MARCH 18 — I am appalled by the callous statement made by a person who has the distinction of being appointed our Deputy Home Minister, Datuk Wan Junaidi. It is reported in the media today (18/03/2014) that this Minister believes that non-Malays are likely to be more accepting of statutory rape in children. In response to questions in Parliament as to why there is a low incidence of reported cases of sexual abuse among non-Malays, he is quoted as saying: “This doesn’t mean the cases mostly involve Malays. Because Malays are culturally more sensitive about its youth so there are more police reports about it. Non-Malays are maybe more accepting about it so the margin (is lower)”.

What a racist and insensitive comment to make. Even an uneducated individual knows better. People of every ethnic background are sensitive to their young and all abhor sexual abuse of children and incest. It is hard to understand why some fathers sexually abuse their children and why there are differences in reported rates, but it has nothing to do with ethnic differences.

If this is what passes for Minsters today, then it is no wonder the country is in the poor state that it is in. This Minister has not bothered to find out the reality of the matter or have the common decency of respect for other human beings before making baseless, hurtful statements. Especially on such a sensitive subject as the sexual abuse (incest) of children by their parent or family.

There are no adjectives strong enough to describe the poverty and immaturity of this comment. In any other country such a person would be shamed out of office. Here he will now claim he was misquoted and continue in leadership. Such a racist stance must never be tolerated. I wonder where the rest of our members of parliament were when this comment was made. Why did they not immediately speak up?

* Datuk Dr Amar-Singh HSS is a senior consultant community paediatrician, head Paediatric Department, at Raja Perempuan Bainun Hospital Ipoh, Perak.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or his organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.