PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri needs to prioritise the wellbeing of children, says Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh.
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) 2020, the population of children is about 30% in most states, with Wilayah Persekutuan coming top at 38.5% (almost hitting 40%), she pointed out in a statement today.
“This is a sizable group and they are indeed our future and our greatest asset.
“This pandemic has exposed and amplified the weaknesses of our country’s system to adequately protect children.
“Food baskets provided by the Government did not include milk for infants and toddlers. After more than a year of battling COVID-19, the Perikatan Nasional (PN) Government woke up to the need of identifying children who were made orphans by COVID-19,” she remarked.
According to Yeoh, children in Malaysia were already faced with various challenges and violations even prior to the COVID-19 era, including child abuse, sexual acts against children and neglect.
“During Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) time in Putrajaya, we focused heavily on issues relating to children because of their vulnerability and their inability to protect themselves leading to harm being caused.
“We appointed the first Children’s Commissioner, launched the first child sex offender’s registry, provided millions in grant to establish childcare in the workplace for our civil service and launched infographics for childcare providers and parents.
“We also partnered with Google to bring awareness videos on bad touch vs good touch for young children, provided WhatsApp services for Talian Kasih to make it more accessible and so many other ways to improve children safety,” she explained.
All the effort, said Yeoh, would require dedicated resources and manpower in protecting our children, and as such, the PH government had then launched a study on creating an Agency For Children and was also working on increasing multiple folds the 208 child protectors that they have.
“Currently, a child protector takes up 80 children’s cases leaving them insufficient time for follow-ups.
“The actual ratio of protector and children is 1:45,142 and this is simply impossible for protection of children to be effective.
“There were also preliminary meetings being held to restructure early childhood education and care (ECCE), recommendations for the Home Ministry to simplify citizenship procedures for children involving Malaysian mothers, adoption process, foster care and data sharing with the police,” she shared.
Yeoh went on to point out that the wellbeing of our children is under severe threat during this prolonged lockdown.
“If so many meetings can be called to jostle for positions amongst the prospective Ministers, surely our children deserve their attention.
“If the PN Government then could pacify 32 ministers and 38 deputy ministers with a portfolio each, it would not be impossible for Ismail Sabri to fulfill the immediate need for the formation of a Ministry of Children.”
Yeoh stressed that it was time the Prime Minister prioritise the children above special envoys and advisor positions with Minister status.
She was referring to PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and former Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, who were appointed special envoy to the Middle East and special advisor to then-prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin respectively.
Both appointments come with the status of minister.
“If it could be done then for Hadi Awang and Faizal Azumu, it can and must be done now for our children. Our children are far more worthy of taxpayers’ money!” – Aug 22, 2021.
