Friday October 5, 2007

Catch sex fiends – quickly

COMMENT
By WONG SAI WAN

They are beasts disguised as humans.

ANGER and disgust were the first reactions of anyone who has been following the reports from Segamat of the so-called medium who had been preying on a 10-year-old neighbour and her 13-year-old brother.

The Chinese dailies especially, China Press and Sin Chew, had been giving the matter extensive coverage including publishing lewd photographs the medium had taken of the girl and her brother.

The 40-something shaman had raped the girl on several occasions and even got the boy to take pictures of him kissing and hugging the sister.

He is now on the run and he is lucky that Malaysia no longer has jury trials.

It is doubtful if he or even the authorities will be able to find anyone who is not biased to judge him if he is ever tried, especially with all those disgusting pictures.

The man who also claims to be a medicine man moved into the new village in Segamat several months ago and provided his soothsaying and exorcism services to the locals.

The siblings are his neighbour’s children and he had convinced the parents to let him “cure” them from being disturbed by evil spirits. Getting the youngsters to pose nude and photographed, he claimed, was one of the ways of getting treated.

He did not hide his handiwork as photographs of the siblings in the nude were found plastered on the wall of his rented double-storey house.

The most disgusting picture published so far is the one showing him hugging and kissing the girl on the lips.

The contrast of this man with a bulging tummy clad only in a towel and the innocent looking young girl in her pink outfit makes the act even more repugnant.

As a family newspaper, we found it difficult to print the pictures. It will be difficult for many parents to explain to their children.

This case is more distressful because it comes so soon after the brutal murder of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin who was also sexually assaulted.

Till today, Nurin’s killer is still on the loose as is this medium.

The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry reported that there were 1,656 child abuse cases in the country in 2004, with neglect and child sexual abuse cases being the highest.

According to Unicef, international experience suggests that reported cases are likely to represent only 10% of total cases perpetrated.

The people are now very angry and are demanding more than the usual promise of action.

From the hundreds of SMSes and telephone calls we have received about Nurin and this medium, we gather that the public wants stiffer punishment to be meted out against such people.

They feel that the punishment that we now have is not enough. Castration and stoning to death had been the two most popular retributions demanded by the people who have reacted to these reports.

As for me, I hope that everyone, especially the authorities, will stop calling these perpetrators animals or sick.

Firstly, animals treat their young well and do not abuse them like the way these people do. In fact, they are very protective of their young.

Secondly, we should not call them sick because it will be an excuse for these monsters to get themselves freed from punishment. They will claim mental illness as a defence for their heinous crimes.

They are only beasts disguised as humans and must be punished to the maximum allowed by law. But first let's catch them and catch them quickly.

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