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'Johor women abused, too' |
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Saturday, 11 October 2008 09:01am |
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©New
Straits Times (Used by permission)
MUAR: It is not just Penan girls in Sarawak who are allegedly being abused by
foreign workers. It happens in Johor, too.
State Woman and Family Development, Welfare and Health
Committee chairman Dr Robia Kosai said there had been a growing increase in the
number of cases involving local women and girls reported to the Welfare
Department in Johor.
The cases mostly involve foreign workers who left for their home country
abandoning their local wife and children.
She said there was no up-to-date statistics of the cases but frequent reports to
the department indicated there was an increase of such cases.
Dr Robia said she did not rule out the possibility that the claims were genuine
as the number of foreign workers, including those who entered the country
illegally, had increased sharply in recent years due to the abundance of jobs in
Johor.
"This is a serious matter. What is reported to the Welfare
Department is probably only the tip of the iceberg. These abandoned women with
children need financial assistance and they approach the department for help.
"Many suffer in silence to either avoid shame or to safeguard their family's
reputation."
She said the Welfare Department would check with the relevant embassies to trace
the workers in order to persuade them to be responsible for the welfare of their
wives, children and pregnant women. It was nonetheless difficult to trace those
who came into the country illegally.
"We will do our best to protect our women and young girls from being exploited
by these foreign men who promised them everything in order to coax them into
marriage. It was also discovered that some of them have not even solemnised or
registered their marriage."
She advised women and young girls to be wary of foreign workers who try to
sweet-talk them into marriage as they may end up in life-long misery.
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Circular No 297/2008
It is not just the Penan girls of Sarawak; and it is not just the Johor girls from Johor.
It is in fact, a whole national problem now - that our girls, even married women, have been amused, and then abused by the illegals.
The sin lies with the authorities who are lax with the illegals. The illegals are allowed to enter and leave our boundaries as and when they like. How is this so? Try any other foreign countries and you will know what is meant. We need to see and learn how capable and strict their authorities are.
Surely the illegals, while here, will satisfy all their needs, even including their 'sexual' needs, and when the time comes, they will leave as and when they like, leaving behind their unloved and unwanted wives and children. Maybe all men in Malaysia should be made to wear a badge on their shirt pocket - to sincerely state their status - so that our girls will be more careful and prepared, even when asking for seeming problems of unwanted children ahead !
Tan Peek Guat