Paedophiles, sexual predators and offenders can all find safe refuge in Malaysia if we go by how we have been treating recent cases here. The empathy that we have for these people is astonishing.

Only a few days ago, a news report informed the public that a teacher in a Tamil school in Hulu Selangor who is being investigated for sexual abuse against nine students will continue to teach.

He was transferred to another school and the authorities said they would observe and monitor him closely. Now you can imagine the outrage this has caused among the public.

Although he hasn’t been proven guilty yet - and according to the justice system in Malaysia, an individual is innocent until proven guilty - the public wants him suspended until the case is settled.

And what is even more shocking is, according to Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid, there have been 15 reports of teachers molesting students since 2010. All of these teachers have been transferred but continue to teach.

A suspension would be appropriate seeing that our children should not be put at such risk. Post these teachers at the education department or ministry. Anywhere except where children will be exposed to them.

If they are proven to be innocent in a fair trial, then by all means let them continue to teach. Only then should they be allowed to be back in contact with students. It is just not wise to allow them to continue teaching at this time.

Remember roughly over a year ago, there was a Malaysian student, Nur Fitri Azmeer Nordin, 23, who was studying in the United Kingdom under a Mara loan and was arrested and convicted of having 30,000 child pornography images and videos.

He was sentenced to five years in prison but after negotiations between the Malaysian authorities and the UK, he was extradited back home where he was released as if nothing even happened.

The reason our local authorities gave for his quick ‘pardon’ was that he is a bright student (he was studying at Imperial College London) and is still young. Apparently, it wouldn’t be right to ruin his future just over a simple offence as being in possession of child pornography.

Start taking it seriously

Also bear in mind that there have been so many cases where underage girls (or even those who are of age) who have been raped or sexually abused by men who are then let off the hook just because they offer to marry their victims.

In addition, the number of child brides in Malaysia is alarmingly high. The shocking thing about this is that it happens with the blessing of their families. They say it’s better than having their children having sex out of wedlock and committing sins.

It is baffling to see the attitude so many Malaysians have towards such sexual offences. It seems like they view it as something that is normal and, well, like there just isn’t anything wrong with it.

Sometimes, the kind of jokes that is made can be so disgusting that it kind of is a reflection of the attitude of our society. How many of you have heard someone casually make remarks when they see a young schoolgirl?

“Look at how pretty she is! If I can ‘bela’ her properly, she would make a good girlfriend or wife!”

It is this kind of apathy that ensures our society will continually go on without realising that sexual offences like these are serious. Our society desperately needs to have a mentality overhaul.

One immediate way is for the authorities to start taking this seriously. Stop empathising with the offender and start thinking about the victim. Put yourselves in the shoes of the victims. What about their future after being raped or molested?

Another step is to start introducing sex education into the school system so that the younger generation can be better equipped as well as making them more aware of issues such as this.

Stop the ignorant thinking that sex education promotes promiscuity among youth. It is actually a proven way to prevent them from having unwanted sex, having unwanted pregnancies and from contracting or transmitting diseases.

Most importantly, sex education will teach our youth the maturity to understand what sex is, what it entails and its consequences. And once they become adults, it will make sure that our society will be a much better society than it is now.

It is starting to become too often that we are hearing reports of sexual abuse and offences happening in the country. It is time for our society to realise that we need to get serious about it now.

ZAN AZLEE is a writer, documentary filmmaker, journalist and academic. He wouldn’t mind being a vigilante, seeking out sexual predators and meting out his own form of justice. Visit FATBIDIN.COM to view his work.