Bintulu Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing called for actions to curb the worsening situation in the country.

This came from his promise to the people of Bintulu after a few cases involving students had raised much public concern. The cases include a recent murder in a school, cases of students playing truant, students surfing Internet and playing games in cyber cafe during school hours and students loitering in town.

Tiong, who is also a Justice of the Peace, has also found a lack of coordination between the schools and the parents, and in the current parliamentary sitting, he expressed worries over the worsening moral and discipline of students, saying that cases involving them had been regularly highlighted in the newspapers.

“Something must be done to improve the situation,” he said in the current parliamentary sitting.

He said he had on occasions called on the police for action, “but they told me they were not empowered to handle juvenile delinquency”.

He expressed shock that there had even been a case in the country involving a 12-year-old boy raping a 30-year-old woman, saying that such cases should raise the alarm and call for immediate rectification.

He questioned why the law and other implementations had not been effective to address the situation.

Minister of Women, Family and Social Development, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, in replying, said her ministry had stepped up various preventive measures and education, including providing information in the websites and collecting public suggestions.

The minister felt that parents played an important role as well because a lot of the problems involving children, adolescents and youths had sprouted from their families.

“If the parents are negligent towards educating their children, how can the blame be shifted on the government?” she questioned.

She said this was a situation that should involve all citizens.

Tiong had brought this topic up by referring to another case involving a 13-year-old boy killing the 11-year-old daughter of his tuition teacher with a sharp weapon.

The case in Kuala Lumpur occurred on May 30, 2002. After the boy was convicted on July 1, 2003, he was detained in Kajang Prison under Section 97 of the Children’s Act, pending a decision from the King.

Under the country’s law, the boy cannot be sentenced to death although he was convicted under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder. The section provides a mandatory death sentence for a convict.

In the parliamentary sitting, Tiong queried about the balance between the protection of children and the preventive measures under the Children’s Act.

Shahrizat, in her reply, confirmed that no death sentence would be meted out on a minor.

In such a conviction, she said an order had to come from the King in the Federal Territory and from a Governor or a Sultan in the 13 States.

She said her ministry was also reviewing the Children’s Act to determine whether there should be whipping for a minor upon criminal conviction, the compulsory requirement for them to attend the national service, protection guaranteed in the Act for the children, the duty of the Children Protection Board and the role of the Welfare Department in protecting the rights of the children.