MfMC Activity...Spread the Message...Create the Awareness

Cyclists getting ready

Our first activity was a night group bicycle ride from Kuala Kubu Bharu to Fraser's Hill on the eve of our Merdeka day this year. About 20 cyclist joined the ride with another about 10 team members joined the cyclists in 5 support cars. We named the ride as "Merdeka-Raya MfMC Night Ride".

People asked about the ride. Why night ride? Why Fraser's Hill? What was the relevance of the ride and the mission? All sorts of questions. The answer is very simple. 

Some of us...just before we started the ride

MfMC had just been created in August this year by us, a group of triathletes, swimmers, runners, climbers and last but not least concerned citizens. We have been doing all these activities for years and of course for the fun of it. Then we decided that while doing these activities, we can still contribute to the society by doing it for a cause, for a reason and not just for the fun of it. Hence, we continue to do what we love doing and at the same time we are able to contribute something to the society.

It is about killing 2 birds with 1 stone.

Cyclists in action

We thought that doing a group night ride up to Fraser's Hill was a crazy idea. But hey! We are a bunch of crazy people. So, let's do it!!! It is ok to be crazy (in a good way) so long as we are within the safe boundary. Whatever it is, safety comes first

The first group reached the tower clock at 2:30am

 
We were supposed to start our ride at 9:00pm. But we plan, Allah decide. We finally started our ride 2 1/2 hours later. Our re-grouping session was at Gap, where we took a break of about 1/2 hour because from Gap to top of Fraser's Hill was a real climbing of about 700m elevation. Allah was with us and all of us reached the peak at the clock tower at about 3:15am on 31st August 2012. 

 

The pot luck and get together

We then had Raya pot-luck. We descend from Fraser's Hill back to Kuala Kubu Bharu at about 4:30am and safely reached Kuala Kubu Bharu at about 6:00am. Cycling down from Fraser's Hill in the dark was very dangerous, hence we put the bike on its car rack and drove down.

Getting ready to go down back to Kuala Kubu Bharu

Group photo

   

Missing Child - NUR FATIN NAJIHA BTE IBRAHIM

Nama: NUR FATIN NAJIHA BTE IBRAHIM 

Umur: 17 TAHUN 

Nota: HILANG sekitar jam 4:00 petang pada 25/09/2012. Kali terakhir dilihat di kawasan Seberang Takir, Kuala Terengganu memakai baju belang merah jambu/putih, bertudung hitam dan berseluar track. 

Sesiapa yang mempunyai maklumat berhiubung lokasi Nur Fatin Najiha, di harap dapat menghubungi ahli keluarga beliau di sini.

True story...A Gril Might Have Become Another Victim of Child Kidnapping

Child predators strike at the time and in the way we least expect. So, parents, adults...always beware and be alert of your surroundings, busy body about what your kids are doing, what they share on facebook or twitter or any forms of social media, where they go, who their friends are...in short, be a caring parents/society.

Read this article. A true story how a girl might have become another victim of child kidnapping.

ANOTHER month, another missing child, and suddenly we’re all fired up again.

But this will probably wind down and we’ll go about our own business. Until the next missing child, that is.

Just before eight-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin’s battered body was found stuffed into a sports bag last September, when she was merely another missing child, The Star ran a story pointing out that she was just one among 17 children under the age of nine on the police’s list of missing persons who had vanished between January and July last year.

More children continued to disappear, the most recent being five-year-old Sharlinie Mohd Nashar.

So now the Nurin Alert emergency response plan is fast becoming a reality. The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry has proposed a technical committee to come up with a Child Protection policy.

The Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation has recommended a “Child Watch” comprising government officials and representatives from non-govermental organisations that would work closely with law enforcement agencies to keep a closer watch on the safety of children.

But as an Interpol (www.interpol.int/) paper on missing children has noted, there is no specific law in Malaysia that governs the reporting and handling of cases of missing children. Malaysian police make inquiries on missing persons under Sections 3 and 20 of the Police Act.

I think it’s past time for us to look at missing children as a national issue that requires a complete revamp and rethink of policy, people and processes, with a lot of emphasis on prevention. And I can probably make a good, reasoned argument for it too.

But to hell with reasoned arguments, because this time it’s personal.

It’s my daughter, you s.o.b.!

On a recent Sunday, my nine-year-old daughter received, on her handphone, an SMS which addressed her by name, and in a texting version of Bahasa Malaysia, asked her what she was doing, adding “abang rindu mu, bls yah,” or “I miss you, please reply.”

The kids were with their mother at the time, so she called up the number and asked the man who answered, who he was and why he was sending SMSes to our child.

It’s my daughter, you s.o.b.!

The man spoke in Malay, saying that it was probably just “the kids playing around.” Sure, could be. So my ex-wife asked, “What’s your name and what are your kids’ names? Do they go to school with my daughter?”

He hung up.

It’s my daughter, you s.o.b.!

She rang me and I immediately swung over, picked up the phone, told the kids to stay with their mother, and remembering stories of how child predators “groom” their prey by trying to engage them in conversation first, went to the nearest police station to lodge a report.

It’s my daughter, you s.o.b.!

I’m one of those lucky Malaysians, going by the number of complaints we receive in the press, who has had only good experiences with our men in blue. The ones I’ve met when lodging reports or being issued tickets have always been professional and polite.

A young corporal took down the details and helpfully wrote down the report for me. Then he asked, politely, what my purpose was in lodging this report.

The next morning, a sergeant contacted me and asked me to come over to the police station. He asked me for more information, briefed me on what they had done so far and what they were going to do next.

But he too, almost apologetically, asked me the purpose of my lodging this report.

With all the girl-children being abducted, you have to ask?

I want you to be as concerned as I am. I know you handle hundreds of cases a day, but I don’t care. When parents fear for their children, I want you to be just as concerned as they are.

Anyway, I told him, just as politely, that I wanted them to find out who this man was, how he got my daughter’s phone number, how he knew her name, and what his intention was in sending her that SMS message.

“And,” I added, no longer so polite, “I want you to warn him not to come anywhere near my children!”

What I really wanted to say was, I want you to find this s.o.b. and take him out of the gene pool.

I’m a single father of two very engaging girls. I don’t have to be reasonable. I don’t care about due process and the right of the individual and people being innocent until found guilty. Not when it comes to my little girls.

Find this s.o.b., and even if he was just trying to be funny and had no designs on my daughter, take him out of the gene pool for being stupid enough to try something like this.

Believe me, you’d be doing the human race a favour.

Taken from here

Continuous Effort Pays...It Is Just A Matter of Time

NEW YORK: A man has confessed to strangling to death a boy who vanished on his way to school in 1979, apparently solving a crime that terrified parents across America and baffled police for three decades, New York police chief Ray Kelly said yesterday.

 

The man, Pedro Hernandez, “confessed to choking Etan 33 years ago tomorrow in a basement” of a Manhattan grocery store where he worked, Kelly told a news conference.

The confession was a stunning breakthrough in a cold case that had defied one of the country’s most sophisticated city police departments and ushered in the modern era of anxious parenting.

Kelly said Hernandez confessed for three hours and accompanied New York Police Department detectives to the scene of the crime, which was then a grocery store, or bodega, and which now sells eyeglasses.

He told investigators that he had lured Etan Patz, who was six and taking the school bus alone for the first time, “with the promise of a soda.”

“He then led him into the basement of the bodega, choked him there and disposed of the body by placing him in a plastic bag and placing it in the trash.”

According to Kelly, Hernandez is married with a teenage daughter, a US citizen with no criminal record and has not previously been a suspect in the high-profile investigation.

Police were led to him by a tip that followed a sudden reactivation of the search, with police and FBI agents digging up a different basement in Manhattan last month.

“The individual came forward because of the recent notoriety of the case,” Kelly said.

 

Although he escaped the authorities for more than three decades, Hernandez had apparently become guilt-ridden. He “told family and others that he had ‘done a bad thing and killed a child in New York,’” Kelly said.

Detectives who interviewed Hernandez thought “he was remorseful,” Kelly said. The confessed murderer appeared “to think it was a feeling of relief.”

Patz’s parents have been informed, Kelly said, adding he hoped the development would “bring some measure of peace.” However, he did not expect that the remains of the boy would ever be found. “It’s unlikely, very unlikely,” he said.

Patz’s disappearance was so shocking that he became a symbol for growing fears over the safety of children playing outside the home.

He became the first missing child to have his face pictured on milk cartons with an appeal for information. The date of his disappearance, May 25, became known as National Missing Children’s Day.

Taken from here

The First 26 Minutes is Critical when Child goes Missing

KUALA LUMPUR - The period of the first 26 minutes is a very critical time in the case missing child, said Pertubuhan Keselamatan Anak-anak Malaysia (PaMa).
Its Chairman, Mohd. Fairuz Mohamed Isa claimed that, within 26 minutes of the incident, the child may no longer be within reach and could have been taken away from the place of incident.
"So parents need to act fast in 26 minutes in case of missing child," he said through a press release today.
Mohd. Fairuz said the case of missing children is not unique only to Malaysia but all over the world, including in countries like the United States (U.S.).
According to him, the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Thrownaway Children (NISMART) reported that more than a million children lost in 2005.
However, only 100 cases were reported missing due to kidnapping and in most cases in the U.S., the perpetrator plan for days, weeks or sometimes up to several months before striking. A child is reported missing in the U.S. every 26 seconds and it's a worrying situation, he said.
Hence, he said, PaMa urged parents in Malaysia to take some precautionary steps in preparation for any eventuality.
First and foremost is to save and update personal records of children every six months, including a record deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to store fingerprints or hair, and identify signs of child body like moles, scars or birthmarks.
The second step is to be sensitive to what is worn by the child at all times, especially at the crowded places like supermarkets, expo or market and identify accessories attached to clothing, watches and the like.
Parents are also urged to put identification tags such as security bracelet that has a phone number for the public to track their child if the child is lost in public places.
In addition, he said, PaMa also suggest improvement of the NUR Alert (National Urgent Response Alert) system because there is still no proper action taken to immediately detect and find the missing child nationwide as soon as the case is reported.
He said the Education Ministry was urged to streamline programs 3K (Safety, Health and Fun/Keselamatan, Kesihatan dan Keceriaan) and Crime Prevention Clubs school to educate students about the importance of their personal safety.

Translated from here 

26 Minit yang Pertama Adalah Amat Kritikal Apabila Kanak-kanak Hilang

KUALA LUMPUR – Tempoh 26 minit yang pertama adalah masa yang amat kritikal dalam satu-satu kes kehilangan kanak-kanak, kata Pertubuhan Keselamatan Anak-Anak Malaysia (PaMa).

Pengerusinya, Mohd. Fairuz Mohamed Isa mendakwa, dalam tempoh 26 minit tersebut kanak-kanak terlibat mungkin akan hilang didalam jangkauan setempat dan berada jauh dari lokasi awal kehilangannya.

“Justeru ibu bapa perlu bertindak pantas dalam masa 26 minit tersebut dalam kes kehilangan anak,” katanya melalui satu kenyataan media hari ini.

Mohd. Fairuz berkata, kes kehilangan kanak-kanak tidak hanya menjadi igauan di Malaysia malah di seluruh dunia termasuk di negara mahu seperti Amerika Syarikat (AS).

Menurutnya, National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Thrownaway Children (NISMART) melaporkan lebih satu juta kanak-kanak hilang pada tahun 2005.

Namun, hanya 100 kes dilaporkan hilang disebabkan penculikan dan dalam kebanyakan kes itu di AS, pemangsa pencabulan kanak-kanak merancang penculikan beberapa hari, minggu atau kadangkala sehingga beberapa bulan lamanya sebelum melarikan kanak-kanak tersebut.

Malah dilaporkan seorang kanak-kanak hilang di AS pada setiap 26 saat dan keadaan itu cukup menggerunkan, katanya lagi.

Justeru, katanya, pihaknya menyarankan beberapa langkah untuk diambil oleh ibu bapa di Malaysia sebagai persediaan menghadapi sebarang kemungkinan.

Langkah itu adalah dengan menyimpan dan mengemas kini rekod peribadi kanak-kanak setiap enam bulan termasuk rekod asid deoksiribonukleik (DNA) dengan menyimpan cap jari atau rambut serta mengenal pasti tanda di badan anak seperti tahi lalat, parut atau tanda lahir.

Langkah kedua adalah dengan peka pada apa yang dipakai oleh kanak-kanak pada setiap masa terutama sewaktu ke tempat yang sesak seperti pasar raya, ekspo atau pasar dan mengenal pasti aksesori yang terlekat pada baju, jam tangan dan sebagainya.

Ibu bapa juga disaran memakaikan tanda pengenalan seperti gelang keselamatan yang mempunyai nombor telefon bagi memudahkan orang ramai mengesan anak mereka sekiranya kanak-kanak itu hilang di tempat awam.

Selain itu, katanya, PaMa juga menyarankan penambahbaikan sistem NUR Alert (National Urgent Response Alert) kerana masih belum ada tindakan yang wajar dilakukan bagi mengesan dan mencari kanak-kanak yang hilang dilakukan serta-merta di seluruh negara sebaik sahaja laporan diterima dan bagi membolehkan maklumat kehilangan kanak-kanak tersebut dihebahkan ke seluruh negara melalui pelbagai medium.

Menurutnya, Kementerian Pelajaran pula disaran memperkemaskan program 3K (Keselamatan, Kesihatan dan Keceriaan) dan Kelab Pencegahan Jenayah sekolah bagi mendidik para pelajar mengenai kepentingan menjaga keselamatan diri.

Taken from here