YOURSAY | ‘Sugarbook is not an online dating service, but just another form of oldest profession on earth.’

'Sugar daddy' app billboards pose deeper questions on youth values: Yeoh

P Dev Anand Pillai: What “women empowerment tool” is the Sugarbook CEO Darren Chan talking about? Will he allow his daughter to be used like this?

What the company is promoting through its advertisement and app is not an online dating service, but just another form of the oldest profession on earth.

Sugar daddies, mommies or babies are all just coined-up names for a mutual and consensual agreement to finance one party who then provides favours to the other party that finances them for the duration of their tie-up or relationship. The favours are basically sexual in nature.

Let's be frank, nothing comes free in life. So let us not be taken up by this indirect way of cheapening one's self. This is not an empowerment, it is more of an entrapment.

Anonymous_3f4b: Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Hannah Yeoh should know that one of the reasons for the moral decay among the youths today is that they have very bad role models to emulate in our present-day politicians.

When our leaders are not able to put on exemplary behaviour, and are involved in various corruption, blackmail, sex, and even murder scandals, how can we expect our youths to become model citizens?

Siva 1967: It is wrong to put all the blame on the Sugarbook app. Don't blame the app and likewise on those who participate in it. The app just proves that the oldest profession in the world has just embraced new technology.

Whether the youngsters take part in a full-time or part-time basis, their main motivation is the same - to make money.

This practice has been going on for a long time, especially in certain low to mid-range hotels. Sometimes, such activities and services are provided under the guise of “spa services”. Even certain massage parlours are just a front to provide “additional sex services”.

How come the authorities have not come down hard on such activities? The investigation on the advertisement should not be restricted to the Sugarbook company alone.

A thorough probe is needed to determine how such an advertisement could be approved in the first place, and who else among the authorities is involved in this matter.

The rot is all over the place and the clean-up is going to be a mountain of a task.

The Analyser: Southeast Asian countries have long been seen as a sexual playground for anyone with the money to indulge themselves.

And there are plenty of unscrupulous agents who will do whatever it takes to make an easy buck by bringing together needs and wants. Needs which are often the result of poor governance.

So, the company promoting this “online dating platform” is nothing but a hi-tech broker trying to make lots of money with minimal effort.

At the other end of the ethics spectrum, we have Yeoh, a fine example of righteousness at work trying to impose her good standards on everyone else.

If only the government which Yeoh represents ran a country where young people felt safe and secure with high hopes for their future, there would be less need for them to rely on sugar daddies or mommies.

Mazilamani: When regular worship house goers, whatever religion they embrace, cannot faithfully practise the teachings and values of their respective religion, who can blame the impressionable young material-leeching minds to hook on to someone who can fulfil their general needs.

Addressing this matter must begin in homes, religious houses and schools.

Nobody speaks about morals, virtues and values anymore, with worship houses nowadays also used as places to spread hate and malicious contents on other religions, and for political ceramah.

The decline in morality can be examined through the hate discussions among adults, and the hasty sharing of bad news and indecent videos among adults and children online.

In order to ensure their children, especially teenagers, toe the line, parents need to monitor the kind of friends the children keep company with, their activities and the time the children usually return home.

How many parents truly supervise or instil proper culture and discipline in homes? How many children appreciate the sacrifices made by working parents to place food and necessary comforts for the family?

Added to the problems are some of our colourful politicians, who are embroiled in scandals, corruption and lavish lifestyle.

I am not surprised that youngsters are looking for alternative attention, love and material contentment, such as through the Sugarbook app.

Parents need to start communicating with their children more. Parents must not think that paying school and weekly expenses, giving food and shelter, and paying the bills are the end-all. Parenthood is far beyond these basic responsibilities.

Masalah Tosai: Young women sleeping with rich older men did not start with the Sugarbook app. Why blame the young women who use the app but not the old men who are using it too? Nobody is forced to join the app. They do so voluntarily.

If there is no such app, these men and women will definitely find other ways to get involved in such matters.

There are bigger issues affecting the nation which Yeoh can apply herself to.

Jaded: Blame the vice problem on the nation’s declining economy. With all the prices going up and the salaries stagnant, where and how would we expect the youngsters to finance their lifestyle?

The reality is that social media is driving unrealistic expectations and the youngsters see richer older men or women as the key to a lifestyle which they can't afford or sustain on their own.

If it maintains the way the economy is being handled now, Pakatan Harapan will be thrown out in the next election.

Just Wondering: Why do some young people today place greater importance on money over values?

If one were to ask renowned American psychologist Abraham Maslow, he would answer: “...it is because of the failure of the government to ensure our basic needs like healthcare, education and fair economic opportunities.”

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. In the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.