Missing Children: Should Parents Be Punished?

The word “missing child” often calls to mind of tragic and frightening incident as it was always reported in the national news. Stories about missing children, especially those abducted, have always tugged at the heartstrings of all Malaysians. A total of 5996 children went missing from homes since 2004. Although most of them were found, 1904 still remain missing (Pakiam, 2007). Lately, all the Malaysians are in shock over the death of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin and had recalled the tragic that happened on Ang May Hong two decades ago that was once sent a shockwave throughout the country. The whole nation has now been brought together to face this issue with a more serious attitude. According to the Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz, parents who found guilty of negligence can be punished under the Child Act 2001 (Baharom, 2007). This high profile case has brought the whole nation’s focus to a rarely talked about issue: should the parents be punished when their children go missing? The government should not put all the guilt on the parents because I believe that parents have always done their best in ensuring the well being and safety of their children. Although parents are always cited as being the cause of missing children, I feel that it is not fair for them to be punished as there are undoubtedly other factors which should share the responsibility for missing children.

Firstly, some missing children are abducted. Although there is no official statistics of children abducted in Malaysia, it is undeniable that many children have gone missing due to abduction. The 8 year old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin was abducted in a night market near her house and her naked dead body was discovered in a sport bag nearly one month later (Bernama, 2007). Until today, no culprit has been caught. There was also a 12 year old girl was reported been sodomised and molested during the period she was kidnapped. Again, the culprit was not caught (Shuman, 2007). All these cases make our hair stand on end; we recoil at the thought of how easily it could have been our own family member one of them. Nowadays, once we turn on the television and newspaper, we see children are abducted or lured into leaving home. Unfortunately, all the news we read in the newspaper is only the tip of the iceberg. Human trafficking is a profitable criminal activity as abducted victims can be continuously circulated in international flesh trade market. Money is the root of all evils; abducted children are traded in the international human trafficking market in exchange of money. These abducted children are used as slaves around the world. Each year, an estimated of 1.2 million kidnapped children is working as slave laborers, prostitutes or soldiers worldwide (Bita, 2004). International Labor Organisation (ILO) report stated that children become victims of slavery by “force, persuasion, coercion and trickery.” (Bita, 2004) Children tend to be more vulnerable than adults as they have less life experience. This makes them suitable target of these predators as they are easy to lure into leaving home. A few sweet words, toys or candies easily win their hearts. Children who are innocent often become one the victims of the heartless predators because most of the time, they are oblivious to their surroundings and danger they are putting themselves in.

Secondly, children disappearance is due to peer pressure. In year 2006, the main reason of children goes missing in Malaysia due to peers’ pressure which accounted for 24.83% of the total number of children missing (Malaysian Today, 2007). In September 2007, there were three Malay girls ran away from their homes and were found in a cybercafÐ"© where they stayed with their friends three days later (NST Online, 2007). According to Marjorie and Hohenemser, children aged 14 to 17 use peer group to test their decision making skills, building intimacy and reinforcing self confidence (1999). Friends make adolescents feel confident when they feel they are accepted as part of their peer group. Sometimes peer pressure can motivate a teenager to make decision and engage in behavior that his or her values might reject just to fit themselves in their group (Aspen Education Group, 2007). Therefore, some teenagers might run away from home with their friends just to show that they are part of the group. Adolescents these days spent more time with their friends who have same thoughts and interest more often than their parents. Thus, they are likely to seek advice and opinions when it comes to decision making. They tend to follow what their friends tell them to do. This shows that peers influence is an important and powerful factor that affects teenagers in decision making.

Thirdly, some children who tend to look for more freedom that they feel their parents are restricting and often choose to run away from home. There are children, especially the teenagers run away from home to look for more freedom. In year 2006, youth run away from home in search of freedom is the third most common factor of missing youth cases which accounted 16 odd percent. (Malaysian Today, 2007). Parents’ restrictions are actually for the well being of the children. For example, curfew set by the parents that restricts the children to go out late night with the purpose to ensure the child’s safety makes the child think that his or her parents are possessive. Immature mindset blinded adolescents’ eyes and hearts; they feel that their parents do not respect their human rights but never talk to their parents about the problem. Teenagers always yearn for more freedom because they feel that they are old enough to take good care of themselves. Besides, they might feel unhappy and experience emotionally imbalance when they see their friends experience freedom that they do not have; they are unable to understand why they can’t have the freedom just like their friends. It is exhilarating for teenagers to taste the feel of freedom because it makes them feel that they are mature. However, the parents feel that they are not old enough to be given too much freedom as most of them are unconscious of the danger that can happen to them.

Besides looking for more freedom, running away with lover is also one of the factors that contributed to children missing in Malaysia. Running away with lovers is known as the second most common reason of children goes missing in year 2006 (19.83%) (Malaysian Today, 2007). Children who are desperately looking for freedom might feel depress when they are not able to get the freedom they want from their parents. At his point, the lover seems to be the only one who cares and supports him or her as the lover is the only person who willing to listen and support them. Eventually, they run away with