YeinJee's M'sian Voices

The gruesome murder of 8-year-old Nurin Jazlin has been the talk of the town lately; the suggestion from some parties to charge her parents with negligence has been poorly responded by the public.

I am perhaps one of the rarities that agree on charging parents with negligence in various cases. I am not directing this idea in particular to Nurin’s parents, but in general sense.

Today there is a news that 4 kids are drowned in a canal near Kepala Batas. These kind of cases happen every once in a while, but never received much media and public attention. Don’t you think that these kinds of accidents could be avoided if the kids are watched more closely by their parents?

I know they will be reasoning that parents have to work, can’t take care of kids 24/7 blah blah… but what’s the point of having children if the parents can’t do what they are supposed to do, to take care of their kids properly?

Every now and then we would hear of kids drowning (some in the swimming pool), parents backing their cars into their kids, toddlers left in the car and died of heat stroke etc… I haven’t heard any parents being charged for that.

The public and the authorities might feel sympathy for the parents after losing their child… but what if it’s not the parents that are in negligence, but a maid (or any 3rd parties) instead… don’t you think the maid would be charge? Wouldn’t the parents want justice for their kids? And why would justice be ignored when it was the parents that were at fault?

There are some grey areas on what constitute parental negligence though. If the law is enforced word by word, minors probably shouldn’t be left alone in any places without adult supervision… it’s probably illegal to leave the minors (without adults) at home.

Nurin’s tragedy hits the boundary as well… is there any child negligence involved? Perhaps YES by the law, but in public opinions… NO seems to be the answer.

People might argue that our country’s crime is getting out of control, that the streets are no longer safe, and that the police and government should be blamed… true. However, while knowing the fact that our streets are no longer safe, will you still allow your young kids to wander in the streets without your own guidance? Shouldn’t we ourselves show more responsible to protect our love ones instead of just relying on the authorities?

I am not sure if enforcing the law could really work in reducing these sorts of accidents and crimes. I understand that these cases might still happen even if the parents are taking very well care of their children… but I just felt that it would be worth enforcing the law if it could make some parents to be more aware of their responsibility, and to reduce these cases by some percentages.