There was a news article I happened to be referred to that I found rather alarming. The concept makes sense but the way they are going about it is extremely alarming. The article is:-
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2023/03/18/act-for-the-elderly-now
Why do I say that this article is alarming when it seems to be a nice and wholesome article about caring for the elderly and one’s parents? Because of the way the people making the law seem to be going about making this law.
Way back a decade or 2 ago, they tried to make a sexual harassment law. But we already have a harassment law! Why make a sexual harassment law that is just a specialized version that addresses specific things? This would help some people, yes, but if you look at it from the other end, it would also allow some people to abuse the law and claim sexual harassment, molestation, rape, etc. for no good reason, and since this is a specific law, it will tend to side with the so-called “victim”. This would then allow people to abuse it and get innocent people into trouble, and even into jail for long periods of time (thus ruining their lives and their family’s lives). I’m not against the law, but I’m against it being unfairly and unjustly one-sided. Because I know what it’s like to be a victim of such harassment myself, but still, that is no excuse to make a badly constructed law, what more put it into effect!
The same applies to this specific caring for the elderly and parents law, when we should instead be making laws to care for humans in general as a whole regardless of their age. It seems rather unfair and unjust to just care for people of a certain age group.
Also, it was mentioned near the end of the article that, “On Wednesday, Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Aiman Athirah Sabu said the Senior Citizens Bill is targeted for First Reading in 2024. She said the Bill will include provisions for legal action and punishment for adult children who refuse to care for their parents.” This is extremely alarming! Why on Earth or in the High Heavens would you want to do this?! Let’s think carefully.
Looking at this punishment nonsense from the other side of the lens, seeing that every coin has 2 sides to it, there is quite the probability that you will also have cases where a bad/abusive/etc. parent/elder would abuse this punishment clause of the law, and could just wrongfully claim that they are being neglected/abused/ill-treated/having their money stolen from them/etc. and cause even an adult child in their 30s or 40s to be punished for said crime. Because, let’s be honest, Asian society tends to side with the parents rather than the children. Simply because the father seeded the child and the mother carried and gave birth to the child.
But has anyone ever asked, “Did the children even want to be given birth to, to begin with?”, “Has the child been suffering ever since they were born?”. Chances are the answer is a big “NO“. Because in Asian society, all focus is on filial piety (not that it’s wrong), and there is no focus whatsoever on the children’s welfare. I should know because I was born with 5 congenital medical conditions minimum, and that’s not counting the non-congenital medical conditions caused by the treatment of my congenital medical conditions. So yes, I’ve been suffering since my birth. Did I ever want these medical conditions? Obviously not! Did I want to always take care of my parents if I could? Obviously yes! But life is ironic and cynical. It can treat you in the way that you least want it to. So a parent/elder could easily abuse these laws to get what they want out of their poor defenseless children who are trying their best, and the law would be on their side. Worse still, if said parents/elders were toxic or had mental problems.
We already have enough laws in Malaysia that protect the criminal and punish the victim, like how we are considered to have attempted murder or assault if we try to attack/fight the criminal even if it’s just in self-defense, unless we are in fear that the criminal will cause us grievous harm. Why so extreme? Harm is harm. If someone attacks you, must you wait for them to almost kill you before you can take preventive action? Who are you trying to protect? The criminal or the victim?! Ridiculous! Enough is enough. Malaysia needs to do away with its nonsensical law making mindset. Test the lawmakers for high IQ first. Require them to pass Logic and Abstraction tests with at least 90% score. They must be able to do critical thinking and lateral thinking very well. You must be intelligent, wise, astute, analytical, insightful, sharp, shrewd, meticulous with the details, and have good foresight. Only then can you be a lawmaker. Otherwise you have NO BUSINESS making laws!
Also, make it easier to set up care centers?! Are you mad?! So many care centers are already so terrible and unchecked and unsupervised that they basically mistreat the people they’re supposed to care for! You call that caring?! Are children supposed to entrust their parents to such places? Who knows what they get up to when nobody else is looking or watching? Each center must have a resident supervisor and regular spot checks done on them by qualified people with a sense of justice, fairness and compassion/empathy. These people mustn’t be corrupt either. Not in the slightest. They must put the welfare of the cared first and foremost.
So please, I beg of the wise people in the Malaysian government and the Malaysian Judiciary. Do not make any unnecessary laws, especially specific ones, unless you really have to, and if you have to, make sure you always leave escape clauses so that innocent people won’t get slammed in jail and have their lives and the lives of their families ruined just because the law was abused by some toxic people. Anybody making a claim with the law to punish the children should first be required to pass a psychiatric and psychological test to ensure that they don’t have some kind of mental problem.
So please, be careful and cautious and examine every aspect and perspective when making laws. That’s what I do when making rules, seeing that I used to be a society committee member and also an advisor to the society’s presidents who often consulted me for my opinions and insight.
Posted on 18 January 2024
Fields and Views 