Hi Everyone,
We still hear of many child and family abuse, maid abuse and
animal abuse in Malaysia. We are shocked to hear of all these cases regardless
of our religious beliefs. As a Christian, I feel it is very sad that this is
happening today.
It is sad that some parents abuse their kids for no reason.
Parents who are supposed to take care of their baby / babies reacted
differently when they are crying. We have heard of news that some fathers
actually beat their baby up when they are frustrated with their cries. We hear
of fathers raping their daughters in Austria and also in our own country. We also
heard of cases of brothers raping their sisters as well. Mother and children
are sometimes at the receiving end of a father’s anger. All of these happened
rarely but there are a small number of fathers who are like that. Domestic
violence is also depicted in the books such as The
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo written by Stieg Larsson.
The responsibilities of parents are to raise their children
to be good and responsible persons. Parents give unconditional love to their
children regardless of their attitude and behaviour. They discipline their
children when the children are turning to the wrong paths such as befriending
bad company, involving in
gangs, bullying and rebelling. They train their children to inculcate
good values such as:
- respecting elders
- honesty
- integrity
- kindness
- polite
- hardworking
- compassionate
- patience
- generosity
- perseverance
- caring for others
- trying our very best in what we do
For Christian parents, they are also planting the seed of
the gospel in their children. Parents are supporting and encouraging their
child / children when they fall and when they are facing difficulties in life.
They are there when their children gets married and graduated from university.
They are there to help you cook and clean the house when you need help from
them. They give advice when we are facing troubles in our life.
There are also husbands abusing their wives and vice versa.
The numbers are much less now unless I am mistaken. Husbands are the head of
their families. They should look after their wives and families. Anger and
impatience must not result in violence at all. Both husbands and wives are
supporting each other in their roles and responsibilities at home.
Maid abuse is especially common in Malaysia. Indonesia and
the Philippines have been sending less maids to our country due to the number
of abuse cases here. The percentage of people abusing their maids is possibly
little. We heard of cases whereby the employee struck her maid with an iron.
Another case was the maid’s hands were burnt due to her employee using the hot
iron on her hand. Slaps and bruises are common among these cases. A small
number of employees are giving their maids leftovers of their meals for dinner
or lunch.
Most of us will treat our maids as normal people, providing
them with a place to stay, food and other necessities. We will bring them to
the clinic / dentist when our maids are not well or have toothache. We allow
them to call their family back at their country every few months. Some of us
buy our maids mobile phones as a reward for their help at home. Maids are
helping families with two working parents to look after their children, ironing
clothes, cleaning the house, washing cars, cooking and tending our garden. Our
family will give her the dishes first before we start eating. We will also buy
her favourite coffee and biscuits from the supermarket. She will also have new
clothes occasionally. We will give her rest when she feels tired.
Animal abuse has been in the radar for some time now. The
recent euthanasia of the police forces’ K9 dogs raised the ire among people.
Animals in some shelters are not treated in the right way. Wrong food was being
fed to the animals. The hygiene of the animal shelters is not good and cleaned often.
It is smell of urine and faeces of animals. Dogs are given the title “Man’s
Best Friend’ and yet these are happening. We know that a dog can be very loyal
its owner from the movie, Hachiko
starring Richard Gere.
We are made to take care of animals and the people around
us. We must not abuse them at all. Each one of us has civic consciousness and
we know that domestic violence is absolutely wrong. Please help our society to
change.
Cheers,
Rogerkoo
