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A lot has been said about the events surrounding the tragically brutal and gruesome ending suffered by 8 year old Nurin Jazlin.
Barely has little Nurin been buried a few days when we have uncaring people saying that they should be hauled in for neglience and punished under the Child Act 2001. I agree with lynnee's take here that the parents shouldn't be blamed. Haven't they gone through enough suffering already knowing that their little girl is dead (in the most brutal manner) and that nothing they can say or do will bring her back? Why punish them further? They have their own guilt to bear for having let her out of their sight. It's easy to say that they shouldn't have let her go to the pasar malam on her own. It's easy to blame the parents (especially the mother) for not keeping an eye on her children. And what about the sister who was supposed to have followed Nurin to keep her company? Do we blame her for not going along when she could have potentially saved her sister or ended up as the killer's second victim?
But most importantly, why are we so hung up on hanging out the parents to dry when we should be redoubling efforts in the search for the killer?
There Nurin Jazlin's parents would do anything to have her come back to them, and here we hear of a woman caging up her own seven year old daughter in a cage outside her house or locking her outside the gate for hours.
What has Malaysia come to?
I never thought we would experience this in Malaysia. This incident somehow reminds me of Ku Klux Klan and Martin Luther King type of happenings. What is it? Flag burning.
Apparently some Jalur Gemilang (national flags) and UMNO (ruling party) flags were burnt on Sunday night at a political gathering. Somehow, just hearing this news makes me feel unsafe. What will happen next? Riots? Oh wait. There were protests and mini-riots at the same political gathering when a fracas broke out between the police and those who had gathered there, leading to shots being fired and people injured.
Did I mention that I don't feel safe anymore?
That surely must be the question asked by many as details slowly came to light in the wake of the express bus tragedy in Taiping which took 19 lives, one of the worst Malaysian road accidents ever. I myself am asking:
~ How did the bus driver manage to get away with 13 summonses totaling RM1,980? Doesn't the JPJ or police check when the summonses were issued? I thought just last year there was a highly publicized campaign wherein those who did not pay outstanding summonses would be arrested. I still remember seeing photos of people who were arrested and promptly paid up. It is said that TWO arrest warrants were issued for the driver. But he was still a free man the day he drove dangerously and killed 18 others along with him.
~ Why wasn't the bus driver's license revoked for his numerous offences? It was reported in the Star that he had been driving dangerously for over six years, broken nearly every law - speeding (in five different vehicles), obstructing traffic, driving without a seat belt, not producing a driving license, driving a bus without a permit - and racked up enough demerit points to suspend his license. How did he manage to renew his license? Surely it would have been easy to detect this in the JPJ / police system and revoke his license. But no action was taken. Why? Because the demerit point system has more holes in it than Swiss cheese, allowing you can get away scot free by: a) not paying your summonses and thus reducing the opportunity of seizing your license; and b) you can CHOOSE not to surrender your license after it has been suspended or cancelled. Then what is the demerit point system for? For show?
~ Why did the bus company hire him and keep him employed? Evidently the profit of the company is more valuable than lives, even the Transport Workers Union agrees in this article here. I am sure no action was taken against the driver for his summonses because he was still driving around for the company. This is pure neglience on the company's part. Are they now to be held accountable for the consequence of letting the driver loose on the road?
~ Did the driver think he was Superman? A survivor of the accident said that the driver was speeding, which by all conclusions, caused the fatal crash because the bus in question had faulty brakes (it failed Puspakom inspection FOUR times!). It has been repeated numerous time in tv adverts - speed kills. Evidently this message is not getting through to the Malaysian public.
~ Why did the bus company allow the vehicle to be used when it was evidently not roadworthy? Again, I'm thinking of profit over practicality. And the bus had 19 police summons with 79 JPJ summons to boot. It should be off the road!
I agree with this opinion article that said the blood of those killed in the accident is on the hands of the JPJ and the police. Had they done just a bit more to take the bus driver off the road (and the bus as well as the bus company), these victims would still be alive today.
As usual, after any incident or tragedy that occurs, all the politicians and officials will be pointing the finger at each other and refusing to take the blame that is rightly (or wrongly!) appropriated to them. I don't want to hear the blame game, I just want to know what is being done to make Malaysia a safer place for all of us.
More headlines from the boys in blue. What happened? They let a nearly million dollar car get stolen... for a second time... after recovering it yesterday. The Porsche was originally stolen on Monday by a well dressed thief posing as a customer, but abandoned a few km away when the car ran out of fuel. So the cops recovered found the car and parked it in their compound... where it was stolen the day after, most likely by the same thief. If it wasn't bad enough that the cops lost the car on their beat... the car was now fueled. *slaps forehead* Duh!
And more ideas from our brilliant Senator Dr. Puad Zarkashi. How to motivate our pathetic national football team? Show them video clips of yesteryear's glories. That's like saying, "Hey Malaysia, you'll be able to win the World Cup just by watching the videos of Malaysian teams from years back (when we were still a force to be reckoned in Asia)". Oh yeah, and the reason for Dr. Puad's suggestion? The horrible showing by Malaysian in the Asian Cup football tournament, where the team was thrashed 1 - 5 by China and 0 - 5 by Uzbekistan, leaving Malaysia dead last in the tournament and effectively out. And to think Malaysia turned down Manchester United's Asian Tour for this crap performance. Bah.
How Malaysian.
