KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 — Back home after serving several months in a Swedish prison for child abuse, Malaysian teacher Shalwati Norshal said her incarceration has not led her to regret her actions.
Instead, the mother of four pointed out that she had merely hit her children to educate them.
“I will still defend my action to hit my children to teach them,” Malay tabloid Kosmo reported her saying today.
Shalwati, however, said she still respects Sweden’s laws, which prohibit parents for hitting their children.
“The Malaysian and Swedish cultures are different. I believe many parents in Malaysia would understand mine and my husband’s action,” Kosmo quoted Shalwati saying.
Shalwati also claimed that being away from her children during her time in prison has helped strengthen family ties.
“They were all very supportive of me... despite being far away from me,” the daily quoted her saying.
On March 29, Shalwati and her civil servant husband were sentenced by a Swedish court to imprisonment for hitting their four children from September 2010.
Azizul Raheem, a Tourism Malaysia officer in Stockholm, was released on July 9 after a three-month jail sentence in Sweden, while Shalwati, a teacher on unpaid leave, was sentenced to 14 months’ jail.
However, the sentences were reduced and both only needed to serve one-third of their jail terms.
Shalwati returned to Malaysia yesterday, and was reported saying that she was looking forward to begin teaching again, this time at Sekolah Seri Puteri in Cyberjaya.
Women, Family and Community Development minister, Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim said yesterday that the couple’s custodial rights for their four children would only be returned to them if the Swedish government is satisfied with the monthly report sent by the department.
She said that the Social Welfare Department had submitted 23 reports to the Swedish government since Azizul Raheem and Shalwati were detained on March 29 this year.
“We are still following the family’s development in order to provide reports to the Swedish government until their side is satisfied with the progress,” Bernama reported Rohani telling reporters after launching the 2014 Addressing Violence Against Women campaign in Johor.
The couple’s four children- Aishah, 15, Ammar, 13, Adam, 12 and Arif, eight, are currently placed under the custody of their aunt in Kota Baru, Kelantan.
