BN’s Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim appears to be deeply confused in her mind about the problem of domestic violence.

Even more troubling is that she seems to have been oddly unaware of the dire seriousness of the issue prior to recent reports by that most dubious of institutions, the Malaysian mainstream press.

According to that tireless team of stenographers devoted to reporting statements by BN spokespersons as if they were holy writ, regime ‘news’ agency Bernama, Rohani recently stated that “based on newspaper reports” of the killing of children under 12, “there were cases committed by close family members, such as parents and relatives”.

Having her eyes thus opened to a situation that she of all people in Malaysia should arguably have long-been the most vividly aware, she then proceeded to state that she “did not rule out the possibility of mental problems in such incidents”.

Therefore, Rohani (left) said, her ministry has “no objection to discussing with the Health Ministry on the best method to implement the proposal” that couples planning to marry be subjected to mental health checks.

“This is a good proposal as there are couples with a history of mental illness, but the matter is not given attention due to love,” she added.

“If deemed suitable, the mental health test can be implemented along the line of HIV screenings for those about to wed.”

Call me easily discombobulated but as usual, when a BN bigwig speaks, what passes for his or her mind, or at least pretends to, my mind literally boggles.

First with questions as to the speaker’s agenda. Is this focus on mental illness as a cause of domestic violence simply sincerely misguided?

Divert the public’s attention
    
Or is it a lame attempt to divert the public’s attention from the fundamental fact that domestic violence is a crime that should be reported by victims and or witnesses to the police for investigation and prosecution, but is out of control because the police are too busy taking bribes and performing as enforcers for BN to be bothered doing their proper job of protecting the people?

Or, given that a good old-fashioned conspiracy theory is always appropriate when divining the true motivation for any BN initiative, is the proposed mental-health testing of all couples intending marriage just a pretext for the plunder of even more public money through yet another crony-enriching 1Malaysia scam?

Speaking of scams, what does Rohani think she’s doing wasting time on department business when she should be out with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the rest of the gang pretending to protect the public interest by checking the prices of produce in wet markets?

And in any event, what does she plan to do with the presumably rather small minority of people who fail their proposed pre-marital mental health checks? Refer them for fabulously expensive - and of course, almost certainly crony-enriching - professional treatment in the always uncertain hope of a cure?

Or permanently prevent them from reproducing by means of compulsory incarceration in secure happy hospitals or even enforced sterilisation?

Possibilities that lead me to wonder, given the rabid racism that the BN regime promotes and supports with public money through fake NGOs like Perkasa and ‘newspapers’ like Utusan Malaysia, whether this is the first sinister sign of a Nazi-style plan to ‘cleanse’ Malaysia at large, or of Malaysia’s alleged ‘master’ race in particular, of ‘undesirable’ genes.

Because the truth is that, despite widespread public prejudice to the contrary, reliable statistics reveal that people with mental illnesses are no more likely to commit crimes, including that of domestic violence, than the apparently ‘sane’ are.

For example, I’ll warrant that much higher rates of violence and even murder are committed by the police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and other agencies of alleged law and order on ‘suspects’ in their custody than against children by mentally ill parents, relatives or carers.

The age-old question
    
And then there’s the fact that a great many accused criminals of - otherwise apparently - perfectly sound mind have tried pleading insanity, temporary or otherwise, in their defence.

Thus evoking the age-old question as to whether madness predisposes people to badness, or badness is itself a form of madness.

Whichever, it seems to me that if official efforts are to be made in ferreting out the mad, they should be equally, if not far more focused on, identifying the bad.

In other words, along with the mental health checks of which Rohani has “no objection” to discussing with the Health Ministry for people planning to marry, what about moral health checks as well?

And why restrict such screening to ‘ordinary’ Malaysians? Surely any program to identify and treat madness and or badness would be infinitely more efficient and widely effective if applied simultaneously to those with most influence on the rest of society.

Mental health checks on potential parents would likely, as I have already argued, have little impact on the incidence of domestic violence, as by far the most of such crimes are committed by the bad, not the mad.

Which leads us to the thought that the remedy for domestic violence - as for any other crime - is better reporting, investigation and prosecution, which of course would require a police force that’s neither mad nor bad.

So instead of mental health checks for potential parents, what about mental health checks for aspiring and serving police for the purpose of ridding the force of its sadists, homicidal maniacs and otherwise mad, and finally institute the long-delayed - in fact, fiercely officially resisted - Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) for the purpose of identifying and dispensing with the bad?

A question that brings us to Malaysia’s political powers that be, and highlights Malaysia’s most crying need in the madness and badness department, mental and moral screening for members and supporters of the ever-ruling and endlessly abusive BN regime.

Blatantly evident

No need for professional mental health checks here. Blatantly evident in everything they are and say and do, and of course fail to do, is a virtually limitless list of psychiatric disorders ranging from megalo-, klepto-, ego- and various other versions of mania to narcissism and delusions of everything from grandeur to competence.

But let’s not delude ourselves that these are the same as the ordinary, everyday, blameless - and to others, relatively harmless - mental illnesses to which some of us ordinary mortals are sadly prone.

There is method in BN’s madness, and that’s to use it with deadly effectiveness to hide, disguise or divert attention from their essential badness.

As of the general election last year, however, a majority of Malaysians demonstrated that they have come to their senses, or if you prefer, passed their mental health tests, by refusing to vote for BN.

So if these lamebrains think they can get away much longer with using their lunacies to disguise their larcenies, and their insanity to hide their penchant for everything that’s politically, racially and socially insanitary, they must be crazy.


DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he coaches and mentors writers and authors and practises as a writing therapist. Published books of his columns for Malaysiakini include ‘Mad about Malaysia', ‘Even Madder about Malaysia', ‘Missing Malaysia', ‘1Malaysia.con’ and ‘Malaysia Mania’.