Recently, when asked about why cases of sexual crimes in Kelantan is increasing, the Kelantan police chief Yusoff Mamat suggested that perhaps the issue could be addressed better if the underage girl in cases of statutory rape is also held responsible by the law, just as the adult man in the relationship is.
The Kelantan mufti Shukri Mohamed has also pitched in to support the statement made by the Kelantan police chief.
However, outside of Kelantan, it seems the universal opinion regarding the Kelantan chief’s suggestion is one of condemnation and disparagement.
The Law Minister Azalina Othman stated unequivocally that statutory rape is statutory rape, dismissing the Kelantan chief’s suggestion as not even worth considering.
Lim Guan Eng asked the Kelantan police chief to apologize for making such a suggestion.
The Tebrau MP Jimmy Puah would make it sound as if the Kelantan chief has no understanding of his job, simply because of the suggestion he made.
Now, here’s the thing—while I am also inclined to believe that a child should not be held responsible for their actions, and I generally agree that a young girl under 16 years of age should not be subjected to the full weight of the law when an adult man is accused of statutorily raping her, I do not think it’s fair to dismiss the Kelantan police chief’s contention with such contempt.
After all, I’m sure the Kelantan police chief is a man of respect—he is the state’s police chief, for heaven’s sake. You don’t become a state police chief by being a fool who speaks nonsense, right? So if the man has something to say, the proper way of addressing it is by giving it a hearing and understanding where he is coming from.
Just off the cuff, I can understand why he might have said what he said.
He might, for example, have a different definition of what constitutes a "child." We tend to assume that a child is someone under the age of 16, but this might not be his point of view.
Heck, as a former teacher, I am aware that some students who are 13, 14, or 15 years old are actually mature beyond their age.
Take, for example, the case of a student in Kajang who went viral for punching his teacher—he was just 14 years old, but he is being tried in court for his act as if he were an adult.
If the Tebrau MP, Lim Guan Eng, or Azalina saw no fault in that 14-year-old being punished for punching his teacher, even though he is under 16 and should technically still be considered a child, then why would they have such venom and contempt for the Kelantan police chief for suggesting that a girl under 16 should also be tried as an adult in cases of statutory rape?
One of the qualities of a person who is worthy of respect is the ability to reflect on oneself before passing judgment on others.
If you believe that a 14-year-old boy is conscious of his actions and should be charged as an adult for throwing a punch at his teacher, why can’t you believe that a 14-year-old girl is also conscious of her actions when she consents to having sex with an older man?
Why is what is good for the goose not good for the gander?
I’ll go out on a limb and say that it seems conservatives and Muslims have a tendency to see a male as a positive force, while liberals and non-Muslims tend to be wary of male influence. Perhaps they see it as patriarchal, which they argue discriminates against females.
Liberals and non-Muslims also tend to see childhood as a period that lasts not only up to 16 years of age, but perhaps even longer, and they often assume a person is angelic and innocent even when they are 17, 18, or even 20 or 21 years old. Meanwhile, conservatives and Muslims tend to have a shorter definition of childhood and may treat a person as an adult even before they reach 16.
Now, I tend to lean more towards the liberal and non-Muslim side in my own estimation, but just because I lean towards the liberal and non-Muslim interpretation, I am not going to dismiss the conservative and Muslim point of view as evil, stupid, or without merit.
I’m not just doing this out of politeness or respect either, but because I can see that my own beliefs are not perfect or infallible, as some liberals and non-Muslims tend to believe.
At the end of the day, we should all agree that we don’t want anyone to be abused or subjected to injustice, and we should work towards finding an arrangement to prevent abuse, oppression, wickedness or injustice in our society.
What we should avoid, though, is presuming that anyone who disagrees with our beliefs is being abusive, wicked, oppressive or unjust, when, in all likelihood, they too are interested in preventing abuse, wickedness, oppression and injustice in society.
Often, it is not what we believe, but how we act out our beliefs that causes a lot of negativity and toxicity to flood our society.
Before we judge someone else’s beliefs, it is best that we judge our own beliefs first.
If we can forgive ourselves for the inconsistencies and shortcomings in our beliefs, then we will be able to forgive the inconsistencies and shortcomings in the beliefs of others too.
It is when we can accept our shortcomings and the shortcomings of others that we will be able to work together to make things better.
If we keep insisting that we are perfect, even when it should be obvious even to us that we are not without shortcomings, we will see no reason to forgive or accept ourselves, and when we don’t forgive or accept ourselves, we won’t forgive or accept anyone else either.
It is those who believe they are perfect and are unforgiving that will always quarrel with each other and make things worse for everyone.
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