By : STEVEN PATRICK
LOOKS like you don’t have to
be an athlete with a bright future to get away with statutory rape. You can
just be a high-school dropout and electrician, say your sorry and escape prison
time. The Facebook and Twitter channels are filled with angry netizens
attacking the court decision to let Chuah Guan Jiu, 22, get off with a RM25,000
bond and a proverbial slap on the wrist.
This comes right on the
heels after the equally controversial decision for ex-national youth squad
bowler Noor Afizal Afizan to be bound over RM25,000 because the court decided
he had a bright future.
These angry netizens
includes some very prominent personalities. Actress Ida Nerina told Daily
Chilli, "It’s disgusting that the judges are doing this. Why? Has the
electrician got a bright future too? To do what? Fix light bulbs?"
Sessions judge Sitarun Nisa
Abdul Aziz said the court took into consideration that Chuah was a young, first
time offender.
Ida is not amused that
"young" was actually a consideration. She says, "He (Chuah) is
22! She’s 12! It’s hard to stop carnal desires but he should know better. There
is no excuse.
I was livid when I read the
news," says the 48-year-old actress. Ida was so livid that she posted on
her Facebook fan page. "SHAME ON U MALAYSIA! Another statutory rape.
rapist not jailed. WTH is becoming of us?! this is SO HORRIBLE! She was 12!"
Comedian and emcee Afdlin
Shauki, 41, a father of three girls, says, "It doesn’t send a clear message
to people having sex with minors. Two similar court decisions are not good and
very worrying, especially as a father of three daughers," he says.
Afdlin said, "The
victim is so young and is not of the right mind to consent. The law is there to
protect any sex between a minor and an adult.. If he (Chuah) is sorry for what
he’s done, he should be sorry in jail!"
Comedian and emcee Harith
Iskandar, 45, who just became a daddy to a baby boy in May, shared his anger
and disbelief, saying that the law is meant to protect the victim but is
failing miserably to do so. "There is no deterrent whatsoever. Someone I
know said sarcastically that you can get a harsher sentence for khalwat!"
he said.
Celebrities weren’t the only
ones raging against the judicial machine. Public Relations practitioner Syed
Mohd Idid, who is also a father of two boys and twin girls, questioned the
intentions of Chuah.
He posted on his Facebook.
"AWW C'MON from this para (in The Star report) , we all know his intention
was NO GOOD," he says. The paragraph from The Star report that Syed was
referring to reads “DPP Lim Cheah Yit said Chuah had coaxed the girl into
skipping school and following him back to his flat on the pretext of him being
sick.”
Syed continues, “They were
dating and the accused should have protected her but he took advantage of her
instead.”
The court had on July 20
found Chuah guilty of raping the girl, then aged 12 years and 10 months, at his
flat in Air Itam between 7am and 1pm on 18th July last year, and between 2.25pm
and 2.45pm the next day. (DailyChilli)
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