In June 2010, two-year old Nisha Chandramohan went missing and the growing number of missing children and their fate is a cause of concern for the authorities and the community. Nisha’s case kicked off a two week pilot study to determine the best way to trace missing children by effectively disseminating information through the official medium and the grapevine. This will literally serve as the early child abduction alert system. While Nisha’s fate is not known, the beneficiary on the pilot study on her disappearance was another two-year old Lee Xin Ru who went missing on Sept 21, 2010.
Information on the missing child was posted through the NUR Alert (National Urgent Response Alert) system that provided a far and wide outreach to almost every level of the society. The speed that the Nur Alert team members responded and the vast area of coverage to lookout for Lee prompted the cabinet to dwell into the effectiveness of this system.
As missing children are a serious concern in this country, the police were given the honor to take over NUR Alert. NUR Alert’s role is to spread information quickly and as fast as possible to help trace missing children (below 12 years of age) who could be victims of crime or abuse. A single information window on missing children was the brainchild of Women, Family and Community Development Minister Senator Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil. A representative of the ministry still serve as the vice head of the NUR Alert team.
Nur Alert comes under the National Child Protection Policy and Action Plan approved by the Cabinet in 2009.
Looking for Missing Children
Within days of Lee’s disappearance her pictures and information on her made their way into numerous websites, television channels, ATM machines, blogs and electronic boards at the national entry points. The pictures come with an urgent message “HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THIS CHILD? If you have information regarding this child please contact Insp Haroza binti Pandi at 019-8793776 or Raub District Police Headquarters, Pahang 09-3552222”. Though Lee’s too is still classified missing, the notification method and the approach used to trace the child under NUR Alert has been adopted for other missing children under 12 as well.
Recently the Deputy Inspector General of Police Datuk Hussin Ismail chaired the Nur Alert coordination meeting in Bukit Aman to further tweak the
operational aspects of NUR Alert. He explained that the early alert mechanism kicks off after the police conduct through investigations after receiving missing person’s report. The news and details will be disseminated to all teams within 24 hours and if the child is less than 12 years old and investigations are conducted further to see whether it is linked to crime.
The details and the child’s picture will be circulated after getting the parents or the guardian’s consent under a standardised format.
How the Information Spread
NUR Alert will notify within seven days and not later than four weeks if the child is still not found, in Lee’s case, numerous mediums like the Astro Satellite TV still shows the child’s picture. PDRM will alert all members involved in the search to stop the notification in the event the child is found. If the child is still not found, the police will continue with their leads.
During the coordination meeting the relevant parties agreed that the notification on missing children will have to go through the official website of the police, PDRM’s Facebook, poster/leaflet distribution, print and electronic media, and multimedia messaging (MMS), short messaging service (SMS), popular blogs and the websites of all NUR Alert members.
But who are the members of this coordinating team? They consist of 31 representatives of agencies and departments, telecommunication companies, non governmental organisations like the National Council of Women Organisations (NCWO), the Malaysian Hotel Association, Association of Banks Within Malaysia, Association of Islamic banking Institutions, Malaysian Building Complex Management Association and Bernama.
As soon as the picture and the information on the child reaches the NUR Alert team members, they will immediately paste the pictures at their website, ATM machine screens, MMS activated by telecommunication companies to their customers, internet banking sites, posters distributed and pasted at shopping complexes and electronic bulletin boards at all entry points. The Multimedia and Communication Commission will see to that the pictures reach all TV stations and BERNAMA will publish the picture and information from the police to all its media clients other than pasting it in its website. Posters for example, apart from highlighted in shopping complexes will also be distributed to the community centers for example the 4,900 Rukun Tetangga areas, on all public transportation, public places and etc.
Hussin noted while that the timeline has been set forth for the distribution and publishing of the posters, the investigation papers remain open until the child is found.
Why Under 12?
NUR Alert focuses on children under 12 as their problem is most likely not linked to complications like personal problems, running away from home, influence of third parties like boyfriends and etc that is often associated with runaway teenagers. The biggest concern over those under 12 who go missing is that they are kidnapped or lost or unintentionally get separated from the parents.
According to statistics on missing children under 12, their numbers are on the rise from 50 in 2009 and 57 in 2010. However, in 2010, 54 of the 57 children reported missing were found. Hussin said NUR Alert helps in preventing crime against children and in enhancing awareness and enlisting community support in searching for the children. This approach could be extended to missing teens in the future.
Protecting the Teens
Based on police statistics, more than 1,300 teens under 18 went missing over the last two years and are yet to be found. Theirs are often complicated problem unlike those under 12 with the teens often leaving home due to peer pressure, following the girlfriend or boyfriend, to seek freedom outside, misunderstanding with the parents or not interested in studies.
For a start, it is hoped that NUR Alert will be the initial preventive step in saving the children from the harsh world outside the confines of their family
and home and is a tool of a caring society.
- Bernama
