Who is at fault when parents kill?

WE keep hearing of parents hurting their children.

A young mother labelled “Monster Mum” by the media was slapped with a 150-year jail term.

Then there was a young father who suffocated his three children before hanging himself.

What do the cases tell us? That both parents were in financial difficulties and they could not handle it. Do you think any mother is happy seeing her daughters violated by “inhuman” men? She had a number of so-called “husbands/boyfriends” so that she could feed her children.

The family in Sungai Petani was wiped out by the father. Did he want to see his own children scream, before taking his life, like his wife did weeks back?

Who is to be blamed? Both were helpless. No one to confide in. No caring groups to turn to. Nowhere their children could stay until they sorted out their finances.

This is what our government lacks in providing. Bhutan is the only country that measures its development on the Gross National Happiness index. It measures people’s quality of life and makes sure that “material and spiritual development happens together”. That does not mean its GDP is left behind.

We don’t have to be Bhutan. But the Government can channel funds to groups that seek out despairing citizens and place them in halfway houses to tide them over. Professional social workers and easily reachable certified welfare homes can be set up so the simplest of people have a temporary home for their children.

The 150 years’ prison sentence slapped on the mother is not going to help her or her daughters. Both are going to be ruined eventually.

As for the three young children whose lives were snuffed out even before they knew what money can and cannot buy, they will just be a story for the relatives to talk about when they get together.

The media will keep reporting such cases and netizens will scream out against the so-called “perpetrators”. But we will soon forget them and turn our focus on the next issue plaguing us, like the rise in petrol price.