It’s been more than a week since Nurin Jazlin Jazimin was laid to rest. The public was outraged with the brutal murder of the innocent child to the extent that there has been so much blame-storming going around. Blame the parents… blame the police… blame the authorities… blame the neighborhood… blame whoever as long as not themselves! Reading all the comments and speculations, somehow the tune of the song “Bangau oh bangau” keeps playing in my mind. Sigh…
This was not the first time something like this happened to an innocent child. There were a few other cases when innocent children were brutally murdered by some sickos out there. Each time there would be speculations as to what happened… who was at fault etc. Yet the same thing keeps on happening again… and again… and again. Malaysians mudah lupa?
When some people start blaming the parents of negligence, I can’t help but think of the PLWHA families. Many of the PLWHAs whose cases I’m handling are from poor families, and mostly, single mothers. Or, if the fathers are still around, they are already too weak to work. As such, many of them have no choice but to depend on their young ones to run errands for their family. Go to the shop, look after the baby or whatever else on their own.
Fuzi, for example, depends a lot on her 12 year old daughter. The nearest grocery shop and public phone are quite far by walking distance, so the daughter (who is quite small-sized by the way), has to cycle all the way alone to buy necessities or to make a phone call when necessary. I managed to settle part of the problem by giving Fuzi a used handphone so it’d be easier for me to call them or for them to call me. And I also do send them groceries some of the time… but I definitely can’t do that all the time!
Some may argue that Fuzi should be the one to cycle to the shop and leave her eldest daughter at home to take care of the younger siblings. But how can we be sure the children are safe by themselves at home? A personal friend of mine, an adult, was murdered at her home in 2001 behind locked doors! Robbers broke into her home and when she struggled, they murdered her. Is anywhere safe anymore?!
Another thing about Fuzi’s family is that the place where they stay don’t have any public transportation. So the children go to school by bicycle along a very quiet road. And since they leave home about 6.30 in the morning, the road is not only quiet, but as there are no street lights for quite a long stretch, it is also dark! Mind you, this is not what Fuzi wants for her children really, but does she have a choice?
Okay, so now a few suspects have been nabbed by the police for the murder of little Nurin. Assuming that these people are indeed guilty of the crime; does it mean we can now sit back and relax? HECK NO! There are many sickos out there, and as mentioned by Kak Teh in her posting Beware The Faceless Monster, paedophiles don’t have their sickening hobbies etched on their forehead. So how are we to know?
Action must be taken NOW… by the police, the authorities, parents and the public at large to avoid such incidents in future. What sort of actions can be taken?
In one of Nuraina A.Samad’s posting, Princessjournals commented that Malaysia should adopt the Amber Alert. Ahh, finally something constructive instead of just arguing over who was at fault and who was not.
What is AMBER Alert? The AMBER Alert System began in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children. AMBER stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response and was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then brutally murdered. Other states and communities soon set up their own AMBER plans as the idea was adopted across the nation. Read more about it here and here.
So yes, many agree that this system can be adopted here in Malaysia. Of course, why not? Since the American system was created as a legacy to Amber Hagerman, let’s call ours NURIN, as suggested by Rocky – Nationwide Urgent Response Inter-Network. Or something like that.
I may just be an ikan bilis blogger whose blog is not read by too many people, but as mentioned by Princessjournals here, if bloggers put up a concerted effort to highlight this matter on their respective blogs, we can reach a wider audience, and it may get the attention of the relevant authorities to adopt a similar system here in Malaysia.
Let us try to create awareness on safety. Let us all learn all the do’s and don’ts. What to do in an emergency… what to do first when you suspect a child missing… what to do when we see a child wailing while being dragged by an adult (don’t go and immediately clobber the adult without finding out what's going on! He/she may be the parent and the child throwing tantrums!!) …
Yes, let’s stop blaming people. Let's instead create awareness amongst the public on what can be done collectively.
This was not the first time something like this happened to an innocent child. There were a few other cases when innocent children were brutally murdered by some sickos out there. Each time there would be speculations as to what happened… who was at fault etc. Yet the same thing keeps on happening again… and again… and again. Malaysians mudah lupa?
When some people start blaming the parents of negligence, I can’t help but think of the PLWHA families. Many of the PLWHAs whose cases I’m handling are from poor families, and mostly, single mothers. Or, if the fathers are still around, they are already too weak to work. As such, many of them have no choice but to depend on their young ones to run errands for their family. Go to the shop, look after the baby or whatever else on their own.
Fuzi, for example, depends a lot on her 12 year old daughter. The nearest grocery shop and public phone are quite far by walking distance, so the daughter (who is quite small-sized by the way), has to cycle all the way alone to buy necessities or to make a phone call when necessary. I managed to settle part of the problem by giving Fuzi a used handphone so it’d be easier for me to call them or for them to call me. And I also do send them groceries some of the time… but I definitely can’t do that all the time!
Some may argue that Fuzi should be the one to cycle to the shop and leave her eldest daughter at home to take care of the younger siblings. But how can we be sure the children are safe by themselves at home? A personal friend of mine, an adult, was murdered at her home in 2001 behind locked doors! Robbers broke into her home and when she struggled, they murdered her. Is anywhere safe anymore?!
Another thing about Fuzi’s family is that the place where they stay don’t have any public transportation. So the children go to school by bicycle along a very quiet road. And since they leave home about 6.30 in the morning, the road is not only quiet, but as there are no street lights for quite a long stretch, it is also dark! Mind you, this is not what Fuzi wants for her children really, but does she have a choice?
Okay, so now a few suspects have been nabbed by the police for the murder of little Nurin. Assuming that these people are indeed guilty of the crime; does it mean we can now sit back and relax? HECK NO! There are many sickos out there, and as mentioned by Kak Teh in her posting Beware The Faceless Monster, paedophiles don’t have their sickening hobbies etched on their forehead. So how are we to know?
Action must be taken NOW… by the police, the authorities, parents and the public at large to avoid such incidents in future. What sort of actions can be taken?
In one of Nuraina A.Samad’s posting, Princessjournals commented that Malaysia should adopt the Amber Alert. Ahh, finally something constructive instead of just arguing over who was at fault and who was not.
What is AMBER Alert? The AMBER Alert System began in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children. AMBER stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response and was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then brutally murdered. Other states and communities soon set up their own AMBER plans as the idea was adopted across the nation. Read more about it here and here.
So yes, many agree that this system can be adopted here in Malaysia. Of course, why not? Since the American system was created as a legacy to Amber Hagerman, let’s call ours NURIN, as suggested by Rocky – Nationwide Urgent Response Inter-Network. Or something like that.
I may just be an ikan bilis blogger whose blog is not read by too many people, but as mentioned by Princessjournals here, if bloggers put up a concerted effort to highlight this matter on their respective blogs, we can reach a wider audience, and it may get the attention of the relevant authorities to adopt a similar system here in Malaysia.
Let us try to create awareness on safety. Let us all learn all the do’s and don’ts. What to do in an emergency… what to do first when you suspect a child missing… what to do when we see a child wailing while being dragged by an adult (don’t go and immediately clobber the adult without finding out what's going on! He/she may be the parent and the child throwing tantrums!!) …
Yes, let’s stop blaming people. Let's instead create awareness amongst the public on what can be done collectively.
I am all for the AMBER/NURIN Alert system. What say you?
