‘Not right time to impose night curfew on children’

KUALA LUMPUR: The government feels the proposed night “curfew” on children under 18 cannot be implemented yet due to various reasons, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Dr Wan Azizah, who is also women, family and community development minister, said one of the reasons was their parents were not at home to monitor their children as they were juggling more than one job to cover the cost of living.

“There is also a need for children to be outdoors at night such as attending tuition, sports activities and religious classes at the surau.

“Besides, there are also children who work to support their families as allowed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for teenagers aged 15 and above as our secondary education is not compulsory,” she said in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

She said this in her reply to a question from Datin Paduka Dr Tan Yee Kew (Pakan HarapanWangsa Maju) who wanted to know the government’s decision on the proposal to impose a “curfew” on children under 18 as stated earlier this year.

However, Dr Wan Azizah said the government was considering imposing a “curfew” at high-risk areas as well as reminding parents to keep their children safe at all time and not leaving the responsibility to the government.

Her ministry was working with the Housing and Local Government and the Youth and Sports ministries to identify trained professionals in sports, charity work, drama and dance classes as well as martial arts to host programmes for children after school or during school holidays.

“Actually, teenagers don’t know what to do in their free time, so if we can provide healthy programmes, they can avoid negative things like drugs,” she said.

Dr Wan Azizah said her ministry had implemented a pilot social project offering free tuition to target groups at the Perumahan Awam Desa Rejang, Setapak, which had drawn encouraging response.