SEREMBAN: The government is willing to study the proposal to create a new law to protect parents who are being neglected by their children, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator P Waytha Moorthy said.
However, he said the matter would need a really detailed and in-depth study before it could be implemented.
“It is really inappropriate for any child to neglect or abuse his or her parents and I think, if there is a need, we can have a law to protect those senior citizens and to ensure that their children cannot simply wash their hands off their responsibility to take care of the parents,” he told reporters here yesterday.
The minister said this in response to the media report quoting UPM Head of Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Assoc Prof Dr Rahimah Ibrahim, as saying that a stricter law should be created to enable appropriate punishment to be imposed against children found to have purposely neglected or abused their parents emotionally, including by leaving them home alone or at old folks homes.
Rahimah said the punishment was needed to ensure the wellbeing of the elderlies and for the children not to wash their hands off their responsibility to take care of their parents.
Earlier, Waytha Moorthy spent an hour visiting and mingling with the occupants at the Tong Sim Senior Citizens Care Centre in Taman Rasah here.
Also present were National Unity and Integration Department director-general Datuk Bahrain Idris and Negeri Sembilan Department of National Unity and Integration director Salahsiah Hashim.
During the visit, the minister also presented financial assistance of RM20,000 to the care centre, which was established in 2006 and currently providing shelter to 10 senior citizens.
Meanwhile, in his Chinese New Year’s message, Waytha Moorthy expressed hope that the Lunar New Year celebrations would be able to strengthen racial unity and integration.
He said the culture of visiting friends and neighbours during festive seasons, which had become a tradition in Malaysia, should be continued as it would not only bring the friendship closer, but also enliven the celebrations.
“This tradition is a bridge-builder to strengthen the solidarity of the multi-racial society in Malaysia,” he said. – Bernama
