Sharlinie : Putting In My Two Cents' Worth

Only about 4 months ago, our country was edged off the rocks with one of the most sadistic child murder ever happened in history. The tremors have not simmered with the killer(s) is still on the loose, and yet another helpless girl was missing, much reliving the horror of every parents with children under their arms.

I understand, that children are very vulnerable and easily become the prey of predators, especially when they are alone or not under the observation of adults. It’s very disheartening to see that cases of child abuses often happens. Past records tells that they will go missing, and a few days after doing massive searches, they are found dead ; in the lakes, rivers, bushes, and many disgraceful places which are far from the eyes of the public.

When I was a child, maybe around 7 or 8 years old, I remembered clearly about a case of a chinese boy who was kidnapped when he was waiting for his father to fetch him up. He was reportedly to be persuaded by an unknown man to follow him into a car, and drove the innocent child into obscurity. He was seen by his fellow schoolmates, and they all believed that the man was his father. I’m not very sure about the boy’s fate until now, but in my personal opinion, he never returned. After listening to the news, I was scared. Very scared. I sat down alone on the floor and faces the wall. I thought a lot of things at that time.

If I was the one who was kidnapped, will my parents come to rescue me fast enough before my hands were tugged away from their grasp? If I was the one who was kidnapped, how long will the kidnappers allow me to stay alive? Are they going to torture me to death? I cried a few minutes after that.

I bet most of us have forgotten about Allahyarhamah Nurul Huda Abdul Ghani, aged 10 years old. She was missing at first, but found dead a few days later. Autopsy revealed that she was raped then killed. 3 rapists were caught, and they were actually security guards! The news took the country by a storm at that moment. Then there were a lot of hoo haa by parents outraged by the security guards whom they put their trust to provide them security from criminals. I myself was disgusted that these animals work as security guards, while they themselves broke the safetiness of the public. A lot of similar cases occurred prior to the death of Nurul Huda. Nur Shuhada, 6 years old, found dead in the water tank located at the top floor of her family’s apartment half naked with bruises all over her body. Siti Syazwani, 9 years old, found dead about 100 metres away from her home, believed to be raped and killed while walking home from an Al-Quran recitation class.

I don’t think that such cases as Nurin Jazlin and Sharlinie would occur once in every few months. There must be a lot of other children went missing but unfortunate enough to gain the spotlights of the mass media. I’m wondering why Madeleine McCann is the only missing child who gained worldwide attention while thousands other are not treated in the same way? Why only her? Does this means that the media in our country also practices double standard?

Whenever I stumbled upon this sort of news, this particular thought always crosses my mind ; Malaysia is not a safe country anymore? Is this the country that we are so proud of living in? The country that we are born in? The country that we stood with our own two feet on its grounds?

The rapes, the murders, killings, thefts. We see them everyday. If you leaf through the pages of the newspapers, I believe that there will be at least one full page to fit these sort of news in each of the issue. Probably after reading a news of a woman get slashed by a gang of thieves, we would shout “Oh my god!”. The next day, we wouldn’t even remember why the woman was featured in yesterday’s news.

Anybody realized that what they’re saying are just empty words that lead us to nowhere except running in a vicious circle? After the horrible death of Nurin Jazlin, there were various suggestions that a child safety network should be implemented as soon as possible to avoid any similar cases from happening again. Good. I can see the willingness of the public to conserve the faith and belief in our mind that crimes should be prevented. Too bad, about 4 months after a lot of talking and talking, another girl suffered the same fate as Nurin. What happened then? Rushes of panicky people here and there, surprised and unprepared for another case while the former is yet unresolved. It’s either they don’t have enough time or they’re just ‘hangat-hangat tahi ayam’.

These issues are so pervasive that our conscious heart have taken it for granted. Sympathies are slowly consumed by apathies, fortified by our own selfishness. It is a disease that most of us didn’t realize, most probably never. WE need to ponder about it seriously.