Failing To Protect Our Children

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YOURSAY | 'Action at the school level must happen rapidly.'
Malacca teens in alleged gang rape expelled - DG
Underage status does not exempt rape suspects from law - Azalina
Bharat: This is a glaring example of a compounded failure of both the education system and the proper upbringing of children by parents. There is equal responsibility.
This is an alarming and traumatising incident, which is shocking and cannot be trivialised. But hopefully it will not be dismissed yet again as an isolated incident, with no attempt to correct the rotten systems we have in place now.
Will it be business as usual after the typical knee-jerk response?
The progressive decline in student discipline in schools over the years is glaring. Regurgitating memorised material for moral and religious studies contributes nothing to character building. Parental responsibility in moulding children to be responsible, accountable and disciplined is visibly lacking.
If these issues are not addressed or debated and bold but necessary remedial measures are not instituted to enhance gender and inter-religious respect among our children (not just limited to this incident), the future does not appear promising.
Koel: The school and the education department bear responsibility for failing to protect this child from the alleged gang rape on school grounds.
And such alleged juvenile perpetrators of these vicious crimes are also symbols of the failure of the same education system as well as of the social institutions that nurtured them.
This starts with the family institution. More and more, we hear of such violent assaults being committed by the very young. Something is very sick in this society.
PurpleJaguar0553: Sadly, this episode has shown us Malaysians one thing, that we have an education minister who is insensitive in her appreciation of the seriousness of the criminal act of both rape and filming and its distribution in a school.
Any minister with common sense who has empathy and sympathy would have condemned the act, ordered an investigation of staff negligence, assured parents of girls on safety and looked immediately into the psychological help for the girl and her family.
Instead, all she can think of is the future of the alleged young criminals as a priority. Why has she yet to be sacked by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim?
Anony_1601: The four students implicated in the gang-rape of a 15-year-old at a school in Alor Gajah, Malacca, have been expelled, following a meeting of the school’s disciplinary board, which convened earlier today (yesterday), said news reports.
If one is expelled from school at this time, how is it, or rather, why are they allowed to sit for the exam at a detention centre?
"Yesterday, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek announced at a press conference that her ministry would ensure that the students - two accused of the sexual assault, while the other two kept watch and recorded the act - would not be left behind in their education."
I am shocked at the minister's statement. Human rights lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan is right when he said that "By allowing accused rapists to sit for national examinations as if nothing has happened, the minister has sent a chilling message - that sexual violence can be swept under the rug in the name of “educational rights”.
Zizizette: I wonder if this education minister would have said the same thing, "the ministry would ensure that the accused would not be left behind in their education," if the victim were her own child or relative?
Makes one wonder what sort of qualifications are needed for someone to be appointed as a minister and to a prominent post, too!
Iamnotarobot: Is the school giving the alleged rapists time to sit for the SPM exam?
Action at the school level must happen rapidly.
Whether this is a high-performing school is not dependent on academic performance or discipline record alone, but on how it handles students who have no regard for their school name.
The courts can settle their part later on.
So, have the four alleged rapists been charged legally? Why does it feel like the victim is being "raped" again by the system and unnecessary bureaucracy?
I suspect that there might be other pupils who have been victims.
I think so because the victim herself had not made the complaint by herself in the first place. It took a video to uncover this crime.
The government must appeal to other victims of these alleged four rapists to come forward, at least to help the victim.
Other girls must be brave enough to step forward and defend themselves when they have been wronged.
Every faith teaches everyone to be brave and speak for injustice, even when it happens to themselves, and to have faith in God. Our girls must not fear speaking out or defending themselves.
Pink: They are children. They deserve the right to be treated as children under children’s law. Expelling them is hasty and inhumane. We are not sure yet whether it was a gang rape or consensual sex. Let the court decide.
The ministry should not go beyond the law. The minister is easily swayed by public opinion and hasn’t got a clue how to run the ministry.
Nada Villa: No matter how serious the allegations, we must remember that these boys are still students and suspects, who are not yet convicts.
The principle of innocent until proven guilty is the foundation of any just system. Justice cannot be served by public condemnation before the courts have spoken.
For sure, outrage is understandable, but justice must still rest on evidence, not emotion. Even video material has to go through proper forensic verification and legal process before it’s accepted in court.
One for the road, the rule of law protects everyone - that includes your daughters, sisters, and mothers. When we let mob mentality, which you seem to be leaning towards, take over, and people start taking matters into their own hands, we lose the very justice we claim to defend. - Mkini

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