Being a teenager and living under the same roof with your parents could only mean one thing- rules and more rules. Of course, there are some parents out there who are easy going about the way they educate and raise their child. Which brings us to the topic today.
It just so happen that i stumbled upon a very interesting article on The Star Online while viewing the web. The article is about the government's plan to impose a curfew law upon teenagers ( http://rage.com.my/writeups/story.asp?file=/2010/5/5/rantnrage/20100505151318&sec=rantnrage).
Naturally, a majority of teenagers disagree on such law. The main reasons? Because they want freedom and because they think that it is the parents' duty to set up the curfews for them, nothing of the Government's concern. Check out what one of them said,
Vanessa Ho, 14, Kuala Lumpur
“As a 14-year-old girl, of course I would not like curfews because who wouldn’t want to be roaming around late at night with friends? But from my parents’ point of view, I am very sure they would like a curfew so teenagers can be safe. If you want my answer, I would say no. Why? Simply because I want to live in a free country."
“As a 14-year-old girl, of course I would not like curfews because who wouldn’t want to be roaming around late at night with friends? But from my parents’ point of view, I am very sure they would like a curfew so teenagers can be safe. If you want my answer, I would say no. Why? Simply because I want to live in a free country."
The first word that comes to mind when i read her statement was, preposterous. This girl is 14-years-old, for God's sake. Why should she be allowed to, as to quote from her statement above, "be roaming around late at night with friends" ? What does she wants to do so late at night? Catch a midnight movie? Doesn't she have school to attend in the morning? Even if its during the weekends, its still a big no because even more people goes out at night during weekends and this just increase the danger by two. No parent in their right mind should allow this child of fourteen to be out of the house compound after 10.30pm. Why 10.30 pm? This is simply because sometimes teenagers attend tuitions that could last up to 10pm and so the allocated 30 minutes is for the duration of their journey home. My reasoning is simply logical, is it not?
Eureka Foong Chen Yew, 17, Penang
“We shouldn’t have a law. I think parents should be responsible for that. We have so many laws already. It’s more of a family responsibility.”
“We shouldn’t have a law. I think parents should be responsible for that. We have so many laws already. It’s more of a family responsibility.”
She has a point, but take a good look around. Can you see what I see? No matter how responsible the parents are, it's simply not working anymore. I believe that teenagers today are too influenced by the way the Westerners live their lives. To them, it's normal for teens to go clubbing, wandering around without a purpose and whatnot late at night. But we don't do things that way here in Malaysia, and we shouldn't! Besides, most parents these days are too busy earning money, all the more the reason to have a curfew for teens, so parents can be relieved off at least a burden.
Rochelle Gwendolyn Fernandez, 17, Negri Sembilan
“No, because teenagers need a life! If they only want to release their tension by hanging out with their friends, what’s so wrong about that?”
“No, because teenagers need a life! If they only want to release their tension by hanging out with their friends, what’s so wrong about that?”
This made me laugh. Seriously. Tell me, Rochelle, can't you "get a life" before midnight? Can't you release your tension by hanging out with your friends in broad daylight? Okay, so maybe you'd want a dinner party or something. Fine, but it doesn't need to go on until dawn, does it?
But we have to be fair and square, even though these teenagers' reasoning are highly arguable, still, they deserve to have some freedom. Just a suggestion, the curfew law should be imposed to those below 18-years-old only. 18-years-old teens are already young adults and they should be exempted from this law. Another thing, the curfew should be at 1am. Why 1am? Because we need to cut them some slack, too. But in order to make this work, the Government should also set up patrols as well as punishment to those who violate this law. Let the punishment be strict, but not harsh.
Although I'm a teenager myself, I am more than happy to give my full support should this law be imposed, but of course, with the right rules and regulations. I believe that we need this to help curb crimes amongst youngsters as well as many other worrying issues. In short, this curfew law is one of the best suggestion I've heard so far, because it is definitely for the greater good.
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