KOTA KINABALU: Politicians from the Barisan Nasional and the opposition yesterday criticised Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar for saying that non-Malays are less sensitive and ‘under report’ any ‘statutory rape cases.
Penampang member of parliament Darell Leiking said such remarks are totally uncalled for
He said in the first place, how would the deputy minister be able to ascertain precisely that the “non-Malays” are less sensitive or more willing to accept ‘child rape’ considering that almost all races and all faiths in the Federation of Malaysia put high emphasis on family and spiritual values.
“Rape is a serious crime no matter what and who defines it? ‘Rape’ is ‘rape,” said Leiking.
Secondly, he asked whether any Chinese/Indian/Mission primary and/or secondary schools recorded high percentage of students’ promiscuity, co-inhabitant with lover(s) or even pregnancy which are dramatic enough for the deputy minister to come to such conclusion and did he made any cross reference with the Education Ministry.
Leiking added Wan Junaidi also seemed to be ‘confused’ with the definition of statutory rape (which is the crime for having sex with a minor, with or without consent) and pre-marital sex when he said “….this was because the majority of Muslim parents are unable to accept the idea of sex before marriage compared with non-Malay parents who are presumably less sensitive over the issue…”
Wan Junaidi told Parliament on Tuesday that “non-Malays are maybe more accepting” of sexual violations involving children, when explaining why statutory rape is more commonly reported among Malays.
The Santubong member of parliament said that in 2012, there were 1,550 reported incidents of statutory rape, with Malays taking the top spot at 48 per cent, followed by the Chinese at 5 per cent and Indians at 3 per cent, and added that the number last year had dropped to 1,424 cases.
Wan Junaidi also said close to 90 per cent of the cases reported involved those aged between 16 and 19.
MCA deputy president Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong also criticised Wan Junaidi’s claim which is unproven and would not hold up under scrutiny.
According to Wee, rape and child rape cases are spread across every ethnic groups, and is a problem that has to be tackled regardless of the victims’ race.
“As an MP, I will ask him to enlighten us on his theory, it is not easy for anyone to come up with a hypothesis unless you can prove it in a scientific way,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.
Wee warned that the Deputy Home Minister should not simply make assumptions when quoting statistics, and it was premature of him to come up with such conclusion.
“As parents, when something like that happens to your daughter the first thing you do is report it to the police … I cannot accept such an answer from the deputy minister,” said Wee.
“Statistics are statistics, every statistic must be accurate … I think it is unfair to link it to any specific races,” added Datuk Ong Ka Chuan, who is MCA secretary-general.
“We are adults, as an MP we must be responsible for what we say,” he added.
Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Khairy Jamaluddin said racial profiles should not be attached to crime.
“Crime happens across the board,” he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The Rembau MP pointed out that even if some crimes appeared to be more prevalent among certain communities, geographical or socio-economic factors could be behind such patterns.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng pointed out that rape disgusts everyone, regardless what race they are.
“It is very wrong for him to alleged that non-Malays are more accepting of statutory rape, it is very wrong and false,” Lim said in a press conference at his office in Penang yesterday.
He demanded that Wan Junaidi immediately explain his controversial statement and if he had really meant what he said, to apologise to everyone.
“Rape is a crime against women and young girls so regardless of which race or religion, so he should not pinpoint that non-Malays are more accepting of it just because there are less cases,” he said.