Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Wan Jaafar is one ‘big a**hole’ (I have no better word to use) that we have in the Malaysian parliament.

By claiming that the Malays are “more sensitive” to minors being victims of statutory rape as opposed to other races, he clearly shows his lack of understanding of the subject when comparing the statistics of child rape in the country.

He is not worth his salt as deputy home minister. In fact, in the present cabinet, who has shown the calibre of being a good leader, I wonder?

Wan Junaidi should admit that the one issue that should be addressed by any government of the day is the high number of statutory rape cases, instead of delving into the reasons why the Malays appear to be worse off than other races when it comes to statutory rape.

Instead of being another ‘jaguh kampung’, Wan Junaidi should have consulted the psychologists to find out the reason why statutory rape is rampant in this country.

Is it because of the socio-economic status of the people or is it because of the lack of morality in the generations? Are we raising up children who are now becoming too gullible to the social evils of their adults? Have our adults been taught the correct values about the sanctity of life?

Are we becoming a sexually-deviant society despite all the emphasis on religion? As parents, are we protecting our children from potentially sexual deviant adults or are we too naive as to trust everyone we consider as ‘friends’?

Wan Junaidi should also look at the statistics in other more developed countries and compare them with those in underdeveloped nations to see if child rape is the result of modernisation, where parents have to work harder to sustain the family that they no longer have time with their children?

There are many people who can be drawn into the knowledge circle but only if the government and Wan Junaidi understand what he should be doing as a deputy minister.

The lack of primary research, due to a lack of government funding in research, has left us with no adequate answers to address the pertinent issue about child rape. Without finding out the real reasons, we will never be able to nip it in the bud.

Instead, we will continue to hear all sorts of stupidity being uttered by our cabinet ministers and their deputies in parliament. This issues should be debated to the fullest, considering that it is one that is of national interest.

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