Up in Heaven...

I’m sure that all Malaysians are now deeply saddened by what happened to Nurin. I’m personally enraged. All sorts of ‘methods of punishment’ come flashing on my mind if ‘the bastard/s’ get caught. At only 8 years old, Nurin felt all the torture that a little girl shouldn’t have even heard of. Not only she was kidnapped and taken away from her family and medication for almost a month, she was also beaten, sexually assaulted, murdered and her body stuffed in a sports bag by a sick, heartless, empty-headed creature. I dare not refer the ‘psychopath’ who did all those things to Nurin as human or animal because, ‘his/her’ behaviour was neither human-like nor animal-like. But sad to say that in the world that we live today, only the mentally mutated human species is capable of doing such a thing.

Is our Malaysia not a safe place anymore? At 50 years old, we’re still a developing country, but the crime rate is catching up really fast exceeding our country’s development. Nowadays, there are so many varieties of crimes. Reading and watching Malaysia’s local news is like watching scenes from 'CSIs’ or ‘Criminal Minds’ when it comes to ‘crime’ section. It is mostly devastating when innocent children were the victim.

Despite all these, are we suppose to lock up our children at home or always follow them where ever they go? I don’t have a child myself, but if I do, I might lock them up or follow them around just to make sure they are safe. Or even, force them to wear a security bracelet embedded with a GPS locator so that I can track their location at all times. If technology and law permits, might as well plant a microchip inside them so that I’ll know if they have even the slightest idea of removing the security bracelet.

But, would that be a good idea? Don’t we remember our childhood? It was fun, full of adventure, outdoor activities, plenty of friends... home was just like a transit for us to eat, sleep and maybe catch a cartoon or two in the evenings. Then, we’re off again playing catch, rounders, ‘teng- teng’, ‘lompat getah’ and all the games there were. My brother, sister and I were born and raised in Kuala Lumpur and we never felt any real threat during our childhood.

Maybe Malaysia (particularly Kuala Lumpur in this case) has changed dramatically over the last 30 years. If threats are all around us, then we must evolve to be ‘competitive’ with the threats, so that neither we nor any children will fall victim to any kind of crime. Children especially must be taught of safety precautions so that they can take care of themselves and also because it is impossible for us to guard them all the times.

When I was young, my father always told me ‘never accept any sweets offered by strangers’. ‘Be careful when you walk and never walk alone’. ‘Come home before it turns dark’. ‘Never talk or stand too close to stranger especially if they look suspicious’. ‘Scream for help if you think you’re in danger’ and my aunties go the extremes of reminding me to ‘run/ scream like mad’. It was most fun to go out at night and I was always stubborn. My father and mother couldn’t always say no, but they reminded me to ‘go out in groups and make sure there are elder brothers/ sisters with you’.

Will all the reminders and tips make our children paranoid? I don’t think so because in my case it made me aware that not all people are good, even if they look nice and the reminders also alerted me of my surroundings. Children must be prepared with all the necessities so that they can take care of themselves when the parents are restricted of doing so. This will also give parents a little peace of mind and parents don’t need to worry about their children’s safety all the times.

Let us all pray really hard and work together to make sure that the same thing will not happen again to any child because childhood suppose to be time for learning, adventure, fun... Let us all pray really hard and work together to make sure that the ‘creature/s’ responsible for what happened to Nurin will be brought to justice and will be given maximum punishment (even that won’t be enough). Each of us holds a responsibility in making Malaysia a safe place for all its good citizens. Nothing is ever too fishy or too suspicious. Make everything our business, because we care. After what happened to Nurin, all of us should have reached the level of ‘better paranoid than sorry’.

As for Nurin, rest in peace little angel as you’re now safe and protected under the care and love of Allah s.w.t, up in heaven.