Saturday, October 2, 2010

Girls need help, not jail

We need to seek workable solutions to help solve the problem of teenage pregnancies and baby dumpings.MY heart goes out to the babies abandoned by their young mothers out of desperation.
Society is ready to point fingers at the mother who dumps her baby.
She would not have resorted to such a desperate act if her partner was there for her, if her parents forgave her and if the community showed some sympathy for her and the unborn child, instead of ostracising her.
It takes two people to produce a baby. But in almost every news article about teenage pregnancies and baby dumping, there is hardly any mention of the father.
For all we know, he could be a family member, a married man or even a very important person.
Why is the man absolved of responsibility?
And when it comes to solutions, it is the same.

We talk about setting up a school for pregnant teenagers, a shelter for pregnant unmarried mothers and hotlines for pregnant girls.
What about counselling for the fathers? What about teaching them to be more responsible and accountable?
Now, the cabinet has directed police to classify baby dumping, leading to the death of the child, as murder.
And who would the "murderer" be? The unwed teen mother, of course.
The father gets off scot-free. His girlfriend takes the entire rap -- nine months of child-bearing plus a jail sentence.
I quote from New Sunday Times columnist Zainul Arifin: "It is not a coincidence that the overwhelming majority of cases of children being abandoned after birth occur among the Malay Muslims."

Why is this so?

Unless and until the Muslim community acknowledges the problem and seeks workable solutions, not punishments, the issue of teenage pregnancy and baby dumping will not go away any time soon.

Non-Muslim parents generally do not condone pre-marital sex but they are more pragmatic about it.
They know they can't keep a 24/7 watch on their teenagers.
If their daughter gets pregnant or if their son makes a girl pregnant, of course, the parents will be angry.
But they know it is their parental duty to help the young couple find the best solution, which is usually marriage and financial help to raise the baby.
There is no talk of punishment.

Perhaps there is something to be learned there. Mothers who dump babies need help, not jail !

i dont want go to jail !!

2 comments:

kamiliah ayu said...

For me,it is hard to find the perfect solution that everyone agree on but experts a now be suggesting that it is about time that they stop telling young people what not to do,and instead educating them on how to make right choice.This is because, they still so young and not be not matured.:)
ZATIL HIDAYAH (GROUP 4)

students ukm said...

Malay to English translation
That rights. It very hard to find a perfect solution for a baby dumping cases. All those involved in this case whether the dump babies, parents to dump the baby or the public. As they are throwing the baby is still young, we as the public should be guiding them.

BASIRAH MOHD SHARIF , GROUP 1