Fertility centre takes Jamal to task over Siti insult
FMT Reporters | December 23, 2016
TMC Fertility Centre says the Umno division leader's sarcasm has deep implications for couples who cannot get children despite their best efforts.
PETALING JAYA: A medical centre which helps childless couples has expressed shock over a statement by Red Shirts leader Jamal Yunos poking fun at popular singer Siti Nurhaliza’s inability to conceive.
It said such sarcasm was an insult to both men and women who go through immense pain and misery to achieve parenthood.
TMC Fertility Centre, a pioneer in fertility treatment in Malaysia, said the Umno division leader owed an apology not only to Siti, but also all women who had to face the mental and emotional pain of failing to conceive.
“Clearly, the need to have a family is a primal instinct that cannot be easily suppressed.
“Women who face trouble conceiving should never ever be victimised for not being able to bear a child,” the hospital said through its communication manager, Chan Li Jin.
Chan said Jamal’s sarcasm had deep implications for couples who repeatedly fail to bear children despite their best efforts, adding that it had caused marriages to fall apart.
“At our centre, we are only too aware of the mental and emotional pain that couples face when trying unsuccessfully to conceive.
“Although fertility treatment is elective (not life-threatening), patients have sometimes told us that a part of them ‘dies’ each time their period comes, meaning that they have failed yet again to have a baby,” said TMC.
Jamal had made the remarks in response to a posting by Siti on her Instagram chiding the Sungai Besar Umno division chief over his “towel protest” on Wednesday outside the Selangor state secretariat building in Shah Alam to protest water cuts in the Klang Valley.
“Don’t be like Jamal,” said the popular singer on her Instagram, followed by several hashtags to imply the water cuts had been notified earlier.
In his message on a WhatsApp group, Jamal shot back: “My advice to Siti, mind your own water which is not that fertile, or get some new water.”
Siti, 37, who is married to businessman Khalid Mohamad Jiwa, had in the past publicly shared her grief at failing to conceive.
Late last year, she revealed that she had suffered a miscarriage.
“Allah lent this gift to me only temporarily,” the multi-award winning songstress wrote on her Instagram page.
TMC said while there was widespread ignorance about women’s fertility, the problem could also stem from the man.
“It is a problem that both spouses must face together to overcome, and emotional support is crucial.
“Jamal Yunos owes Siti and all women an apology for his insulting comments and for trivialising something he has little or no understanding of,” it added.
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