It will be called NUR (NationalUrgent Response) Alert. (Not NURIN Alert which is what it was originally called).
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein issued a joint statement on this today.
It said the initiative, to be chaired by the Royal Malaysia Police, would be implemented immediately, with the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry acting as the deputy chair.
Information will be spread through posters, websites, text messages and electronic message boards and its implementation will involve strategic collaboration between the government, private sector and non-governmental organisations.
As you all know, NUR Alert is basically NURIN (Nationwide Urgent Response Information Network) Alert, an initiative pushed by several bloggers immediately after the body of missing 8 year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin was found in a sports/gym bag in PJS1, Petaling Jaya, on Sept 17 2007, nearly a month after she disappeared near her home in Section1, Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur on Aug 20.
I and so many others were hoping that the Cabinet would say yes to the name NURIN Alert just as AMBER (America's Missing:Broadcast Emergency Response) was named after Amber Hagerman who was abducted and found dead in Arlington, Texas in 1996.
Both Nurin's and Amber's killers were never caught.
So unbelievable that such a useful and proven system was not put into place much much earlier after it was proposed. Honestly, politics and politicians piss me off.Nevertheless, I am very happy that the system is being put in place, to save our children.
After Nurin, there had been several cases of missing kids. Sharlinie or Nini, went missing at a playground near her home in Taman Medan, PJ, just months (Jan 9,2008) after Nurin's tragedy.
Elements of NURIN Alert were effected in Nini's case but only minimally. She was never found.
As for NUR Alert, it is to help in the search for kids below 12. There has been some disagreement over this with some groups saying that it should extended to those below 18 because statistics show that the majority of missing kids are those between ages 16 and 18.
In the US, the criteria used to activate AMBER Alert differ statewide. Here are the general requirement: 1. law enforcement must confirm that an abduction has taken place, 2. the child must be at risk of serious injury or death, 3. there must be sufficient descriptive information of child, captor or captor's vehicle and 4. the child must be 17 years or younger.
So let's hope it will not be another 3 years before we see this put into effect. Let's save the next child!
8 comments:
Well, we can only hope and pray for the best that our young children of today will not suffer the fate of Nurin and Sharlinie.
On Larry King Live, two or three days ago, he had a female guest on (I didn't get her name), but she seemed to be an authority on the trafficking of children, and this is what she said: about 2.5 million children are being trafficked world-wide for sexual predators. This is beyond what any sane person can stomach. If what she said is true, we have to ask ourselves how is it that 2.5 million children can be succesfully trafficked across the world. It does not make sense if governments are doing something serious about stemming this horrific trade. Are some of them complicit? One can only wonder. Also, from what she said, one gathers that some world reknowned hotels know what happens on their premises, where children and women are brought in for guests of the hotel, but apparently the groups fighting to save the children, are unable to get many of the hotels to openly co-operate in the drive to stop this. One wonders if hotels in Malaysia are co-operating. There is a sickening growth in this horrifying practice. How long are ordinary people going to look the other way? If you see something that just does not look right, do something. Children are helpless. They can't help themselves. We have to help them.
Salam Nuraina,
I've met you, , Jas, tembam, rocky and Kamal affrendi during the embryonic stage of Nurin alert.
I mentioned that the name would get hijacked by self serving politician...
I wanted to gloat that I am right - but it is meaningless to me. It's like dealing with the devil - without the help, NURIN alert will not be out, but with the help comes this...
*SIGH*
NURIN Alert has a sound of urgency to it. It is a written symbol of the tragedy of what happened to Nurin. It is a reminder that something must be done to address child kidnappings.
NUR Alert sounds like an alert for good news. NUR in arabic after all means light as in cahaya nur. Somehow, the tragedy of Nurin and NUR Alert doesn't tally.
However, what's in a name? What's more important is that the organization does its job efficiently, effectively and is results oriented.
Talking about job efficiency, I have to agree with you Nuraina, I'm a bit dissapointed too that it took quite awhile for an organization such as this be set up.
That being said, I do believe that there are teams out there on the look out for kidnappers. NUR Alert just makes it official.
Why is it when people want to curse a nasty person they pray that he gets a nasty disease. There are lots and lots of good people who get nasty diseases. They never asked for it' and by implying a bad person should get a nasty disease paints everyone who gets a nasty disease as being a bad person. BTW I am a cancer survivor and am not a nasty person.
It should be NURIN ALERT. Everyone knows Nurin. But Sharizat is just too proud to listen to others.
Applaud the move to have such an organization.
However, we must go to the root of the problem. From our team observation in shopping complexes and public places, more often than not, children are:
1. Left unattended when parents are busy trying out clothes or busy queing for food. The parents do not have a visual focus on the child/children.
2. Parents like to bring small children, sometimes toddlers to large crowded areas. This may make them easy targets. One lone mother had even brought her baby in a pram to the recent KL Motorshow 2010 where there were hundreds of people. Why would a lone mother with her baby in a pram go to such a show!??
3. Large crowd of school children are being handled by few teachers only.
4. Children playing around with no adults in sight.
5. Children playing with only a maid to attend to them.
6. Child/children walking/cycling alone. They are too young to be going out alone.
We must go to the root. Parents must be held responsible. If criminals snatch the the child from the parents then it's another matter. But if the parents did not keep an eye on the child then they must be taken to court. Why? As a reminder to other parents.
Also, there must be public awareness. There should be signs to remind parents. There should also be a fine that if a child/children are caught alone, then the parents/guardians can be fined or jailed. Public campaigns involving the media must be used. Billboard sinages must be used at shopping complexes, parks, libraries, schools, etc.
Better to prevent a kidnapping rather than be alerted about it.
Have you lost your car keys, wallet or sun glasses before? Do you know how difficult it is to find them? Imagine finding another person in the such a vast area.
Please be considerate and take care of your own child. DON'T PUT THEM IN DANGER.
Kalau ternak ayam pun kena jaga, kalau tak jaga, takde reban, ayam kena curi.
Kita mesti bela anak, bukan ternak anak.
kena berhati hati ketika keluar bersama dengan anak anak atau jangan biarkn anak anak berseorangan
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