Response: Of students and sexual encounters

The response by the Selangor Government proxy to my first letter:

"Of students and sexual encounters"
New Straits Times (08/03/2007) Letters

By : NORIZAN SHARIF, for Institut Perkembangan Minda, Kuala Lumpur

I REFER to "Time for leaders to face up to reality" (NST, March 6) by Azrul Mohd Khalib of Kuala Lumpur.
Allow me to clarify some of the points highlighted in his comments on the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s high-risk female youth profile.

I feel obliged to do this because it was Institut Perkembangan Minda (Inmind) which commissioned the study.
I believe the writer formed his opinion based on reports which (mis)quoted Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo’s statements during a Press conference last week.

Firstly, the menteri besar never said "we picked 54 and called them up. They told our officers that they had never had sex and that they are virgins".As a matter of fact, Dr Khir never mentioned that his officer had questioned the respondents.

What happened was a group of reporters spoke to me after the Press conference and I said the percentage contained in the draft report could not be true as, based on the 54 questionnaires in the possession of Inmind, all of the respondents said they had never had sex.

Kindly take note that Inmind, which commissioned the study, assisted the researcher in distributing the questionnaires to the respondents.

Secondly, the menteri besar never said that 68 per cent of the contents were lies. What he said was if the figures given in the draft were correct, the percentage of respondents who said they lied at least once should be higher than 68 per cent.

He argued that a school child would lie to his or her parents if they were to have sex, to steal, to gamble or to join a secret society.

Dr Khir pointed out that the draft report mentioned that more than 95 per cent of respondents said they were involved in these activities.

Thirdly, I wish to clarify that the menteri besar did not say "I have spoken to him (the researcher) and told him to correct it".

What happened was that after the Press conference, a group of reporters spoke to me and I told them that the researcher had telephoned in the morning and apologised to me because he had spoken to the Press before submitting the full report.