Sweden, return our children!

Imagine your child being taken away from you – how would you feel? I don’t have a child, but I can imagine the pain of those who have to go through it.

This is not an article about rights, because let’s be honest; it’s nothing most of us are experts of... therefore this is an article that focuses on the humane (or in this case, inhumane) side on things.

About a week ago, Astro Awani broke the news of Malaysian parents, Azizul Raheem Awaluddin and Shalwati Nurshal who have been detained by the Swedish authorities for allegedly abusing their children an d has shocked the world. It is not just because it is a lucid injustice (which I will explain later on), but also because it uncovers a bigger (and scarier) truth to the whole matter.

Now, let me explain why taking away children from their parents are a blatant injustice (apart from the obvious reasons). Stereotypical jokes aside, Asian parents are known to be relatively strict when it comes to parenting. But in the setting of an Asian country, it is normal. What is normal in a home in say, Malaysia, is definitely different than what is normal in a home in say, Sweden. Therefore there should be a higher authority that can distinguish of what sorts of hitting are for teaching purposes and what sorts are abusive. For Muslim parents, hitting your children is allowed, but of course, to teach and not to hurt. It should only serve as a mild penalty to educate children on what is right and what is wrong.

For a first world country such as Sweden, to not understand the diversity of cultures – which extends beyond just traditional costumes and dances, but also through to parenting styles and bringing up children – is just extremely bizarre. For the Swedish authority to detain the Malaysian parents based on an assumption of practicing abuse”, is wrong. For the Swedish authority to assume that the foster parents whom the kids are assigned to, to be better parents than their biological parents is also wrong. In fact, on this note, there have been many cases of rapes and abuse by the foster parents towards these children that are under their care. Finally for the Swedish authority to assume that there will not be any negative implications to the children that are being moved around (some moved a few times between a number of foster parents) are unas hamedly wrong. What more, to separate them from their siblings.

What is to become of these children? They will be brought up to become Swedish adults, although they are not. What do I mean by this? For example, the Malaysian-Muslim children who were sent to their Swedish foster parents will not only begin to practice the religious teachings of the foster parents, but also speak the language of the foster parents. Therefore, regardless of the nationality of the kids, they will grow up to become Swedish adults.

And that is just taking the example if the children are sent to foster parents; if they are sent to foster homes; their fates will be equally morbid if not worse.

Moving away from that point, as some of us may have different takes on how the right parenting should be; the more important question here is that how can the Swedish government be so heartless in humanizing something like this and making a business out of it. When these children are taken away from their parents and sent to foster care, those responsible as guardian will get a lot of money; and we’re not talking hundreds, but thousands per month.

An article written by a fellow colleague, Zan Azlee on January 21st shed light on the “black market business” of foster care in Sweden. The thing is, it is a common practice for teachers to ask children below the age of 15 years if their parents ever hit them. And if you have once been a child, you would know that if not always, it has happened at least once; not because your parents hate you or are just abusive, but because they want to teach you.

In plain words, the Swedish authorities took benefit in making money by forsaking other people’s children. This is upfront “kidnapping”, where you see your kids being taken away under your noses, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

There are some people who realize how wrong this brutal practice is, however, the number is not enough to change status quo. Now that we have such an expose to what really goes on, I honestly hope that something can be done to stop this on a global level.

Imagine this happening to you – your children taken away from you. How would you feel?