Too busy to be intimate

Star: PETALING JAYA: Busy careers are standing in the way of a happy marriage.
For a 63-year-old banker, who wanted to be known as Chan, this is true after he witnessed the failure of his son's marriage.
Chan said marriages fail when there was no more intimacy in a relationship.
“I have been happily married for 36 years but my 34-year-old son is recovering from a broken marriage,” he told The Star while attending the Enhancing Marital Relationship Through Intimacy forum yesterday.
He said his son and the wife had been so caught up with their careers that they had no time for each other.
“People should decide whether their family or work is more important,” he said.
A 43-year-old scientist from India said he suffered emotionally being away from his wife the past four years because of his work commitment here.
“I can’t imagine how some of my colleagues who see their wives only once every three years take it,” he said.
International Medical University consultant psychiatrist Dr Philip George, who opened the forum, challenged the 100-odd participants to be comfortable while talking about their sexual problems.
He said couples should not ignore their problems and hope they would go away.
“Many of you are embarrassed to seek help because as Malaysians, we have never received formal sex education.
“What we know are just bits and pieces of information which are usually untrue,” he said.
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) consultant urologist Dr Zulkifli Zainuddin told the forum that 30% of Malaysian men were “vital sexual”, meaning that they cared about satisfying their partner sexually.
He said such males were reluctant to come forward with their problems because of their ego.
Pantai Medical Centre consultant gynaecologist Datuk Dr Nor Ashikin Mokhtar said couples should work to bring their sex life all the way into their golden years.