Parliament Primer: Problems in the Law
Chronology of Events
What the Government Can Do - From Control to Consultation

What the Government Can Do -
From Control to Consultation

1. Consult youth from across socio-economic and urban/rural backgrounds as to their needs, specifically in terms of their leisure interests and the realities of dealing with the social realities of today. Provide sufficient resources to meet these needs.
   
   
2. Provide young people a variety of options to spend their after-school and evening hours. E.g.:
   
   (i) Set up well-managed fully equipped community centres with swimming pool, library, gym, sports field. The centres should also offer a range of courses targeted at the young: e.g. guitar, singing, photography, art, computer literacy, dance and drama, exercise, games, tuition classes.

   Local government officials should visit well-run community centres, for example in Singapore and Britain, to see how successful such centres can be.

   This can be a government-private sector initiative. Any housing development, depending on the numbers of homes built, should be required to have a community centre with minimal facilities. The bigger the development, the more facilities it should offer.

   Each district should have a major community centre, catering both to youth and adults.

   (ii) Encourage the private sector to set up affordable, accessible, safe and fun places for the young to socialise with their friends.

   (iii) Empower young people to organise themselves and do community work to help those less privileged.

3. Teach parenting skills to promote healthy communication and mutual support within the family. The experience in Britain shows that juvenile delinquents whose parents underwent parenting skills programmes showed marked improvement in behaviour compared to delinquents who were sent to rehabilitation homes. Both fathers and mothers must attend, as the tendency is that only women attend family development courses.
   
   
4. Provide much more realistic education to young people about sex and drugs. Sex and drug education must incorporate rights and responsibilities, gender equality and the dangers of unsafe sex and drug use. Evidence in a number of European countries show that effective sex education has brought down the numbers of unwanted pregnancies.

   Current sex education is limited and most children do not get it and therefore have no idea of what responsible relationships are all about. Drug education is mostly about the law but does not address the root causes of drug taking, which can be varied, including difficult family relationships, abuse, peer pressure etc. Showing young people the punishments they will incur if they get caught taking drugs is ineffective because they usually think they won't get caught. In addition, the education must include all forms of intoxicants including alcohol and non-drugs, e.g. glue.

5. Sponsor public debates or community dialogues around issues of morality in our society. If the Government takes this initiative, the media can follow through with editorials and comments and encourage participation from their readership/ viewership. More talk and discussion will allow us to strengthen the pluralism and diversity that is so important to our country.
   

Initiated by: Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), Sisters in Islam (SIS), National Human Rights Society (HAKAM), Women's Aid Organisation (WAO), All Women's Action Society (AWAM), Women's Development Collective (WDC)

For more information, contact: Masjaliza Hamzah (SIS), (603) 7960 6121/6122

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