The “Kami Prihatin” (We’re Concerned) campaign launched yesterday is an effort aimed enhancing the awareness of the people in giving more value and love to their babies and children.
In mitigating cases of abandoning new-born babies, the people should not isolate girls who have been pregnant out of their romantic affairs.
This is important so that they will not take a shortcut by discarding their babies, worst still killed them.
The people should also show concern with the wellbeing of children around them. They should not just keep silent for any act of violence and they must make police report. This will go a long way in ensuring the children are protected from any inhumane characters lurking around them.
Deputy President of the National Council of Women Organisation (NCWO), Faridah Khalid said, majority of the girls who abandoned their babies because they wanted to avoid embarrassment.
“They feel embarrassed for being pregnant and they are embarrassed to seek help from the people who cannot accept non-marriage pregnancies. I believe that some of the girls as far as possible do not want to terminate the lives of their babies,” she said.
Faridah said this when met after the launching of the “Kami Prihatin” campaign by Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, Senator Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, at the KL Central, Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The campaign is jointly organized by Utusan Malaysia and the ministry, the satellite television station, Astro and Persatuan Karyawan Malaysia (Karyawan).
Faridah said non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should also play their role in creating public awareness that girls with such problem can seek help from the NGOs if they do not have any other place to do so.
She said NCWO had more than 120 NGOs under its aegis and she wanted all the NGOs to distribute their telephone numbers to those girls who are pregnant out of their love affairs.
Meanwhile, Director of the NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women
(NIEW), Datuk Rafiah Salim, who was also met at the function, said the campaign was timely as such initiative was important under the present situation.
In her view, this increasing phenomenon had got to do with the rising transmigration from the rural to urban areas.
She said when the girls were away from their parents they did not have the support system. As such the support system should be in place to help the problem-ridden girls.
She described those who tortured or abused their children as having mental problem and failed to manage their stress and make their children to release their tension.
Executive Director of Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) Ivy Josiah said the Kami Prihatin should enhance the awareness among men to be responsible and not to leave the problem to their girlfriends alone when come to pregnancies.
She said many women do not know what to do when their boyfriends made an escape after discovering that she was getting pregnant.
Josiah said women should also understand that sex is not the proper way to show their love to each other, noting that pregnancy in some cases can also be due to rape.
She said many pregnancies as the result of the romantic affairs between males and females only show that they have no proper education in avoiding pregnancies.
It is hope that the Kami Prihatin campaign will help to reduce significantly the number of abandoned baby cases especially in giving awareness to the society to give help rather than punished the problem-ridden girls.
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