Monday, January 14, 2008

N.U.R.I.N Alert Is In Place, Says Shahrizat

YES! We are so glad this is happening. We are so hopeful that NURIN Alert becomes an established mechanism and part of a system in the search-rescue-saving of missing children in the country the soonest possible.

This will go a very long way to help find and save missing children.

We could not help 8 year-old Nurin Jazlin who went missing for 28 days before she was found battered, and dead. At least there is hope that we can now save 5 year-old Nini who was abducted on Jan 9 and is still missing.

NURIN Alert is for Nini and missing children in the future.

NURIN Alert is a bloggers' initiative.

When Nini disappeared I texted Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil saying that it was all the more compelling, with every new case of a missing child, to have such a thing as NURIN Alert in place.

She replied with a firm "YES!"

I'm pleased that it was not lip service on Shahrizat's part. When we (Shahrizat, Tell Magazine's Roundtable comprising Tell's publisher Wahti Maidin, writer Mustapha Maidin, Jasni Abdul Jalil who is Nurin's uncle and Citizens for Nurin Alert's deputy chairman, crime analyst Kamal Affandi, two NGO representatives including a lawyer, journalist/blogger Ahirudin Attan and I) met late last year to discuss what should and could be done in the aftermath of Nurin's murder, Shahrizat was responsive to the proposal by Citizens for Nurin Alert (and here) that an alert system/mechanism modelled on AMBER Alert be in place.

And immediately after Nini went missing, Shahrizat was already activating the alert.

I was indeed heartened when LiteFM flashed Nini's picture and details on its website and Celcom sent SMSes to its subscribers about Nini's disappearance.

So here's the report in the Star (datelined Kuala Lumpur).

A system to immediately alert everyone when a missing child case is reported is already in place, said Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.
She said this could be seen in the case of Sharlinie Mohd Nashar where various groups, including the media and the community, were coming together quickly to locate her.
“We are awaiting the Cabinet’s approval before formally implementing the system,” she said yesterday (Sunday) after launching a Nur Sejahtera health event at Desa Pantai flats in Pantai Dalam.
She was asked to comment on when a system such as the Nationwide Urgent Response Information Network (Nurin) Alert would be implemented to help locate missing children without delay.
The Nurin Alert was first suggested following the murder of eight-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin who was abducted and her body was found stuffed into a sports bag a month later last September.


Nurin’s uncle Jasni Abdul Jalil and several bloggers drafted a proposal on the Nurin Alert and submitted it to Shahrizat’s ministry late last year.


In the United States, the Amber (America’s Missing: Broadcasting Emergency Response) Alert is a warning system implemented to immediately trace missing children via a comprehensive network involving authorities and the community.
It was named after Amber Hagerman, nine, who was abducted and murdered in Texas in 1996.
Shahrizat said lessons were learnt from Nurin’s case and efforts to locate Sharlinie started earlier, including the immediate distribution of posters.
“Police have also taken quicker action and there is more involvement from the community and non-governmental organisations.”

13 comments:

What A Lulu said...

someone from the usj.com.my community called yhe nurin hotline with regards to some children whom he felt were being used by their mother.
this is his experience

When he asked for details, I asked him for the email address where I can send all the details he needs.
He said NURIN line has no email address.
Then I asked for the fax number so that I can fax the detail to him.
He then replied, "Oh memang kami tiada fax."
I then express my horror how are we the public going to assist the authorities to fight crime when they don't even have these minimum communication tools. He then asked me to hold on and I was kept waiting for 7 minutes before he came back with the statement.
"We are sorry Mr. Yeoh that although we have both the email and the fax machine, it is confidential."

It makes Lulu wonder if this NURIN alert is going to be effective like Samy Vellu's solve-all-the-indian-community's-problems hotline.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

Lulu,

that USJ person called the TALIAN NUR which is the hotline, I believe, is run by the women, family and community development ministry. IT IS NOT A NURIN ALERT.

NURIN ALERT is not in place in he real sense but I think Shahrizat is trying elements of it by appealing to those relevant bodies to help. If NURIN Alert is already in place, nobody has to appeal to nobody to have it activated.
It becomes the mechanism to activate a search/save drive where the enforcement agencies and the community work to find and save the missing child.

That is why we, on the Citizens For NURIN Alert, is working make people aware and for the governmen to introduce it. As you know the proposal is with the Cabinet.

Please read my earlier postings on this.

thank you.

Anonymous said...

I've been away... and read abt this missing girl on flight home. Again I'm filled with dread.
I hope the police will leave no stones unturned. I hope they work on it like it's their flesh and blood that's gone missing.
I hope for many things...
Ya Allah hears our prayers
Amen

MarinaM said...

Ena, when I read the news item, I didn't get a sense that the NURIN Alert as you proposed was actually in place at all. It sounded to me that Shahrizat was saying that, because people have expressed alarm so quickly and have started doing something so quickly (on their own initiative), there was therefore a system in place.

This is, to me, not good enough. We cannot have adhoc responses, not to mention relying on citizens to take the initiative all the time. This is KL where people are perhaps more alert and responsive, especially after what happened to Nurin Jaslin. But the Ministry needs to have a formalised system in place that covers the whole country. AND they need to explain how it works.

The Talian NUR is for people with other types of problems and who need counselling. It is not the same as what we need to find missing children.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

marina,
actually I was pleasantly surprised to see that things were kinda activated immdiately after Nini was reported missing.
i wasn't sure whether it was because of the failure by the authorities to help Nurin that they wanted to show that they were handling Nini's case "differently".
But, Shahrizat had been responsive and proactive following Nurin's murder.
When we proposed NURIN Alert, she was very responsive. this was especially after listening to jasni's account of how his brother (nurin's father) had difficult just getting the help he needed to launch a search for Nurin.
Please remember that it was totally a different picture when Nurin disappeared. Police did not do anything until after more than 48 hours. And that was no much. The media carried the story a couple of days later.

so, when the publicity of Nini;s disappearance was "activated", I was very heartened and had a sense that it was an alert, much like AMBER alert, much like what we had proposed -NURIN Alert.

I'm just hoping that i wil get better and better.
I'm just hoping we will see Nini alive.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

sorry last para should've read:
i'm just hoping that it will get better and better.
I'm just hoping we will see Nini alive.

Anonymous said...

Go kak na, go. My support and heads up for Nurin Alert and the efforts done to get it work.

Anak Bapak,
ernie

david santos said...

Good posting, Nuraina. Thank you.
have a good day

straycat's strut said...

Kak Ena, Its nice to know that for the least, we are doing something for little nini rather then did nothing except pray and being sad when Nurin disappeared. Thanks again to bloggers like you and others for the NURIN alert. She must be smiling now.

What bothers me is when I read the newspaper today, nini's and nurin's are not isolated cases. If you notice, even the Kg baru case has five victims and if I am not mistaken, there are two other cases of child gone missing (but was found 2 / 3 days later). Other then Nurin and Nini, the public was not actually aware! (or was it just me?).

I am just worried that somewhere out there, a child might have gone missing and no one really notice it because somehow it missed the headlines.

I really hope that I am wrong.

.. said...

For once, I am amazed at the speed by the Police and media in handling Nini's case. It was trigerring a NurinAlert indirectly and with all the bad publicity the police got with Nurin's case, they cannot afford to fail this time. At least the entire country got hold of this infor fast, though there are reports that she's been sighted in Thailand. We can only hope and pray she is returned safely. With this, NurinAlert can only move forward at a very fast pace. However, it's still not good enough, if we look at long term, community centres for children to play interact,spend time, learn and where they spend their free time would be also ideal. This keep the children off the streets, giving them a place to play in a safer environment, relieving parents the precious time needed to do housechores etc. A place that's affordable or even free, ran by caring neighours on paid or voluntary basis, a place where everyone can keep an eye on other children as well. Commercial day care centres are often way too expensive for middle and lower income earner. At the same time, parents are busy and they cant keep the kids locked up all the time. It's sad that children nowadays dont have the freedom we had then, roaming around freely. anyway, glad that nurin alert is moving on the right track and i do hope that Sharizat and govt will go beyond nurin alert, community service like rukun tetangga is a good start, though i find cctv may be helpful. I was thinking if I am a crook, all i need is to dismantle the cctv, throw a stone at it, wear a helmet,change my number plate etc., would be better if there are more ACTIVE police force working with the community, not just sitting waiting for people to file reports. I pray for nini.

puvanan said...

Nice to hear that NURIN alert is in place now. Hopefully it will be officially launched and informed to the public via media advertisements and campaigns to make sure the function of this this alert is optimized in bringing back home our sisters and brothers in a sound and safe condition.

A Voice said...

WHat we have done now is to create more sense of awareness and urgency in the authority when it comes to missing child.

However, effort shd be expanded beyodn responding to cases of losing.

Lets do somethign rather than pleading to criminals ... hello! Don't they (you'll know who) sound pathetic pleading to criminals!

I would seriously propose it be expanded to include child abuse cases.

It is common for the police and JKM under Shahrizat's Ministry be rendered helpless in dealing with it, particularly if the abuser/s is/are lawful parent/s.

Something must be done than relying on the hopeless lower family court to deal with it.

I believe NurinALert is about more community concern for the welfare and safety of children.

Anonymous said...

they copy the amber alert at US. finally goverment do something good and useful