So Young, Yet So Miserable And So Very Discriminated.

There is this report in today's NST. It details the travails of a young child who through no fault of her own has been subjected to great misery and is looking at an even bleaker future. Such a situation should never have arisen in a country which ambitiously expects to be a 'developed' one by 2020. It speaks volumes about the ignorance of the poorer sections of society, especially Indians, and illustrates the tidak apa attitude of our education and registration department pegawai2.

I'm quite sure that such a situation would not have been allowed to happen in the Chinese community, for no matter how poor or less educated they are, such matters are given importance and even if unsuccessful on their own, they will seek out and can depend on the MCA or DAP to assist them. The Malay can always fall back on sympathetic response from government staff. The Indian sod on the other hand is left to hang high and dry mainly due to his own foolishness, ignorance and perhaps a pathetic lack of initiative and partly due to an uncompassionate civil service which considers these people as not deserving of help and a waste of time. Please read the full report here.

K. Raghathiswary diligently puts on her blue-and-white school pinafore every morning, but she does not get to go to school. This is because no school will accept her. The cause is her birth certificate which does not carry the name of her father, R. Kanagasundram, 30.

"It is tough trying to console her every day when she wakes up and gets dressed in her school uniform. Whenever the school bus stops in front of our neighbours’ homes and fetches their children, my daughter will start crying."

Kanagasundram said she was denied admission by schools in Johor Baru early this year as she did not have a birth certificate. "I could not apply for my daughter’s birth certificate because my marriage was not registered. Moreover, my wife left us the day she gave birth to Raghathiswary."

When his daughter could not get into a school, Kanagasundram took all the supporting documents and applied for a birth certificate. However, when he received his daughter’s birth certificate, it did not carry his name as the father.

"I have been Raghathiswary’s guardian and I applied for her birth certificate but it does not carry my name as the father. The column which is supposed to carry my name says no information available.
When I questioned the National Registration Department about this, they failed to give a proper explanation."

He then tried to enrol Raghathiswary in a Tamil school in Johor Baru, but to no avail. "I tried to enrol her in other schools in Johor Baru and my sister tried to do so in Perak, but no school wants to accept her. "I hope someone can help my daughter. I don’t want her to be an illiterate."

Johor Education Department director Mokhy Saidon promised to look into the matter. "If it is just an issue over a birth certificate, there should not be any problem for Raghathiswary to get a place in school."

***** What a sad state of affairs. Wherever the fault may lie, it is patently unfair to make an innocent child suffer for it. I hope that this matter will be settled amicably and without detriment to her future.

Image: Courtesy NST