The figure was 13 per cent in 1996.

Gleneagles Medical Centre Penang consultant psychiatrist Dr Zasmani Shafiee, during a Family Day gathering last month, said some 130,000 Malaysian children and adolescents suffered mental illnesses.

Selayang Hospital saw a 300 per cent increase in the number of children seeking psychiatric help in the past four years.

HELP University College's developmental and counselling psychologist Dr Brendan J. Gomez said depression, stress, violence and suicide were on the rise among young people.

"It is a really worrying trend, and we want to try and address that problem right now."

Universiti Teknologi Mara's Faculty of Medicine consultant psychiatrist Associate Professor Dr Osman Chik Bakar disagreed that parents should be blamed for the malaise.

"Genetically, children are not the same, so parents need to approach their children by how they respond. Sometimes, a child can respond just by communicating with the parents.

"Other times, a more forceful approach is needed."

He said other factors could also contribute to stress experienced by children such as influence from peers, media and Internet.

"We can't protect our children from everything.

"After all, we live in very challenging times where everything is made available to them."

National Union of the Teaching Profession secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng said parents could control and monitor younger children but it was not that easy with older ones.

"Parents should control their children but just how much can they control them?

"Cyber cafes, for example, are like a magnet for children.

"If the attraction is too great, how much can the parents control their children?"

Lok said the authorities should not allow cyber cafes to operate near schools and should stop schoolchildren from entering them.

"If it is difficult for the child to enter the cyber cafe, I think he or she will have no choice but to go home."

Women's Aid Organisation executive director Ivy Josiah said it was insensitive to place the blame on parents alone, as keeping a child safe was the responsibility of the whole community.

She said the focus should not be on parents but on creating a safer environment for children.

New Straits Times/Asia News Network

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