2007 04: Shahrizat: It’s odd people didn’t notice missing boy

The Star online. News. Nation. Monday April 16, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: It is strange that with the good communication facilities available in the country, no one realised that the five-year-old boy staying with a Myanmar couple was Muhammad Nazrin Shamsul Ghazali, also known as Yin, who went missing on March 31.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said it was odd that people were not aware that Nazrin was staying in Sentul Pasar although he had been featured in the radio, television and newspapers over the past two weeks.

“Although every one is grateful that the boy was handed over to the parents safe and sound, the question still remains why no one saw him, and how it was possible the couple kept him away from the eyes of the public for two weeks.

“If claims of the boy being taken to a clinic to seek treatment for chicken pox, or that he was taken around the neighbourhood are true, then why didn’t anyone report it?

“I want the police to get to the bottom of this, as it is ridiculous that a child can go missing for such a long period without being traced.

“Children can be smuggled to other countries or be forced to beg, and we don’t want such things occurring,” she told reporters after visiting Nazrin at Kuala Lumpur Hospital yesterday with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

Nazrin’s father Shamsul Ghazali Shamsuddin, 34, said he agreed with Rosmah’s suggestion to strap hyperactive children, in view of the nightmare the family went through after their son went missing.

Shamsul, however, said he bore no grudges, and thanked God his son had been returned to him unharmed.

On the Myanmar couple who had been detained for questioning, Shamsul said he would leave it to the police to carry out their investigations.

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Support kept Nazrin’s parents going
The Star online. News. Nation. Monday April 16, 2007

By LOONG MENG YEE
PETALING JAYA: During the two weeks of hell he went through when his son was lost, Shamsul Ghazali Shamsuddin wondered bitterly how cold a city Kuala Lumpur could be for “swallowing” up his son without a trace.

Coming from Ipoh, Shamsul, 34, had never been too at home during his trips to Kuala Lumpur because he found most city folk in a rush and preoccupied with their own lives.

So when his son, Muhammad Nazrin, wandered off during a family shopping trip to Sogo, Shamsul never expected city folk and the nation to care much.

“The two weeks were the toughest test from God. We would not have survived the ordeal without the support from our relatives, friends and even strangers,” said Shamsul, when interviewed hours after Nazrin, fondly known as Yin, was found on Saturday.

It turned out Nazrin had been cared for by a Myanmar family after he had wandered out by himself from the shopping mall on March 31. The Myanmar family had kept him because they claimed that they did not know that Nazrin was a missing boy.

Police have since detained the Myanmar couple in connection with the case.

Kuala Lumpur folk and the nation showed their caring side by springing into action, looking for Nazrin from the day he went missing.

Family members, too, rallied around Shamsul and his wife, Nur Amizah Ahmad, 25. Besides sheltering the couple, they roamed the city distributing flyers with Nazrin’s photographs.

Shamsul, a Bank Islam worker, also went to Sogo nearly every day to look for Nazrin.

“Strangers of all races came up to me, asking me to be strong and said they were praying for Yin’s safe return,” he said.

“There were also hundreds of supporting calls and SMSes. This encouragement kept me going.”
After this incident, Shamsul will keep a tighter watch on his two sons. And he no longer regards Kuala Lumpur as uncaring, saying: “We'll be back.”

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Couple who found Yin held
The Star online. News. Nation. Monday April 16, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have detained the Myanmar couple who found five-year-old Muhammad Nazrin Shamsul Ghazali and kept him in their house.

The couple were picked up at their house near Sentul Pasar at about 1pm yesterday to help investigations, said City acting CPO Senior Asst Comm (I) Mohd Zulahasnan Najib Baharuddin.

“We will obtain remand orders today. They are being investigated under Section 363 of the Penal Code on suspicion of abducting the boy,” he told reporters yesterday.

Based on several reports from the public, the boy was seen in several places in Klang Valley over the past few days, he said.

However, SAC Mohd Zulhasnan refused to say what Nazrin, fondly known as Yin, was doing in those places.

“We will get the callers to record their statements,” he said.

Police are also investigating if the five children in the couple’s house were theirs, he said.

Nazrin went missing on March 31 while his father, Shamsul Ghazali Shamsuddin, was trying on some clothes at the Sogo shopping mall in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman here.

Shamsul’s friend Baharuddin Hassan picked up the boy from the Myanmar couple’s house after they called him to say Nazrin had been in their care for the past two weeks. Baharuddin's phone number was on Nazrin's missing boy poster.

Baharuddin then notified Nazrin’s parents, who were at their home in Chemor, Perak. They were later reunited with their son.

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No excuse for neglect
The Star online. News. Opinion. Tuesday April 17, 2007

I AM sure a lot of Malaysians who have been following the stories on Mohd Nazrin Shamsul Ghazali aka Yin are breathing a huge sigh of relief now that he is back in his parents' arms.

I would now like to take Yin's parents to task for being so careless with their son. I realise there are distractions in a shopping complex that can sway one's attention from one's immediate responsibilities like one's child/children.

But there is no excuse for being careless and not caring for the welfare of the child.

According to reports, when the Myanmar woman found Yin wondering along the street he was saying something that sounded like “besan”. I believe the word is “bosan”. Yin, being a hyperactive boy, must have got bored being forced to follow his parents and decided to go off by himself to look for something interesting to do or see.

With the parents' attention directed somewhere else, it would be some time before one or both of them realise they have lost sight of Yin. By this time Yin would have wondered off and following his heart. He just went off to wherever he thought was best for him.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how one looks at the situation, he decided to go out of the building into an unfamiliar world. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how one looks at the situation again, the Myanmar woman found him and decided to take him home.
From then on the only person who can throw any light on what happened to him during the two weeks he was with the family is Yin himself. But Yin cannot talk properly and being a child will not comprehend what happened to him.

So things go back to square one unless the police can glean something from the Myanmar family.

I would like to suggest that all shopping complexes provide a place that is very safe and conducive to children where parents can leave their charges and go shopping to their heart's content without worry.

Occasionally, they can check at the “centre” to find out how their child/children are faring. Of course such centres will not be free but if it is made children-friendly with all sorts of playthings and reading and writing materials, whatever fee is charged will be worth it.

These centres should be manned by experienced people in childcare, and who have the patience to deal with children.

If the owners of the shopping complexes think it is too much for them to provide such facilities, then the local authorities should provide such facilities.

The shopping complex owners then will chip in to run the care centres.

With such facilities, shoppers need not have fear losing them in the crowd. Shopping complex owners will be ensured of constant customers who will not have to worry of the whereabouts of their child/children.

Lastly, now that Yin is back in their arms, his parents will have to be extra careful with their hyperactive son. It may be difficult to keep up with him but that is what parents have to put up with when they decide to have children.

My wife and I did that for the last 30 odd years of our lives. One cannot take off one's eyes off a child like Yin. Just don't let his vast amount of energy burn out before he reaches his youth.

MOHD GHAZALI OSMAN,
Ipoh.