TOPIC: Social ills among the younger generation

Chairman:

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim and a very good evening to Madam Nadiah Yan binti

Abdullah our beloved lecturer and members of the floor. First and foremost, I am Rasyid,
the chairman for this special forum programme, “Teenagers Forum”. For your
information, this forum is telecast live to 30 states. In this very beautiful evening, I am
not alone because we have four special guests who are experts in this topic. I am so glad
today because we have the honourable Deputy Prime Minister who is also our Minister of
Education, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin here today. Our second guest is the President of the
National Anti-Social Ills Agency, Miss Janet Lee. Our third guest is the Police Inspector
from Bukit Beruntung, Mr. Chin Boon Tek. Not forgetting our last guest today, Mrs.
Renugah, an ex-drug addict which is currently an engineer at Dewan Bandar Raya Kuala
Lumpur.

Ladies and gentlemen, today we are here to discuss about the topic “Social Ills among
the Younger Generation”. Firstly, I would like to explain about social ills. Actually,
social ills among the younger generation is not a new phenomenon. Indeed the extent of
social ills among humans can be traced during every period of time. The examples of
social ills are bullying, delinquency, gangsters, vandalism, illegal racing and child abuse.
There are many factors that cause social ills and they bring many negative effects to our
society and nation. Without any delay, let us move on to our topic today.

So, I would like to get the opinion from our President of the National Anti-Social Ills
Agency. Can you explain to us what are the factors or the causes of social ills among the
younger generation?

Miss Janet Lee:

Thank you Mr. Chairman. Good morning to all of you.

Ladies and gentlemen, one of the factors of social ills among the younger generation is
parental neglect. The new culture of society has created the need for pursuit of material
wealth, often unethical and sometimes by unscrupulous means. Moral values are totally
irrelevant in this pursuit. In their quest for wealth, many parents have forgotten or
neglected their roles to their children. It is so sad to note that many of them do not know
how to be good parents or good role-models to their children. As a result, over the years,
we witness a decline in moral values especially among the younger generation. Many of
them had become rather selfish, rude and highly materialistic just like their parents.
Moreover, the youngsters will become worse and worse in order to attract their parents’
attention so that their parents will care more about them and love them more.
Mr. Chin Boon Tek:

Mr. Chairman and Miss Janet Lee, sorry for interrupting.

Actually, I have my own opinion regarding this point. Before I elaborate, I would like
to ask all of you some questions. Can parents be solely blamed for the social ills
committed by their children? Can they be blamed for their quest for wealth? In today’s
world, despite paying all forms of taxes, one has to pay a hefty sum for even basic
essential services like health, education, housing and transport. These can go into
hundreds of thousands of ringgit. How can parents earn this amount of money without
sacrificing the time spent with their family? Unless the government can find ways to
reduce this burden of the parents, if not, children will be continued to be neglected.

Chairman:

Thank you Miss Janet and Mr. Chin Boon Tek.

Before we continue, I have a question for our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
Education, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. Do you agree with Mr. Chin Boon Tek that
parental neglect is not a factor that will cause social ills among younger generation? Or
do you have another point of view?

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin:

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

According to the findings of the research, “Teenagers’ Dilemma” that we conducted

last month, peer pressure is the main factor that causes social ills among teenagers. A
friend is the closest person to teenagers and they have a great influence in a teenager’s
life. It is because teenagers meet their friends almost every day in school, during co-
curriculum activities, tuition class and others. So teenager will think that their friends can
provide solutions to their problems. This is where the problem creeps in. If they mix with
friends who know what is right and wrong, they are safe. When choosing wrong friends,
surely they will choose wrong ways to solve the problems. So, teenagers must be careful
when choosing their friends.

Mr. Chairman:

Thank you most honourable Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Now, my question to Mrs. Renugah. As an ex-drug addict, what is your opinion

regarding the factors of social ills among the younger generation?
Mrs. Renugah:

Thank you.

Based on my experience, lack of moral values will cause social ills. The world is
getting busier today. Everybody is wrapped up on his or her own lives and 24 hours tend
to be not enough. There seems to be little room left or priority for moral values. The
inability to differentiate what is good and bad is common among most teenagers. Most of
them lack moral values and do not have good foundation in religion. This can be
overcome if the support system pays just a little attention. So, a teenager who has been
ingrained with good moral values since young will stay away from social ills.

For your information, stress or pressures is also the causes of the social ills among
younger generation. Stress or pressures of life is just like a Sword of Damocles. It is a
double-edged sword. Too little of it you are seen as lazy, too much of it will get us tensed
up. Teenagers become stressed because they think that they have a lot of responsibility
and also have to compete with others who are excellent in education and work in life. So,
when they get stressed, they do not know how to cope with it in positive ways such as
meditate, exercise and so on. However, it is sad to note that they resort to commit social
ills to handle their stress.

Chairman:

Thank you Mrs. Renugah.

Ladies and gentlemen, I think the information provided by Miss Janet, Mr. Chin Boon
Tek, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Mrs. Renugah are true and prove that teenagers
today are involved in social ills due to factors such as parental neglect, peer pressure and
lack of moral values. These social ills will bring more negative effects in many aspects.
So, I would like to give the opportunity to Mr. Chin Boon Tek to further clarify this
matter.

Mr. Chin Boon Tek:

Thank you Mr.Chairman.

Social ills indeed bring many effects to those involved in this problem. Firstly, this
critical problem brings effect to a teenager’s life and future. As we know, social ills like
smoking, taking alcohol and drugs, fighting, illegal racing, free sex, rape and robbery are
the issues that are serious and worrying. These will destroy one’s life and future once a
teenager is involved in these negative activities.

The main focus of the younger generation is just to have fun and get entertained. They
like to hang out with their friends and waste their time just for entertainment without any
other purposes in their life. With the curiosity and encouragement from their friends, they
are willing to try something new to them such as take drugs and involve in illegal racing
which are against the laws.

Once they get caught and found guilty, they will be put in prison. With this, they will
have a criminal record and it is hard for them to find a job after being freed from jail.
This is because people especially employers will not trust them and the employers will
also doubt their abilities to perform well if they are employed.

Besides that, they will be the first suspect if any misdemeanor or misdeed were to
happen. There are fewer opportunities and less support for them by the society. As a
consequence, they will be disappointed and get involved in the negative activities again.
Other than that, their parents will feel sad, disappointed and embarrassed.

Chairman:

Excuse me Mr. Chin, I would like to pose a question here.

I am very interested with the point that you have told us regarding family
disappointment. Can you explain to me and our audience, how the family will feel
disappointed with their children’s actions? Can you share with us?

Mr. Chin Boon Tek:

Of course. Mr. Chairman. I will explain about it.

Family will feel disappointed with their children because they will be the topic of
discussion by their neighbours, relatives and society in general. Parents will be blamed by
society as irresponsible because they do not teach and guide their children.

Chairman:

Thanks for the explanation and now Mrs. Renugah can you explain more about the
effects of social ills?

Mrs. Renugah:

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, social ills like fighting, taking drugs and alcohol also bring
harm to the school. A student involved in the negative activities will also try to persuade
their friends around them to be involved in those activities. Moreover, social ills such as
robbery, rape and illegal racing will disrupt the peace of the neighbourhood and people
will live in fear due to these social ills.
 On top of that, social ills also bring negative effect to our nation. Nowadays youths
like to follow and imitate their idols. If the idols have bad habits like multi-relationships,
smoking, taking drug and alcohol, the youths will also be like them which they think as
cool and they will be out of date if they didn’t follow these habits. These will make them
lose their own personalities and aggravate the image of our country. Youths will become
the leaders of our country and if this younger generation has loss their values, our country
will be destroyed when they become the leaders in the future. The development of our
country will be hindered and war may occur because of the inability of leaders to control
and lead our country. As a result, our country will be colonised again by other countries.

Chairman:

Thank you.

Now we know that social ills happen due to many factors and bring many effects to a
teenager’s life and future, family and society and also the nation. Let us proceed to Tan
Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to share and tell us about the solution for this critical problem.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your information, there are ways to solve the social illness
among the younger generation. The most effective ways is to strengthen and improve the
relationship between family members. By having a strong bond between the children and
their parents in a family will greatly reduce the social ills that exist in the society.

Children will be able to understand the circumstances that happened in the society and
needed to be solved by them under their parents’ advices. This will make them aware of
the things happening around them and train them to be independent and immune to all
society problems. By cutting off the initial trigger of illness, the rate of social illness is
expected to be lowered. With this lowered, the other kind of activities held among the
social illness will also be reduced due to the lack of participants.

My beloved audience, secondly is by having a strong religious background which can

get rid and reduce social problems. It has been proven that most of the religions in the
world promote peace and love among mankind. Friendship is a vital element of any
religions. For example, the church is a place to meet others that share their beliefs and
give them a strong platform to build friendships.

Other than that, spiritual growth within them will be strengthened and confirmed.
They will explore their spirituality and their faith in order to help them find answers to
those difficult questions and help them understand their purpose in this world. Spiritual
growth is a very personal adventure. More than that, mental health religion has been
shown to improve a person’s mental as well. This can also lead to a reduction of social
ills by counseling them with the reinforcement of their beliefs. Through religion, the
youngsters can learn how to respect elders too. Thank you.

Chairman:

Thank you Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Miss Janet, as the President of the National Anti-Social Ills Agency, I think that you
may have other points regarding the solution of the social ills among the younger
generation.

Miss Janet Lee:

Thank you. As you said, I have few points that provide the solutions to this problem.

The government should take care of these problems before it ruins our country’s
image. The implementation of laws and regulations should be reconsidered and
strengthened so that society will take note of the importance of regulations in the country.
The idea is not to cause fear among people but to make them understand their roles in the
society, to help in the development of the country. For example, the government should
set the minimum age of citizens who can buy alcoholic drinks. Apart from that, the
government should frequently carry out campaigns and encourage teenagers to
participate. Campaign such as Anti HIV or Anti Aids is essential for teenagers as well as
adults so that they will know the details and the ways to prevent this Sex Transmitted
Disease (STD).

Another way to solve the social ills among the younger is the role of friends. Friends
play important roles in a teenager’s life. Friends can advise, love and are close to them. If
they have any problems they can share with each other. Parents also should know their
children’s friends because friends will be with them most all of the time. Teenagers also
should know how to choose a friend. Through this way, I think social ills can be
eliminated in our society.

Chairman:

Thank you again Miss Janet. Today, from this special forum I think we have obtained
many information about social ills among the teenagers. Finally, I would like to invite
Mrs. Renugah to provide a conclusion in this forum today.

Mrs. Renugah:

Thank you so much Mr. Chairman.

As a conclusion, people ought to work hand in hand with the government. All of us need
to support the campaigns and the activities carried out by the government. Let us be the
one who build up our society and nation and not the “parasite” to our nation.

Chairman:

Thank you again to all of our guests today. That’s all from “Teenagers Forum”.
Remember to tune in our forum again next week. We will be back with you!