Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim went on record with Dewan Rakyat (the Lower House of Parliament), and told them that the Sabah girl who 12 years old when she was forced to marry her rapist is “doing fine.” Let that sink in for one second before we go on to the rest of the story.
We at Coconuts KL challenge you to not feel absolute rage over the matter by the time you finish reading.
The Minister visited the girl at her family home as recently as April 18, and relayed to regional DAP Kulai representative Teo Nie Ching, that the now 16-year-old was still married to her 44-year-old rapist, who was serving jail time after being convicted of statutory rape in 2015.
In fact, the girl had recently visited her rapist-slash-husband-to-child-bride, Riduan Masmud, earlier this year.
The young girl certainly has more time on her hands, after ceasing to go to school after the incident became a media sensation. The girl reportedly felt “embarrassed” over the coverage, and “had no interest in going back to school,” according to the minister.
Oh, Datuk Seri Rohani, bearer of the clearly over-estimated title of Women, Family and Community Development minister, something that implies a responsibility to serve women, families and the wider community.
Whose responsibility was it to ensure that this victim of backwards thinking and antediluvian policy was protected from the projected “embarrassment,” or more accurately, shame, that was brought on by the story? Hmm? Anyone? Any takers out there appointed to serve women, family and community? None? Ok, I’ll just go back to my tea.
She told Lower Parliament that the girl was more comfortable living with her parents, and taking care of her siblings. She has said that she’d like to be self-sufficient; however, her parents have stated to welfare authorities that they have no problem in taking care of her. You know, that same family that accepted a RM10,000 (US$2,500) bribe from her rapist to drop the police report against him.
Sounds adjusted and healthy to us!
No. No, it doesn’t. It sounds like what happens when a child is forced to endure trauma upon trauma, given zero support, and the way of “helping” her is by forcing her to marry her rapist.
Riduan was a restaurant manager at the time of the child’s rape. He was father to four children, aged between 2 and 17 when he took the 12-year-old girl into a vehicle near Kionsom Waterfall, and raped her early one February morning in 2013. He married her in May, making her his second wife, and announced his intentions to have the child continue her studies. That didn’t happen.
Despite trying to absolve his rape via marriage, a Kota Kinabalu court found him guilty of statutory rape in 2015, and he has been serving a 12-year jail term since.
So, all-in-all… How those rage levels? Factor 100? Yep, us too.
