Teo-Education.Com

KUALA LUMPUR: Being old, unattractive or having your period does not deter a rapist.

In fact, he could have a fetish for elderly women, said founder of the Malaysian Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association (MVFRA) Captain K. Balasupramaniam.

In other words, any woman can be a potential rape victim. This was greeted by gasps from his female audience at a three-hour “City Survival Skills” programme held at the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) auditorium yesterday.

The programme, jointly organised by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, Yayasan Bakti Nusa Malaysia and Persatuan Belia Rakan Nusa, was also attended by Pandan member of parliament Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat.

It was an eye-opener for the women who listened with rapt attention to Balasupramaniam’s case studies on violent and sexual crimes against women and useful tips and tricks on how women can safeguard themselves against potential threats and danger.
“Most of the time, dangerous situations can be avoided if we understand the three types of danger zones”.

“For example, if you’re in the office during working hours then that means you’re in the green zone.

“The yellow zone is when it’s already 5pm and a few colleagues have left. This is when you know there is a potential threat within your parameter.
But when everyone has left the office, then you must already be in self-defence mode because this is when you’re in the red zone.”

Balasupramaniam said women must never let down their guard even when a security guard is in the office.

“Anyone can rape you as long as there is opportunity and time,” he said, citing a list of case studies on women who were raped and murdered by men from various backgrounds.

Read more @ http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/15tya/Article

A facilitator conducting a personal safety workshop for pupils.

TEENAGERS these days are more sexually active but Noor Hayatti Ismail believes that teens should take charge of their lives and act responsibly.

“Whether we like it or not our youngster’s are having sex. This Take Charge workshop is a way of guiding them in taking responsibility for themselves and making the right choices.” The vice-president of the Pacific Youth Outreach Society Johor Baru was among several facilitators who took part in a Take Charge workshop that involved 200 youths aged between 12 and 17.
The half-day event on Aug 7 was aimed at promoting good mental health, positive thinking and crime prevention for youths living in high risk neighbourhoods.
Held at the Johor Baru Soka Gakkai Culture Centre in Jalan Kempas Lama, the event, which is also known as Projek Sinar Cahaya, was a collaboration between Soka Gakkai and the Pacific Youth Outreach Society.

The seminar is part of a series of projects under the Johor Sustainable Neighbourhood Development Programme. These projects were initiated by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry with the help of the State Economic Planning Unit. The primary and secondary students had a ball learning about sexuality and self-confidence through group activities, presentation and games.

The 200 students were from SK Tampoi Utama, SK Pengkalan Rinting, SMK Taman Molek, SMK Puteri Wangsa and SMK Tun Syed Nasir Ismail. The primary and secondary students were separated into two groups. For the secondary school students, the focus was sexual health and reproductive rights.

by Ahmad Fairuz Othman.

Read more @ http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Teachingkidstosaynotopremaritalsex/Article/

Could a sex offender be living in your midst and ferrying your children to school? Stakeholders share their views on how to keep schoolchildren out of harm’s way.

“John X, 5”11, 180 pounds, white, blonde and blue-eyed. He has tattoos of an eagle and rose on his upper left arm and right wrist. His last known address is 120, ABC Street, Los Angeles, California”.

“He has been convicted of oral copulation with a person under the age of 14 under Offence Code 288a(c) …”

Sex predators try to entice their victims by offering them goodies in the form of sweets, snacks, money and even books before committing their despicable acts.

THIS is a profile of a sex offender found on the online sex offenders’ registry in the state of California, the United States.

A call for the set up of such a registry for sex offenders has been proposed by the Malaysian Bar Council recently to protect children from sexual assaults following the incident of a nine-year-old girl who was allegedly raped in a school van by the roadside at Jalan Othman, Petaling Jaya, two weeks ago.

Naturally, the public was outraged by the despicable act as the driver, who was to save and protect the victim and other children had instead forced himself on the victim.

A kindergarten teacher heard the screams and sought help from passers-by. They grabbed the suspect and beat him up before handing him over to the police.

It is reported that the 51-year-old rapist is married with three children and could have also molested other children.

School van driver V. Tiagarajan, 51, being led away by a police officer after he was charged at the Petaling Jaya court on Thursday.

He has since been charged with raping the nine-year-old girl and another minor, who is related to him.

Background checks

School bus drivers have been cast in the bad light in the wake of the alleged rape and molest of girls by school van drivers in the Klang Valley recently.

Federation of Malaysian School Bus Operators Association president Tan Chui Leng says the alleged 51-year-old rapist is an illegal school van driver who was operating without a permit that he ought to have had from the Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board (CVLB).

Parents often engage the services of school bus operators to ferry their children to and from school.

Currently, all school bus or van drivers are required to have a valid public service vehicle license from the Road Transport Department and the vehicles should be registered with the CVLB.

Tan advises parents not to engage the services of illegal drivers as there is no guarantee on their reliability and the safety of the vehicles.

“Authorised school buses and vans are easily distinguished from others as they are painted yellow,” he says.

A quick survey in the Klang Valley showed that a few schools have responded to the recent spate of attacks by taking the move to register the names and contact numbers of bus drivers.

A senior assistant from a girls’ secondary school in Petaling Jaya Hashimah Othman* reveals that the school which previously kept track of the mode of transportation used by each student, has now decided to update its list with the names and contact numbers of the bus drivers.

Some parents like this man make it their priority to take their children to school and back.

She adds that the school also had held a special assembly recently to brief the students about safety precautions, after the news of the rape of the nine-year-old by the school van driver, surfaced in the media.

The Johor State Women, Family, Health and Community Development Committee chairman Dr Robia Kosai had earlier said that van and bus drivers, especially those carrying students, must be asked to undergo compulsory criminal, health and mental background screenings.

She said such checks were important to ensure that paedophiles were not in close proximity with school children.

by Tan Ee Loo and Kang Soon Chen.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2010/8/8/education/6805157&sec=education

THE school bell rang at 1.10pm signalling the end of the morning school session at a secondary school in Petaling Jaya.

As students dashed out of the gate, this reporter walked into the school premises without being stopped by a security guard although there was a guard post at its entrance.

Doraisamy says that duty teachers are stationed either at the canteen or the school hall before school starts in the morning.

With such a lax attitude towards safety and security at schools, it is no wonder that there have been acts of crime involving students in and around school premises in recent months.

Parents complain that outsiders have easy access into school compounds.

They include the school janitors, usually employees of a cleaning services company engaged by the school and casual workers who are in the premises to carry out repairs, painting, and other odd jobs.

What’s even more frightening is the presence of strangers like thieves, drug peddlers and sex predators who hang around in school toilets and dark corners within the school premises.

While many schools have erected pondoks (security posts) at the school entrance and hire guards, there are just as many that cannot afford to have guards or pondoks simply because of the lack of funds.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2010/8/8/education/6806729&sec=education

PUTRAJAYA: Parent-teacher associations want both school van and bus drivers, and their conductors to be registered with the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB).

National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations president Assoc Prof Datuk Mohd Ali Hassan said this would enable the board to check their backgrounds before allowing them to work.

He said the board could also look into developing a mechanism whereby it would be informed of any allegation of misconduct against drivers and their conductors.

“The incident in which a 10-year-old pupil was allegedly raped by a man fetching her to school has made it clear that we have to put policies in place to ensure our children’s safety.

“The associations are willing to play their part but we also need to have the laws and policies to help with closer monitoring,” he said here yesterday.

He said there should also be frequent checks by authorities to nab unregistered and unverified school buses or vans.

“Once all these policies to monitor drivers and conductors are in place, schools and PTAs can jointly advise parents against engaging the services of unlicensed school buses or vans,” he said.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/2/nation/6779148&sec=nation

SOCIETY needs to play a role in preventing school children from being victims of crime like rape and molest.

The Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said that it was unfortunate that such an incident happened.

“Something like this is beyond the control of a parent or guardian and there is only so much a child can do.

“It is therefore important for the community to constantly look out for each other,” she said.

She said there was a lack of “community spirit” now compared to before, and urged people to get to know their neighbours and those around them.

National Collaborative Parent-Teacher Association of Malaysia president Assoc Prof Datuk Mohd Ali Hasan said those who were convicted of rape should be punished.

by Alycia Lim.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2010/8/1/education/6764283&sec=education

KUALA LUMPUR: Sexual crimes are on the rise in the country, with almost half the victims being children and teenage girls below 16 years old.

According to head of the police sexual crimes unit Deputy Supt Zaiton Che Lah, sex offences have risen consistently over the last five years.

“Rape is happening everywhere, anytime and anyone can be a victim,” DSP Zaiton told Sunday Star.

“We are already on alert that rape cases have been rising since 2005. A worrying trend, however, is the rise of rape against the young, which we estimate to be around 50% of the total number of rape cases each year.”

Police statistics released by the Sexual Crimes and Children Investi­gation Division reveal an alarming trend – almost 80% of those committing sexual crimes against minors are close or known by the victims, and they include fatherly figures, neighbours and relatives.

Earlier this week, news of the rape of a 10-year-old girl by her schoolvan driver shocked the nation.

Prior to that, it was reported that five schoolgirls aged between 12 and 14 were stalked and lured with free meals and money before being raped.

These shocking incidents are only the tip of the iceberg, according to the police.

Last year, a total of 2,048 rape cases involving girls aged 16 and below were recorded, compared to 925 cases in 2005. While a big percentage of the cases were statutory rape, DSP Zaiton pointed out that many young girls were coerced into sex or preyed on by sexual offenders.

(Under the Penal Code, sex with a girl aged under 16 is an offence classified as statutory rape.)

“Kids today get involved in relationships earlier, so they are more vulnerable. Many are easily duped and are not equipped to defend themselves in risky situations,” she added.

by Hariati Azizah.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/1/nation/6776740&sec=nation

KUALA LUMPUR: The National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) is aiming at ‘zero tolerance’ of child abuse in schools, Secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng said yesterday.

While advising teachers to strictly follow the set guidelines when handling problematic students, she urged the union’s 150,000 members to be cautious, especially when dealing with female students.

On the other hand, the union wants teachers to immediately report to the school authorities or the union, if they were victimised or framed by the students or parents.

However, Lok said, the union would only assist genuine cases, and those found guilty of any offence, particularly child abuse, would not be protected.

“In such cases, the teacher concerned would have to bear the consequences because the union would let the law take its own course,” she added.

Read more @ http://www.newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/40794

ALL this year, there has been constant press coverage of child sexualisation issues, accompanied by a degree of shock and outrage from the public. Whether it’s a story about little girls abducted by middle-aged men for marriage, or the number of children under 10 years who went for pre-marital HIV screening last year, to the rate of teen pregnancies or the early onset of first-time sex among children, most of society (it is hoped) cannot help but be disgusted by the news and statistics.

Children are meant to be pure and protected. Like the mythical unicorn, they are supposed to be untouched by sullying adult hands. For, once touched, they lose their purity and innocence.

But whose fault is it if children are made to be older than they are? These days, pre-adolescent girls are wearing halter-tops, tight mini-skirts, high-heeled shoes, and even make-up. When they go swimming, they wear itsy-bitsy teeny-weenie bikinis, the top piece of which covers undeveloped breasts. This is not to say one-piece swimsuits don’t do the same, but among adults, a bikini top is meant to accentuate the bust. Meanwhile, boys are wearing saucy underwear and tight trousers.
The phenomenon is not new, and neither is it limited to Malaysia. In 2008, Woolworths UK marketed a line of bedroom furniture for girls called “Lolita”. Lolita is a literary reference to the protagonist in Vladimir Nabokov’s novel of the same name. She is a 12-year-old nymphet who has an affair with her step-father. “Lolita”, therefore, alludes to young, forbidden flesh. Woolworths was forced to withdraw the furniture after an online campaign by a group of mothers who objected to the name.

NST Editorial.

Read more @ http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/2sokk/Article/

Parents need to keep a closer watch on who their children are contacting on the Net.

KUALA LUMPUR: Strangers trying to befriend children online have become a very real threat in Malaysia, a recent survey has revealed.

The threat is higher than the global average.

Many of the strangers even try to meet up with the kids offline, said the Norton Online Family Report 2010.
“Up to 72 per cent of children polled have had strangers trying to add them as friends on social networking sites and 27 per cent of children say someone they don’t know has tried to meet them in the real world.

“The global average is only 10 per cent,” said Effendy Ibrahim, Norton Internet safety advocate and Norton business lead for Asia.

The report was based on research conducted by an independent research firm on behalf of Symantec Corporation.
Effendy said children were trusting by nature and could be easy targets.

“Parents must realise the risks involved when their children interact with strangers.”

Another disturbing finding was that 87 per cent of the children had been exposed to negative experiences online and this had impacted them.

By Chandra Devi Renanayar.

Read more @ http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/2nort/Article/