2007 09: Children’s safety is parents’ prime responsibility

The Sun online. Speak Up! The Sun Says... Thu, 20 Sep 2007

The frequency of cases of children being sexually abused, especially after the body of a young girl was discovered in a bag in a Petaling Jaya shoplot on Monday, should be worrying, frightening and a cause of concern to everyone, particularly parents.

Evidently there are still beasts masquarading as men out there waiting to pounce on an unwary and unescorted child. There is no doubt that they are sick and have become beasts when they think nothing of sexually violating children whose safety and welfare are humanity’s responsibility.

But while we grieve for the poor unidentified child we cannot help but wonder why such depraved acts are still happening.

Of course the authorities can be criticised for allowing the system to foster such abominable creatures and the police for failing, however tough their crackdown, to spot and put them away.
But it is the parents who must bear the bulk of, if not all, the blame for their children being snatched away and abused. Images of mutilated and abused bodies of past victims found in guard houses, bushes and under bridges should remind them that the danger to their children is real.

Knowing the statistics and knowing that the beasts are out there waiting should be sufficient inducement for them to keep a watchful eye over their children and to monitor closely their whereabouts. There are no two ways about it.