I must, of course, apologise if I seemed 'verbose' and my arguments were 'laced with psychological jargon' as Charles F Moreira suggests . I meant no such offence.

Simply put - I believe that the best way to deal with the rising rates of juvenile crime is for more money, manpower and research to be centred on detecting and dealing with children who are 'at risk' for such behaviour.

This is what I mean - I believe that a child does not go from being a child to a criminal offender straight away. Initial signs of rebelliousness or bullying behaviour may indicate to observant adults that more investigation, and perhaps some intervention/counseling/personal time is warranted.

I am not talking of the cases where the young offender has already committed some heinous crime. Rather, I mean this in light of a preventive measure - as I am sure the whipping displays were intended.

The means for doing this would have to be with the teacher training colleges/university-level programmes where teacher trainees should be instructed not only in pedagogy, but also in aspects of psychology and child behaviour, particularly how to recognise/manage conduct disorders and children with learning disabilities.

Malaysian teachers should have access to personal development programmes on these issues as are available to their counterparts in other countries (e.g. Australia and Britain). Children today are lost in classes far too big for optimal learning. Management of children is therefore a formidable task for any educator, what more for a new one.

The government should therefore implement incentives for individuals to pursue teaching careers. The case is similar with that of psychologists in the country. Yes, I do realise this idea sounds like a long-term plan - but it is, I believe, necessary.

There are currently precious few mental health workers in the country that deal with children. Funding should be made available, and interested individuals should be encouraged to pursue this.

In the meantime, 'quick fix' strategies such as these whipping displays are not, in my humble opinion, of any use in dealing with young 'would-be' offenders. In fact, they are potentially dangerous for the message they send to our children and to the rest of the civilised world.