Malaysia — A “Gracious” Society?

Justin finds it ironic that the very technology that connects humanity is also the one that disconnects us from our humanity.

A certain video found its way to my Facebook news feed recently (you can view the video via the link at the end of this post). Normally, I would not bother with videos because they take forever to stream on my network. However, the small caption beside the video piqued my curiosity! It read: “Kantoi at Bentong (the girl only 16 years)”.

In the video, a girl and two boys were apparently caught engaging in unwholesome activity inside a Perodua Kembara at what looked like a secluded area. The video started with the girl, in her panties, putting her pants on. She was at the backseat of the vehicle, flanked on both sides by the two boys and they were surrounded by about five to six adults. Some of them were wearing police vests, some in civilian clothes and one woman was wearing a blue T-Shirt with what looked like the PDRM logo on her shirt. There was a police van in the shot.

I have thought long and hard on whether to reproduce the video here as I do not want to be party to what I can only describe as public chastisement or humiliation. In the end, I decided it is best to let people view the video themselves and make their own conclusion.

Let me interject myself here to give the police a pat on their back for their effort in curbing immoral activities. I am operating on the assumption that the police allowed this video to be taken while they were apprehending the three, to be used as visual evidence and had no intention for it to be released to the public. However, somehow this video still managed to find its way to the internet and perhaps it is also circulating in the mobile network. I deduced that this video was taken with a smartphone because it is in MP4 format.

There is no date nor time stamp on the video. Hence, we would never know when this incident happened. However, we can be certain that it took place in Sarawak based on the dialect spoken in the video.

Truthfully, I am more shocked that this video found its way to the internet than I am about these kids engaging in sex. I am also disheartened by the comments made by viewers of the video on Facebook.

While most ridiculed them, only a few raised the fact that the girl is 16 years old, a minor and the person who uploaded the video has probably infringed on her rights on so many levels. Having been caught with her pants down would have been traumatic enough for any insecure teen, to know that an embarrassing video of her is circulating on the internet would definitely be devastating to an impressionable young mind.

Granted, she obviously is no angel but even so, she still have rights and she is a minor. Even rapists, murderers and drug pushers are accorded their rights.

This one silly albeit serious mistake that this girl made does not define her as a person; she is only 16! Given a chance and proper guidance, she would probably go on to do more good deeds that would eclipse this one black stain in her life and this may very well be the only black stain.

Most of us have committed life changing mistakes while growing up; to err is human. Our experiences, along with the support from our loved ones and the community mould our character. Some of us learned from our mistake and moved on to become useful and productive members of the community and yet some did not and spiraled further downward. Whatever it is, it certainly would not help if we had people taking videos of us in compromising position and spreading them on the internet.

Unfortunately for this girl, some self righteous person decided that whatever punishment the girl would get would not be enough. She must be publicly ostracized! The stain must be permanent! Once something is released on to the internet, there is no turning back, it will be permanent. Never mind that she is a MINOR. This girl had committed an unforgivable sin! By the way, I know of a few sexually active and promiscuous high flyers when I was in the corporate world. They can fall back on a career in porn if they ever underperform in their day jobs but outside of their bedrooms or hotel rooms, for that matter, they contribute positively to society. They pay their taxes, donate their time and stuff to charities and what not. But I am digressing here.

I wonder what kind of damage and the extent of it has been inflicted on this girl. Whether the high handed action of one overly self righteous person has steered her further away from the right course than she would have been had it not been for the video? I pray that she will overcome all of this to become a stronger and wiser person.

Can we even imagine the emotional trauma this teenager is facing now? The reactions of those close to her if they happen to chance upon the footage? She will certainly be ostracized, treated as a social outcast! Is that what the perpetrator intended? If so, how does that help with the nurturing of this young mind? I doubt that the perpetrator knows anything about nurturing.

What if this girl was your sister, niece, cousin or daughter, how would you feel? Despite how grievous a mistake she made, do you think she deserve to be publicly humiliated. It is akin to mental abuse. Hence, this is an abuse inflicted on a minor. Would you want the person who did this taken to task?

We live in a politically correct era. We like to think that we walk on the path of righteousness and most of the time we do. We reject the bad and embrace the good but we must not forget to be gracious. Be gracious to the fallen, to the weak and to those less enlightened. If we can do that, ours will be a beautiful community indeed.

[Link to the video, on Facebook]

Justin is an organic farmer from Sabah. He is just a simple farmer. Yup, simple, that’s him.