The last thing that one would expect coming from Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Wan Jaafar is the rebuttal from one of his secretaries, Wan Hamzah Wan Paie.

Apparently, Wan Hamzah is trying to do the damage control but the damage has already been done. It is no point now crying over the spilt milk or like most other politicians, they will try to blame it on the opposition.

I, for one, did not even read any article quoting Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen, until Wan Hamzah pointed it out. Nonetheless, I was p***ed off by what went into the Hansard , where Wan Junaidi was quoted as saying:

“Actually, because Malays are so sensitive to cases of sex between youths, so reports had to be lodged. Others might be less sensitive to the matter so the numbers are acceptable, so what happens is more acceptable for the other parties.”

To make a sweeping statement of this nature alleging that non-Malays are “less sensitive” to cases of sex between youths, or that premarital sex is more acceptable with the other communities, is unacceptable for a parliamentarian especially someone who is in the position of deputy home Minister.

What is appalling is that Wan Junaidi has not taken cognisance of his own mistake when he made a comparison between the Malays and the non-Malays and came out with the sweeping statement, which should never have been uttered in parliament or entered into the Hansard .

It can be a double-edged sword. The non-Malays can say, “Why, despite the Islamisation forces at work in the country, are the Malays still not able to deal with the issue of premarital sex?”

I am not making any suggestion, but I am saying it is time for the country to do some soul searching  to find out why, despite of having institutionalised Islam, and with all the religious police, are we still having such a big number of premarital cases involving young people?

There is no point, therefore, for Wan Hamzah or even Wan Junaidi to justify by quoting other statistics which point to his narrow-mindedness once again.

What is more crucial at this juncture is for the Women, Family and Social Development Ministry to address the issue, by looking at the statistics in totality, and seeking the experts’ advice and drawing up some positive measures that will reduce the numbers.

In my opinion, it is better for Wan Junaidi to just admit, apologise and move on. Perhaps, he doesn’t realise that the rakyat is already p***ed off with the ruling coalition after so many years of hoodwinking, cover-ups, nepotism and cronyism.

STEPHEN NG is a chemist by training. He dealt with printing ink, paint and emulsion polymer for 15 years before becoming a freelance writer.