KUCHING, August 16: A group of civil society organisations is calling upon Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Datuk Fatimah Abdullah to seriously look into solutions to her claim that “Ladies’ Night” was the cause of unwanted pregnancies.
The group, consisting of Lawyer Kamek For Change (LK4C), Sarawak AIDS Concern Society (SACS), PurpleLily Social Association Kuching, Rise of Sarawak Efforts (ROSE), Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS) and the Borneo Resources Institute (BRIMAS), in a joint statement said the issues would not have arisen if actions were to be taken holistically rather than just conducting roundtable discussions.
“The discussion will not be helpful nor complete without talking about the following matters. Hence we urge the relevant authorities to look into carrying out interactive sexual reproductive health (SRH) awareness programmes for all teenagers, male and female.
“The programmes should be incorporated into the current school curriculum. In addition to SRH, the content awareness programmes should also address sexual violence tendencies to combat rape and sexual harassment,” said the group in a statement.
The group added authorities should enforce and prevent minors from entering entertainment centres and stipulated closing times should be enforced. This was because the allegation of sexual predators with rape drugs in entertainment centres was very concerning.
“We would like to call on the enforcement (authorities) to investigate the source of these drugs and to apprehend the perpetrators. Their presence is not only a threat to minors but to all nightspot frequenters,” the group said. — DayakDaily
