Sorry to hear what happened to your child in the mall, and its not ok, but can we please not get into the "its the culture here. We all know bullying and parents hitting their kids is rife everywhere in the world. As a social worker in Aus, i was exposed and had to deal with a lot of child abuse cases, where kids were beaten badly, broken bones, cigarette burns to their bodies, children taken away from their parents for their safety etc. I witnessed things that used to make me cry on a daily basis until i became immune to it.

Bullying in the workplace, schools, playgrounds etc is a common occurence in other cultures as well, not just this culture. Bullying, hitting and disciplining children is a wide world issue that needs to be addressed. The only difference is that because we are living here, we tend to forget about the issues in our cultures and that perhaps here, its not being addressed by the government as an issue. When its is acknowledged as a huge problem that needs to be dealt with and support services are set up, then maybe things will start to change.