Teenage pregnancy in Sarawak second highest in country

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Fatimah (centre), Carnation Club of Kuching and Samarahan chairperson Magdalene Chong (right) and the speaker (retired matron) Fu Choon Kee in a photocall.

Fatimah (centre), Carnation Club of Kuching and Samarahan chairperson Magdalene Chong (right) and the speaker (retired matron) Fu Choon Kee in a photocall.

KUCHING: Statistics shows that Sarawak has the second highest number of teenage pregnancies in the country after Sabah.

Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said a total of 4,078 teenage pregnancies were recorded in Sarawak in 2013.

The figure dropped to 3,401 cases in 2014, and then dropped again to 2,909 cases in 2015. In the first nine months of last year the figure was 1,000 cases.

Speaking at the ‘New Hope, New Beginning’ seminar organised by Carnation Club of Kuching and Samarahan, she disclosed that 93.7 per cent of cases last year involved girls who had stopped schooling either before getting pregnant or after pregnancy.

She also said last year’s cases comprised 56.3 per cent of those aged 10 to 17 years old, and the remainder in the 18-19 age bracket. Almost 53 per cent of the cases involved unwed pregnancies.

Fatimah also revealed that in terms of breakdown of pregnancies involving all age groups, the percentage of teenage pregnancies recorded in Sarawak was now the highest in the country.

“Even though we have managed to reduce the number of cases, there are still over 1,000 teenage pregnancy cases in Sarawak while similar cases in other states are still below 1,000,” she said.

Speaking to reporters later, Fatimah said most cases were caused by promiscuity and boy-girl relationship which went overboard due to easy access to pornographic materials.

She said a few of the cases involved rape, be it statutory rape or incestuous rape.

“Another cause is our culture. In some areas where the children have stopped schooling after Primary 6, the girls are encouraged to get married early. The parents would say something like this: (in Hockien) ‘lu bo ai tak chek, lu kawen lo’ (since you don’t want to study, you better get married).

“Also, pornographic materials are easily available through smartphones. And things may get out of line among boys and girls when there is unrestricted contact between them,” she said.

On the seminar, she said it was among the first this year organised together with Carnation Club of Kuching and Samarahan, an NGO for single mothers, to reach out to the Chinese community.

She acknowledged that the participation of Chinese in the ministry’s programmes was low, in fact, minimal. She said one of the problems was lack of communication.

“To me, it is important also to reach out to the Chinese community, even though the statistics on teenage pregnancy shows very minimal number involving Chinese girls. This brings up the question: are Chinese girls not involved in such cases or do they opt not to give birth at hospitals? What is the possibility? There is the possibility of them going for abortion, which is dangerous.

“This is why I want Carnation Club to do the same programme so that the parents know about the ‘One Stop Teenage Pregnancy Committee’ (OSTPC), how to advise their children and know what to do in such a situation.”

OSTPC, set up in 2014 in all divisions, is an inter-agency council providing support system to teenage mothers,

help them to continue going to schools and to carry out programmes to bring down the number of teenage pregnancies.

She also said Social Development Council (MPS) would be more aggressive in holding awareness programmes this year including ‘Randau Sosial’ sessions to empower teenage girls with the awareness and knowledge that education is key to their success in life and to stay away from bad activities.

She also pledged financial support through her minor rural project (MRP) allocation to Carnation Club of Kuching and Samarahan to carry out similar programmes.