Let’s have sex education for Malays

I received a termination notice from a law firm yesterday in respect of my purchase of a shop-lot from the developer UEM Sunrise. In the good old days, I was the one issuing such notices on behalf of clients; today I am at the receiving end. I am sure the developer will not want to forfeit whatever monies I have paid, and I am hopeful they will give me time to pay up, so I do not have to lose everything.

However, my personal travails are nothing compared to what Malay girls and young women have to endure in this country if they have a child before marriage. Last month, I saw a young woman of 20 at the Jalan Duta court complex who had been charged with the offence of drowning her baby. Fortunately for her, the baby was stillborn so there was no need to charge her with murder.
A few days ago, another 20-year-old Malay woman was charged with murder, having allegedly killed her newborn baby in a bathroom. There have been so many reports of Malay girls and young women disposing of their babies or undergoing abortions because they never wanted those pregnancies in the first place. It is so sad. Young lives are destroyed because leaders are hypocrites who don’t want to provide any meaningful solution to the problem.

These reports are just a tip of the iceberg—Malays are too shy to admit that they have committed a sin and they do not want to shame their families.  That’s why this social problem is particularly high in the Malay community: sex is taboo, which is why Muslim preachers, educationists and political leaders oppose sex education.

The hypocrisy of these leaders in not wanting to talk openly — about sex, safe sex, the use of contraception and the reality of modern society where people get involved in relationships before marriage — is the reason why Malay girls and young women kill their babies while others don’t.
The Government then charges these young mothers with murder and the lives of entire families are turned upside-down. This single mistake not only destroys the life of the baby, but the mother’s and the whole family as well.

It’s so unnecessary, but Malay leaders don’t care. They just continue to talk about sin and punishment, and have not suggested anything practical to save lives and avert these tragedies.
The prescriptions favoured by these “pious men” to overcome unwanted pregnancies are severe punishment (especially under Act 355), separate lanes in supermarkets, banning concerts and cinemas, and blaming Beyoncé and Lady Gaga for the social ills of the world.

That’s why I keep saying that Malays must start electing and choosing leaders who can solve their problems. By this I mean problems in this world. They need to know how to have safe sex and they need to gain enough knowledge about sex when they are in school so they can decide what to do when the time comes.

So far, they are fascinated by leaders who tell them about sin and punishment for khalwat, zina and premarital sex. But life — and biology — is such that it does not matter what the hypocrites say or what the law says. There will always be illicit relationships in our society. The task of responsible leaders is to reduce such incidents and alleviate suffering.

The leaders Malays listen to now are irrelevant to their problems. They are irrelevant to the country. Many of them are hypocrites. They do not really care about the fate of Malays, in this life or the Afterlife. They only care about themselves. It’s time Malays voted for Pakatan Harapan!