Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Misunderstanders of Islam to blame for child abuse, says child protection group

Poor interpretation of Islam may be responsible for rampant child abuse across Indonesia, according to a national protection group.

In an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), Seto Mulyadi, chairman of the National Committee for Child Protection (KPAI), said that many parents misunderstand what Islam says about physical punishment.

“There is a saying in Islam which states, ‘At the end of a cane lies gold,’ which parents have taken as advice to discipline their children,” Mulyadi said.

“Many parents don’t reflect on the teachings. They think that if you want well-behaved children, then it is ok to cane them.”

"But Islam actually means that parents should be firm with the child’s education,” he added.

Mulyadi also explained that many parents view their children as possessions.

“Parents feel superior and think they can treat their children however they want, thinking it is for the sake of their future or education.”

According to a new report by KPAI, an estimated 72,000 Indonesian children were abused last year, either physically, sexually or mentally, and most of the violence was carried out by parents or relatives.

...............

I know that the response will be the usual "Islam forbids...Islam condemns..." and disavow any connection between Islam and this phenomenon. And the child abuse by Christian priests will be pointed out. But that is only deflecting the debate.
Too many people are "misunderstanding" Islam and this has to be addressed openly and honestly if we are to stop it.
For example in Saudi Arabia Muslim Religious Police "misunderstood" Islam and chained the doors of a burning school shut in order to prevent the little girls from escaping the fire. They claimed the little girls were not properly dressed.
If the Saudi Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice misunderstands Islam, then who understands these things?

A Pakistan education minister has said that between 2000 and 2004 there were more than 2000 complaints about abuse of children in Pakistan's madrassas of which, two hundred were 'investigated', no arrests or convictions.

In Maldives we had the misunderstanders detonate a bomb in Male'. We have another misunderstander trying to murder the President in the name of Allah.

Do we want people to misunderstand Islam and abuse children? We are now happily aping the Arabs and so it may be that (TROUBLING VIDEO - BE WARNED) this becomes a common occurrence in Maldives.

3 comments:

  1. Ismail Rasheed,

    Among other things, Islam forbids and condemns the use of the brain.

    Also, canning at school was quite common in the old days. These days kids get physically or sexually abused by parents and relatives at home.

    Some people can't get enough of subjugation of women and canning and abuse of children and child marriages. Nass, over at the only Maldives Christian propaganda blog (oddly named mvMuslims), could hardly contain his joy at seeing more veiled women.

    Perhaps there will be a post in the same vein regarding more child-abuse too - in the name of Islam, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous8:21 AM

    Fancy that. Mohamed himself misunderstood Islam when he ordered the murder of a breast-feeding mother of five children and a blind man of advanced age. Their crime was composing poetry about Mohamed. I know, I know. Mohamed was misled by a pedophile Catholic priest. It's the fault of the Crusades and Israel.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Simon,
    Thanks for the comment.
    I have been told that there was caning in Majeediyya in the old days. I think that could be a part of British education system of those days. I have no knowledge of punishments carried out earlier in the schools in Mohamed Amins days as yet. But I will ask around.
    Many people speak of cruel and unusual punishment meted out by Minister Umar Zahir during his days as Headmaster. No surprise there. That man is a psychopath. I have been told he even carried out cruel and unusual punishment on objects such as footballs and skateboards.
    Some who have made first-hand observations of Arab family life say that the incidence and severity of corporal punishment administered to Arab children is much greater than is the case in the Western world.
    On the whole I think so far most Maldivian parents do not carry out harsh punishment on their children. Rather it goes the other way where they indulge the child and are usually ready to blame the other children for spoiling their son. Along the lines of " Your son turned my son into a heroin addict".
    I do think however subjecting little children to sing the Koran in an alien language and phonetics is cruel - children should be playing.
    It baffles me that guitar strumming Dave Mustaine cant get enough of respecting and elevating women to such a high status that they end up as pets in a cage. But that could be part of the subterfuge of Christian missionary activity.
    Yes, there are going to be more postings about "misunderstanding" Islam and taking the Koran out of context.

    ReplyDelete