I REFER to an article in a local media that reported a Thai prostitute who urinated in her pants in a hotel room when police raided the hotel.
Pardon me, but allow me to ask: does our nation, which speaks greatly about defending religious principles, with a government consisting of many female politicians take delight in reading a report about a woman relieving in her pants?
Once, there was a Malaysian student who was pursuing a degree in London. One day, he and his friend decided to visit France.
The arrangement was that they would meet at a railway station in Paris.
However, as the Malaysian student headed there, he lost his wallet and had no money on him at all.
He managed to arrive at the railway station and waited for his friend but the latter did not turn up.
It was getting late and he was feeling helpless until he heard someone whistle to him from the back.
He turned around and found a beautiful woman with a cigarette on her lips, asking for a lighter.
The student was a smoker and walked up to her. As soon as he lit her cigarette, the woman caught his hand and told him her price for the night. She was a prostitute.
The student refused and told her he did not have any money. She asked what happened and he narrated his unfortunate event.
The prostitute asked if he had anything to eat. The student replied in the negative.
She sympathised and asked him to follow her home.
Seeing no other option available, the student did so.
When he entered her apartment, she quickly went into the kitchen and cooked dinner for him.
During dinner, she narrated how she ended up working as a prostitute.
When she was a young girl, she stayed with her poor family in the outskirts of France.
One day, a woman came by and persuaded the parents to let their daughter be adopted.
The woman promised to give their daughter a good life and would allow her to visit them.
The parents reluctantly agreed because they felt that their daughter had a chance to escape poverty.
As soon as the woman brought the girl to Paris, she was locked in a room. After sometime, a man entered the room and raped her repeatedly.
This went on for some time until she was deemed ready to service clients. She was forced into prostitution.
The prostitute cried and hated her life.
She wanted to live normally and have a family like other women but she couldn’t.
The next day, the prostitute helped the student contact his friend and before sending him off, she gave him money for him to return safely.
The point I want to emphasise here is, prostitutes are also humans.
They are women who are forced into this profession due to extreme circumstances.
Reporting about a woman peeing in her pants reflects an unsympathetic and immature society.
There was no sympathy for the prostitute, for the agony that she went through during the raid.
She was after all, a woman. The nation is concerned with raising the standard of living.
Isn’t it time we raise our standard of thinking?
ARIFF SHAH R.K
George Town, Penang