BUSY DAY AHEAD: Minister of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatiman Abdullah shows the contents of her winding-up speech to Minister of Local Government and Housing Datuk Sim Kui Hian at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Complex yesterday.
SARAWAK still records the second highest number of teenage pregnancy cases in Malaysia, despite managing to lower down such cases in recent years.
This was revealed by Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Education Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah, who said Sarawak had in fact registered a downward trend in teenage pregnancies from 2012 to 2017.
“To handle this problem, the state government has fixed KPI (key performance indicator) to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies by 10 per cent every year.
“In 2017, we achieved the rate of reduction of 14.1 per cent. Nine divisions achieved the fixed KPI, except for divisions of Sri Aman, Limbang and Sibu,” she said in her ministerial winding-up speech at the august house yesterday.
She also informed that a roundtable discussion needs to be held with the relevant agencies such as those related to customs and religions, to fix the minimum age for marriage.
On another matter, she informed that issues on drugs and substance abuse are still the most hotly debated topic by members of the august house.
Although related statistics show that less than one per cent of the state’s population are directly involved in drugs and substance abuse, records from the police however show that drugs and substance abuse has far reaching effect on the social well-being of the community.
“In 2017, 30 to 40 per cent of petty crimes and 27 per cent of domestic violence are related to drugs and substance abuse.
“The ministry wishes to applaud the efforts of the enforcement agencies to suppress the supply of drugs in the market; the rehabilitation and treatment of drug and substance abusers; as well as the awareness and advocacy programmes conducted to empower the community to stay away from this social menace,” she said.
She also informed that following enforcement carried under Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, drugs of various types worth a total of RM14.4 million were seized by the police and another RM8.9 million by the customs.
She also said a total of 1,139 people have been categorised as Orang Kena Pengawasan (OKP) by the National Anti Drugs Agency (AADK) for constant observation, while 351 are being rehabilitated at the National Narcotics Rehabilitation Centre (Puspen)