Too much? Malaysian comedian's 9-year-old son 'thrown out' of home after refusing to attend e-learning lesson

Harith Iskander is often labeled as Malaysia's king of comedy but it seemed like many netizens did not see the comedic side of a recent post on his personal Facebook account.

In fact, it ruffled up a few feathers as the topic on hand was one that had the potential to get quite polarising – personal parenting style.

On Tuesday (Oct 12) evening, Harith revealed that the 'incident' was between his wife, Jezamine Lim, and their eldest son.

The 9-year-old boy is cooped up at home and attends school via a virtual platform. On Oct 11, Harith received a call from his son's teacher that the boy had logged out of his online maths lesson a little too early. 

It appeared that 10 minutes into an e-learning maths lesson, the child had enough and took matters into his own hands. He checked out and refused to return.

A pretty brave decision considering what was about to come next.

Though Harith is the usual disciplinarian at home, he decided to pass the mantle to his wife as she often chides him for being "overly harsh" on their son.

So far, so good. Nothing strange or out of order just yet. 

"I thought at most he will kena marah sikit (get scolded a bit) but Dr Jezamine Lim was not playing around and s*** hit the fan!" Harith wrote.

The boy was told by his mother to "pack his belongings" and "get out" until he understood what he did wrong.

"He took a box and packed it with his favourite shirts, a pair of shoes, and his bicycle," Harith continued.

Pictorial evidence was provided in Harith's post and the boy looked dejected as he sat on a park bench looking out into the night.

Harith ended his post by cheekily mentioning that in the future, sticking to his discipline style instead of his wife's might be in his son's best interests. 

The post garnered 706 shares and 12,000 reactions.

Too harsh or no issues?

Here's the juicy bit, right? People going online to passionately debate on incidents that have little or nothing to do with them.

Many were uncomfortable with how Harith and his wife treated their child. One noted the possible long-term impact this experience could have on the child.

Another went all in to fully criticise the couple on their "terrible parenting choice" and called out their actions as "pretty abusive".

Harith replied, stating that what happened with his son was a mere time-out and nothing more.

The tough parenting style adopted by Harith and his wife isn't exactly a novel one, as shared by this netizen. They too did the same to their son back when he was around the same age.

According to the parent, the son has grown up needing to be constantly reassured of their love.

However, there were also some who felt that being strict with children is an important aspect of parenting.

They did add a caveat that punishments must come with conversations.

This is to have children understand that tough parenting does not equate to a lack of love.

ALSO READ: DJ Raymond Foong shares the secret to being a 'chill' dad to his 2 kids

amierul@asiaone.com