In this day and age, doing the right thing could very well land you in hot water. It’s sad but even this is considered progress. When it comes to issues such as child marriage in cultures such as Malaysia, the conversation used to never even be brought up.
Difficult conversations on topics such as this are important to make sure that the rights of children are not violated in our country. It makes sense, does it not? Should children be thrusted into a social institution in which they practically have no rights? I don’t think the answer to that is very hard.
That being said, former deputy women, family and community development minister Hannah Yeoh has revealed that she’s been called in to appear in Bukit Aman for questioning over a social media post related to child marriage.
You’d think that the tweet was controversial or something, but she merely expressed concern over what’s going to happen to the national roadmap to combat child marriage following the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government. I’m not even sugar coating it, that’s quite literally what she tweeted.
Saya telah dipanggil oleh Bukit Aman untuk memberi keterangan bagi siasatan mengenai tweet ini. Sekarang ini, tanya soalan pun tak boleh. Sidang Parlimen bulan Mei juga tak diberi peluang tanya soalan. Roadmap ini hasil kerja kuat pentadbiran bawah PH @drwanazizah. pic.twitter.com/M72pb5p1I6
— Hannah Yeoh (@hannahyeoh) June 16, 2020
Taking to Twitter, Hannah tweeted “Nowadays even asking questions is not allowed… during the Parliament sitting in May we were also not allowed to ask questions,” along with a screenshot of her original tweet, which she posted three months ago following the the appointment of her successor, Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff from PAS.
According to the Malay Mail, the investigation is being carried out under Section 505 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. That’s two counts, with Section 505 a potential conviction of a fine, up to two years in jail, or both.
Section 233 on the other hand, which involves improper use of network facilities or network service — potentially brings with it a one year jail term, an RM50,000 fine, or both.
The National road map Yeoh is referring to in her original tweet is the National Strategy Plan in Handling the Causes of Child Marriage. The plan outlined short, medium and long-term programmes and actions to be implemented over a period of five years from 2020 to 2025 in order to tackle the six main factors identified as causing child marriage.
It’s not out of line to say that Yeoh’s concerns are completely valid here. Siti Zailah once suggested that female’s should have a dress code to avoid dressing indecently in public. It is reported that she claimed the move would curb the rising levels of sex crimes and even prevent sexual harassment.
What she didn’t say is that it would also set women’s rights back at least 50 years. Malaysia has been on the cusp of reform for the longest time. Why is it that every time we take one step forward, we also take three steps back?
I don’t deny that the issue of child marriage is a complex one, especially given how rooted it is in cultural practices. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about it. Discourse on these issues should be encouraged, not stamped out.
It’s important that we don’t send the wrong message here, but that’s exactly what the police calling Yeoh in for questioning is doing. Here’s to hoping it all goes smooth for her.
