Kuala Lumpur - A move by Malaysian officials to help Ms Sufiah Yusof has sparked intense debate over the Internet, with many bloggers criticising the government's announcement.Why bother helping a girl who had left Malaysia, they charged, when there were many others in Malaysia who needed more help?
Bloggers and writers on online forums also accused the government of seeking publicity and wasting public funds to help someone who they felt was old enough to think for herself.
While many bloggers slammed Ms Yusof for her actions, it was the Malaysian government that they reserved their harshest criticism for.
'Why do we focus more on someone who's in Piccadilly Square when we should be focused more on people on Chow Kit Road?' wrote Mr Ahmad Hafidz Baharom on the online blog of The Star daily, referring to a red-light district in Kuala Lumpur.
The government, he charged, wanted to help the child prodigy only because of her high profile.
His posting drew noises of agreement, all responding to the announcements made by the Malaysian government that it wanted to contact Ms Yusof or her mother to help her under the 'Save Sufiah Programme'.
'The government has no business to intervene,' wrote 'sleekk' in an online forum.
'We have millions of women in her same predicament in Malaysia, and the government hasn't done anything or enough for them.'
Besides, pointed out many Netizens, Ms Yusof was no longer a Malaysian citizen, and therefore did not deserve to have the government spend public funds on her.
Ms Yusof's citizenship - and independence as an adult - was an issue Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin had acknowledged when he said the ministry was keen to help her.
'She's 23 now and she's also a British citizen. She has the right to do what she wants...so our role is limited,' he had said.
But there were some Netizens who supported the government's move.
'She is a human being who has lost her way to cope with life,' wrote 'donkey88'. 'We should help her to get onto the right path...Sufiah is an asset if nurtured in the right way.'
The Straits Times
Singapore
06/04/08
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