OVER TO YOU: Jainab presenting a mock cheque for RM5,000 to the Lahad Datu Warrior Fund.
KOTA KINABALU: Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Jainab Ahmad Ayid yesterday stressed that she was not picking fights with the family of the underage rape victim.
Speaking to reporters after launching the 2013 Bandaraya Mosque carnival, the minister said the aim of her ministry was to protect the young victim from being further victimised by allowing her to marry her rapist.
“I am not picking fights with her mother and father and the fight is not between us … the right thing to do is to protect the child who should not be allowed to be looked after by her rapist,” she strongly emphasised.
She alleged that many failed marriages occurred when the parties concerned married at a young age.
She added that her ministry had taken note that the victim came from a poor family and that it would try to help her parents in this respect.
In her speech during the event, Jainab also urged the Syariah court and the relevant Islamic bodies to protect the rights of women and children who had been left to fend for themselves by their husband / father.
She added that she had seen many unfair treatment on women who had been left by their husbands.
“This needs to be improved. Let us remember that it is our mothers who have given birth to us. Men, too, were given births by their mothers. Have you ever heard of a man giving birth? Hence, a noble status should be given to our mothers, to our wives, and to our daughters.We must celebrate the status of women,” she said.
At the same time, Jainab also urged the mosque authorities to stop individuals who were striving to cause disunity within the mosque’s ground.
“I don’t want the mosque to become a place where the community becomes disunited. Instead, it should be a venue that promotes Islamic activities,” she said.
During the event yesterday, the Bandaraya mosque also presented a cheque of RM5,000 to the Lahad Datu Warrior Fund.