"More and more married women nowadays are striving to become successful in their career or trying to become women of substance while employing domestic helpers to look after their children," said Member of Parliament for Bintulu Dato Seri Tiong King Sing.

Officiating at a concert organised by the Bintulu School of Dance Academy on Monday evening at a hotel here yesterday, he said many problematic yojng people were from the affluent families.

"They are brought up by house maids as parents spent most of the time pursuing wealth and they were seldom being taught good values," said Tiong.

Parents compensated their absence by showering ehir children with cash and buying for them the latest model of mobile phones and video games or computer softwares, he said.

"Recently I was told that marriages of some newly married couples here ended up in divorce becoause the in-laws were unhappy with the daughters-in-law for not knowing how to do the basic household chores like cooking and washing; others found themselves not ready to settle down as they could not commit to one another and were unwilling to make sacrifices," said Tiong.

He added the woman's role in the family was to look after the children and make sure they grow up to become reponsible citizens.

"The lack of parental guidance has made many of our young people today weak and irresponsible."

"You can see how easily our young people give up whenever they encounter a bit of hardship or challenge," he added.