By M. Santhiran KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 (Bernama) -- Did public apathy rear its ugly head and lead to the death of three-year-old Syafia Humairah Sahari following abuse over a period of time by her mother's boyfriend?
There is reason to believe that the girl could have been rescued from the monster, had neighbours -- who were aware of the goings-on at her family home -- alerted the police or the welfare authorities.
While finger-pointing at this stage in time is not going to bring Syafia back from the grave, it is imperative that the public understand it is their moral obligation to report child abuse cases to the authorities.
They should not wait for the long arm of the law to stumble on such cases. Rather, they could act as the eyes and ears of the law to prevent potential child abusers lurking in our society, from preying on the lives of the innocent.
Bernama spoke to some quarters for their views on public apathy and the need to educate the public in reporting child abuse to the relevant authorities.
The legal fraternity has generally urged society to show their moral obligation in reporting child abuse cases, rather than wait for the authorities to enact laws to punish those who failed to report such cases in their neighbourhood.
Counsel Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun said the people should partly be blamed for Syafia's death since they were disinterested over what was going in their surroundings or next door.
"In Syafia's case, those who claimed that they were aware the child was subjected to abuse, are considered to have 'abetted' in her murder for failing to stop or act on such inhuman crime on a defenceless child," stressed Hafarizam.
He said targeting a child to show a person's frustration or anger, was definitely not the answer and those witnessing such incidents, by not reporting it to the authorities, were totally neglecting their moral obligation.
Hafarizam said, even he had stopped using the rotan on his own child after a couple from Malta reprimanded him by telling him that a child at a tender age should not be subjected to such punishment, when he was pursuing his tertiary education in London about 10 years ago.
A senior counsel-cum-lecturer at Universiti Utara Malaysia, A.Athimulam, said the law was silent on the matter and probably, the Attorney-General's Office should look into the matter and advise the government on how to encourage more people to come forward to assist enforcement agencies.
"Here, it is more an issue of moral obligation rather than law, it's not an offence for someone who witnesses such incidents and not lodge a report against it," he said.
Athimulam urged the public to put aside their differences and unite to put an end to child abuse in the country.
Syafia is believed to have been abused to death at her home in Kampung Batu 30, Ulu Yam lama, Batang Kali last Thursday. Initial post-mortem report revealed she suffered internal bleeding in the head, abdomen and kidneys, besides bruises on the body.
A 28-year-old suspect has been detained in connection with the case. Syafia's father, a former policeman, is serving sentence at the Sungai Buloh Prison since 2002, for the murder of an Indonesian man.
Human rights lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad said it was about time the authorities looked into provisions in the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), especially Section 13, which clearly stated that individuals could be brought to court if they failed to report to the authorities, in cases like murder.
"The burden is on the person who is aware that a crime had been committed to report it to the police, but the issue here is, how many people are aware about this provision?," he asked.
He said the authorities should adopt a more holistic approach by educating the public on the seriousness of child abuse cases.
"You can't punish, penalise just like that, first educate them before taking drastic approach in dragging them to court," added Amer.
Malaysian Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan said the law was clear that whoever witnessed a crime committed, had the civil responsibility to report the act.
"It is shocking to know that people are not coming forward in lodging report since we have numerous institutions like the welfare department and non-governmental organisations, besides the police department," he said.
He said the public should be blamed for their apathy, resulted in more cases going unreported.
"Syafia's murder is a sad case when the community does not react," he noted.
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