRC).
She said under this convention, the child has four rights -- the right to live, the right for protection, the right to participation and the right for development.
Nor Amni said Malaysia signed the CRC in 1995 and needs to ensure that all provisions under the convention are adhered to. Hence the society needs to improve their role as the welfare of children is a joint responsibility.
"As members of the society, we cannot run away from this responsibility . The child is not other people's but also ours. We should think that all of the children are our children. We must lodge reports on child abuse.
"We hope more would come forward to give their cooperation and perform their responsibility for the sake of the children's future'.
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POSTED BY RATCHA
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