Out of the Shadows: The Horrors of Child Sexual Abuse

From Zalina Ismail

This may be a myth, but the physiologist in me knows that if you throw a frog into boiling water, it will either die immediately or jump out as soon as it still can.

But if you put a frog in a pot of cold water and gradually increase the temperature, it will acclimate to the temperature until it is too late to do anything.

For too long we have been frogs in the water, the temperature of which is slowly but surely rising.

In Kelantan, the water situation has been getting worse over the past 33 years, but no one has noticed. We are using groundwater that changes from crystal clear to cloudy in the blink of an eye.

We are told it is okay and we believe that half-truth. We wait for buses under leaking roofs without complaining much, even when dry spots are becoming scarce. We are told we have to adapt to the situation and we believe that half-truth too.

I thought this was a Kelantan thing until I realised last month that we are all complacent frogs when it comes to the unimaginable horrors of physical and sexual abuse faced by hundreds of children in charities across the country.

This has been happening for years, hidden in plain sight. How could I have missed this? I can see a typo in my student’s thesis from a mile away, how could I not have seen this?

It certainly raises questions about accountability and awareness.

Was there total ignorance among those responsible for the safety of our children? And what about those charged with maintaining a civil society? Surely there were early warning signs?

When such important issues take a long time to come to light, it may be due to a complex set of systemic, social and psychological factors.

Systemic factors

The Out of the Shadow Index 2022 assesses how 60 countries tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse. Malaysia ranks 28th, behind Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam, despite laws being in place. As recent events have shown, we clearly need to do something about this, and we need to do it fast.

What systemic issues could have caused us to score so low on the Out of the Shadow Index 2022?

This index measures four key areas: environment, legal framework, government involvement and capacity, and civil society and industry involvement. A low score on this index indicates systemic deficiencies in these areas.

There are so many potential systemic issues that contribute to a low ranking. Perhaps we have overburdened or understaffed agencies, resulting in missed cases and inadequate follow-up on reports. If frontline professionals are not equipped to detect or report abuse, it remains hidden.

Perhaps it is the fear of shame or ostracism that keeps children and families from speaking out. If children do not speak out, it remains hidden.

Perhaps it is poverty and limited public education about child sexual abuse and exploitation. If fewer people recognize warning signs or understand how to report abuse, it remains hidden.

Social factors

In 1837, Hans Christian Andersen wrote a fairy tale called The Emperor’s New Clothes. An emperor is fooled into believing he is wearing an invisible suit of clothes, when in fact he is wearing nothing at all. The power of collective denial is so great that everyone, including the villagers, pretends to see the clothes until one child reveals the truth: But he is wearing nothing at all!

Why did it take so long for action to be taken? Sometimes it seems that our institutions operate in a reactive mode. If you want something to be done effectively, first report it to the police.

Our bureaucracy rarely acts preventively and often lacks proactive risk management. Often problems are not addressed until they reach crisis levels or become the subject of complaints.

Or maybe it has to do with something much more insidious. There is a power dynamic where people are often discouraged from addressing wrongdoing when it involves influential individuals or groups. Was it their social power or their financial clout that protected them from criticism?

Combined with a lack of accountability and bureaucratic inefficiency, these are ideal conditions for such a horrific case of child sexual abuse to occur.

It took almost 10 long years for someone in Malaysia to be brave enough to speak out against authority and public opinion when they knew something was wrong. In this case, someone was finally brave enough to say that the emperor had no clothes.

Psychological factors

I can understand the shock and horror that you and I feel about the sexual abuse of children, but I cannot understand why it has gone on for so long and on such a large scale in our midst, virtually unnoticed. Where have you and I gone wrong?

We are often caught between belief and behavior. A religious community would be morally strong. Sexual abuse and child abandonment are never compatible with morally upright communities.

This dissonance is consistent with Leon Festinger’s theory from the 1950s. He proposed that when actions contradict beliefs, this creates psychological discomfort known as cognitive dissonance.

Simply put, when someone exhibits behavior that is inconsistent with their beliefs and moral values, they often experience psychological discomfort. We change or rationalize our behavior to avoid disrupting our belief system and moral values.

Sometimes we get it right, but in this case we were terribly wrong.

Cognitive dissonance is the reason that many of us didn’t see what was happening, in some cases even in our own backyards. Didn’t the neighbor see that the kids weren’t in school? Didn’t anyone see how the kids were acting?

Historic cases such as those of Victoria Climbie in the UK in 2000 and Gabriel Fernandez in the US in 2013 show how systemic problems and community silence can lead to tragic consequences.

Despite multiple visits by social workers, doctors and the police, the abuse was not discovered in time. Social services did not take adequate action even after clear signs of neglect and injuries were found.

These cases reveal systemic problems such as poor communication between agencies, inadequate investigation of warning signs and failures to protect. Delays in social services action often result in tragic consequences for vulnerable children.

Unfortunately, we often fail to recognize something negative, even when it is happening right in front of us. This is because sometimes it does not meet our expectations.

To bring back cognitive stability, our brains choose to ignore what we see. Sometimes we downplay or even ignore something negative because it doesn’t fit our expectations of normality.

These factors often prevent us from recognizing or dealing with negative situations, even when they are right in front of us.

Community Involvement

To prevent future tragedies, we need to improve community involvement and support systems. Neighbors need to look out for each other, especially vulnerable people. Schools and community members need to be actively involved in protecting children.

This atrocity must never happen again. As Kofi Annan so aptly said: There is no more sacred trust than that which the world has for children. There is no more important duty than to ensure that their rights are respected, that their well-being is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want, and that they grow up in peace.

Zalina Ismail is a former professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.