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Monday, September 24, 2007

Arwah Nurin and Amber Alert

Lots have been said with regards to the death of Arwah Nurin and whos's responsible. Like I said in my previous post, we can all talk till the cows come home and put the blame left, right and centre but the fact remains that arwah will not come back.

I am not going to go into further detail abt 'whose fault is it?' but I feel that I have to share this one with my readers.

I mentioned about Amber Alert on Nuraina's blog without realising that i didnt even mention about it in my own post so im doing it now. I know not many people read my blog but if all bloggers put it up on their blog, im sure it will get the attention of who's who (maybe even Shahrizat) and we will finally see the same or similar alert get adopted by Malaysian authority.

Besides that, society must also be educated on making sure that safety (within means) comes first. Children and adults, both, must be taught on what and what not to do.

These are among what we and the authority should do:

1. AWARENESS on safety

2. adopt Amber Alert or Nurin Alert (or whatever they want to name it)

3. make public the list of known paedophiles and frequent checks to their home (this is done here in the US where spotchecks are done frequently in making sure tht they dont have/keep/have access to sex material or live within certain miles of schools or playgrounds)

4. make sure the children know what is wrong and not supposed to be done to their bodies (birds and bees and wht not)

5. making sure children are accompanied by at least 1 adult esp at night

6. always follow buddy system of more than 2 kids and teach them to scream and run when approach by strangers

7. always know where your children are and if suspected of missing, report it IMMEDIATELY!

8. if you see a child being dragged, approach (nicely) and ask if tht person is in fact the parent or relative (dont start assuming tht they'r kidnappers)

9. if you didnt get the chance to do no.8, take down the license no of the vehicle and call the police. Whatever it is, do something IMMEDIATELY.

Once we have done all that we could to protect our loved ones, then the only thing left to do is tawaqqal. Not the other way around.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

i must say amber alert is a very2 good idea. actually this issue is not new. we had the same cases as nurin in 1986 (if im not mistaken) and 1997(i am very sure) except that it was even worse (the kids were tortured with the same method, but with batang penyapu yg ada paku kat depan *frowns* i dont wat kinda sicko would ever do tis to kids!!)

yet nothing was done sampailah sekarang. sigh. but i must agree on teaching the kids wat they must do and not to do as we cant really rely on 'looking after each other' macam kat kampung2 10 years back alright.

perhaps they also shd put up some ads on tv on what to do cos personally i tink tis is one of the effective way to educate people, especially kids cos these lots really love to watch tv kann.

sigh.

sedey la when tis kinda things happen.

Pi Bani said...

Yep, this is more like it. I am getting sick and tired of all the blame-storming session. Let's do something more productive/

InsyaAllah, will write something on it in my blog soon (how soon? Tengok mood lah!). I pun suspense jugak. Although I don't have kids of my own, most of the PLWHA children under me are within Nurin's age range. And being poor, sometimes the mothers have to depend on their children to run errands including going to shop to buy necessities whatsoever. Ngeri bila fikirkan what can happen to them.

Anonymous said...

I truly agree but then again since this is La Malaise, dont hold your breath F.

Rita Ho said...

You're right, Farina. Social problems like this can only be solved when everyone do their part starting with education at home and public awareness. I hope our fellow Malaysians back home, especially authorites with power and influence, transfer their grief and anguish on Nurin's tragedy to affirmative actions. Enough with thinking that it won't happen to us because when it does, it is always too late.

Salt N Turmeric said...

bm, kita semua kena tukar attitude and mentality. jgn tunggu or harapkan orang lain to take action. masalahnya bila semua orang expect other ppl to do something, itu yg nothing happens. :(

Pi, i pun dok fikirkan my nieces, nephews (being boy doesnt guarantee safety either) and my frens kids yg buat takut sgt tu. bila2 u free, bolehlah put up the suggestion in ur blog. keep the words 'amber/nurin alert' and 'paedophile' fresh so ppl dont forget until there's next victim.

Mama's girl, i will hold my breath if thts wht it takes to save my children. not tht we have any yet tho.

Rita, yes! i too hope tht ppl are not already forgetting the incident and thinking tht its not gonna happen to them.

Anonymous said...

Amber Alert is a good idea .. ppl need to be reeducate in this matter .. having the mentality 'it's not not going to happen to me' has to end .. I will write it on my blog .. just right now .. my thoughts are a bit blur .. still trying to digest as to what had happened .. I have kids of my own .. and whenever I put on 'Nurin's parents' shoes .. I just couldn't imagine what they must be going through right now .. but anyways something needs to be done .. there are too many wake-up calls as not to notice Malaysians need to get something done .. Now!

The Blueberry said...

Princess,

Thanks for the informative post. I will write about this in my blog too (as soon as I can find the time!).

I think our Government should start concentrating on how to prevent pedophile-related crime from being rampant. Right now Malaysia has just as many sickos and criminals as the US, and KL can be mistaken as Chicago any day looking at the crime rate. Things are no longer the same as when I was Nurin's age. What a price to pay!!!

As a parent, I constantly live in fear for my child, and I think all parents need to be aware of the potential dangers that await their child.

What can we, on the collective side, do to help increase this awareness among parents? Apart from posting in our blogs of course?...

J.T. said...

When you think about it, back in the day when it was safe to walk around without parents' supervision, we were really depending on society to look after the innocent ones. Everyone took an interest and concern when they saw a child alone or looking lost. And we did not even have things like Amber Alert.
Society around the world today has progressed so much that it needs to be taught basics again - on how to be a good citizen.

If society on a whole has already adopted "to each his own" attitude, then our government seriously need to do something. In fact, we should have a programme like America's Most Wanted on Malaysian TV. That way, we can be aware of missing children and criminals on the run. For this to happen, our police force must be equally gung-ho about it.

Anonymous said...

Princess, your suggestion for an AMBER Alert has kep me going since this devastating episode in our nations history. I don't want to join in the chorus for the murderers blood that seems to be reverberating around blogosphere. I am picking up your suggestion and blogging till somebody somewhere way up there in loftyland listens and does something about it. Blog on Sistah!

Daphne Ling said...

Hey Kak Farina,

I don't know the actual name of the fastfood/burger chain, do you?

My comment on Nuraina Samad's:-

There is also this system in the States which they use in some burger/fast-food chains...What they do is, when a child enters the outlet with the parent/adult, the child and the parent/adult are stamped with this invisible thingy (kinda like a chop on the wrist)...

The great thing is, each child+parent's chop is unique (like a number, which both have)...

Before leaving, the hand whre they were chopped will have to be screened with this light of some sort (UV?) which will show the invisible chop.

If the number/code etc of adult and child does not match, they are not allowed to leave!

This is to make sure children do not simply follow somebody else home! It would also prevent kindapping, abduction etc...

Needless to say, children are not allowed to leave on their own, unaccompanied...

Would be great if such a system was in place in shopping malls and the like. Would have less chances of children going missing in crwoded areas, like Yin who walked out alone, or children being kidnapped and taken out of the complex...

Alot of Western countries also adopt the leash thingy, where parents attach a leash to their child (either around the waist or wrist)...I am sure if used here, people will say "Macam anjing"...

I dunno about you, but I would rather look like some mad, dog-treating person (hey, just because dogs are kept on leashes in public does not mean we treat them badly...most home dogs are treated like little kings!), then to lose my child in the crowd...

I like the Amber alert system, because we don't need to waste time doing banners and seeking approval to hang them along the highway (Interesting how Malaysians will use this to promote their company, like this banner was spnsored by so-and-so, as in Nurin's case)...

Salt N Turmeric said...

Envy, we all must do something in making sure the children are as safe as can be.

Blueberry, im still waiting for the police to post the pic of the person-of-interest. i tot it was caught on the cctv? where is it then? :( as for the parents, maybe get a flyer printed on safety awareness and pass them around?

JT, it wud be nice to have tv stations picking up such series rather then The O.C and such, wudn it? Police and society need each other esp in cases involving children. both must be outraged when a child goes missing and act on it immediately. its better to be 'over-react' than to be sorry.

tembam, i saw the list of bloggers who has called for nurin alert on ur blog. :) we all must do our part.

Daphne, i read ur comment on Nuraina's blog but i tak pernah dengar pulak abt tht burger/restaurant chain.

Kak Teh said...

farina, let's hope something positive comes out of this. Let's hope some politicians are taking note. Let not Nurin die in vain. Other children must be protected.

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

ehem...burn the culprits!

Salt N Turmeric said...

Kak Teh, yes, we live and learn. Hopefully the politicians and IGP do something quick.

Kerp, burn them ... alive!

Nadia said...

Sounds like a very good idea. Will post this up in my blog too. :) Thanks for letting us know about this. I have an 18 months old boy, and eventhough he's a boy, like you said, it doesnt guarantee him safety either.

As per Daphne's mention about the leash thingie, I've used it on my kid (hell, I'd rather be judged and called names than to lose my child!) and suffice to say, the public in Malaysia are very judgemental. They rudely comment about my way of keeping my child safe and have no shame on making sure that I hear 'em nasty comments. Sigh. Now my husband doesn't want to use it anymore. :(

Anonymous said...

hi farina,it's me salina@mamawafiy..i just link your blog to mine..in order to get more participation from my frens out there..btw, it's such a great effort to have Nurin ALert..keep on that great thing..may Allah bless u..

Salt N Turmeric said...

hi Nadia, i kno how hiper an 18mths old can be! when ppl give u dirty look or nasty comments, u can always remind them of arwah Nurin. ;)

hi Salina, thanks for visiting and linking. Will def visit ur blog. :)

Anonymous said...

Farina, good news at last. Go to Jasni's blog. Shahrizat supports the Nurin Alert.

Salt N Turmeric said...

thanks for teh update tembabm. will visit jasni's blog once i get a better connection.