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Lone cub: The 16-year-old youth who tried a kidnapping in Sungai Petani. — G.C.TAN/The Star

THE dreaded phone call from the police. Every parent knows the fear of receiving that “bad news” phone call – “your child is ill”, “was involved in an accident”, or even “caught shoplifting”. It is enough to make a parent’s heart stop.

Now we need to brace for ­another type of bad news call: that your child is a member of the so-called Islamic State (IS) terror organisation.

When Shafi Khan got “the call” about his son, it was a huge shock – they had just prayed together at the neighbourhood mosque early that morning.

After prayers, Shafi had gone back to bed as he always did, while his 19-year-old son, Hamzah, went to work at a nearby home-supply store.

That day, however, while Shafi was sleeping, Hamzah sneaked out of the house with his 16-year-old brother and 17-year-old sister to get to the airport and catch a flight to Turkey. Their plan was to fly to Istanbul, then drive into Syria to join the IS.

When the teens reached the airport, though, the authorities were waiting for them. As reported by The Washington Post, the FBI had been monitoring the Khan siblings’ online communications.

Shafi and his wife were left stunned. They had no inkling whatsoever of the abominable plan their children had been hatching.

happened in Chicago, the United States, but recent incidents show that it can happen in Malaysia too.

Early this month, a 16-year-old boy was charged in court in Sungai Petani, Kedah, for attempting a solo IS attack in January. Armed with a knife and fake pistol, the boy tried to kidnap a 27-year-old woman at a mall there.

The boys’ parents were by his side in court; we can only imagine how they had felt when they got their bad news call.

by HARIATI AZIZAN.

Read more @ http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/02/21/parents-is-your-child-being-radicalised-online/

Fathers have an impact – good or bad, intentional or otherwise – simply by what they do, and what they don’t.

TODAY is Father’s Day. There is no real significance to this date, other than the fact that it has become yet another day for commercial interests to make more money.

And so we are inundated with messages on what we should buy for our fathers – anything from a tie to a power drill is fine.

It is also interesting that many charity organisations have also got into the game, where you can give a donation on behalf of your father in support of various causes.

I won’t pour cold water on those who believe this day should be celebrated in such manner. Having been a father for nearly 30 years, I will say that a day’s celebrations can’t encapsulate the role of a father, which is both unique and challenging.

More so in our Asian culture where fathers tend to play second fiddle to mothers in a nurturing role, and may not have enough opportunities to exert their influence on the children.

But the reality is we, fathers, do have an impact – good or bad, intentional or otherwise – simply by what we do, and what we don’t.

I have written before in this column that the best times in my career were the six years, over two different stretches, that I spent at home as a full-time father.

I had a whale of a time, although my better half did find it tricky explaining to friends why she had to earn the bread and butter while I was gallivanting at home.

by SOO EWE JIN.

Read more @ http://www.thestar.com.my/Opinion/Columnists/Sunday-Starters/Profile/Articles/2015/06/21/Dads-what-all-kids-want-Fathers-have-an-impact-good-or-bad-intentional-or-otherwise-simply-by-what/

KUALA LUMPUR: A new drug smuggling tactic has been discovered.

Police found that drugs were mixed in solid food such as biscuits and sweets and were then marketed through social websites such as Facebook and Instagram.

“The suspects only interact with the buyers through Facebook and the Instagram application for orders and delivery, which would be done via postal or courier service,” according to a statement by the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) on Monday.

Parents and guardians have been urged by PDRM to monitor their children’s social media contacts.

The police have also advised the public to be alert their family members and friends’ “unusual” behaviour, or any receipt of courier-delivered parcels.

BERNAMA.

Read more @ http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/06/15/Drug-laced-biscuits-sweets/

KODIANG, April 26 (Bernama) — Parents and teachers have been urged to cultivate and foster the 2R concept – ‘Respect and Responsibility’ – among children or students to counter bullying in schools.

Deputy Education Director-General (Education Operations Sector), Datuk Ahmad Tajuddin Jab said the two aspects, if practiced by the students, could help counter bullying which is becoming a problem in schools these days.

“The seniors have to love and respect the juniors, just as the juniors must respect the seniors. Through respect, we can create a harmonious environment and with responsibility, the students will be accountable for their actions,” he said when officiating the excellence award ceremony for education transformation of schools in Kodiang here Sunday.

He said the ministry was concerned with bullying cases in schools and schools had a standard operating procedure to handle them.

BERNAMA.

Read more @ http://education.bernama.com/index.php?sid=news_content&id=1129579

PETALING JAYA: A teenager who found herself pregnant at 17 shared that she wished her parents had been more open with her and taken their time to talk about pre-marital sex.

“Every time I hinted about things relating to sex, my mother would look at me like I have sinned,” said the girl known as Ana, 19.

Recalling her first meeting with her 27-year-old boyfriend who was a lorry driver, Ana said they met when she was 16 at a restaurant near her school.

“I never noticed him until one day the waiter told me that someone had already paid for my meal. That was when everything started.

“He smiled at me and I went over to thank him and we started talking. I did not think anything was wrong with making friends until we were alone in the car one day and he slipped his hands up my pinafore,” she said.

She was caught off-guard.

Ana, who is from a small town in Johor, said: “I honestly did not know if it was wrong but I knew that it made me feel uncomfortable.

That evening, when I was watching a movie with my mum, I tried asking her about it by relating it to a movie, but she shut me off by saying I was being inappropriate.

“Confused by the whole situation, I continued to entertain the text messages from my boyfriend who comforted me by saying that he would never hurt me and that he loved me very much. I believed him,” she said.

Things “just happened” then, she said, adding that it was initially painful, but it changed after that.

“He always reassured me that he was never going to leave me. I was happy, until one day my classmates and I were talking about menstruation and I realised I was four weeks late.

“The thought of it scared me and I immediately contacted my boyfriend. He did not reply and had been unreachable since then,” she said.

Ana eventually told her mother but confessed that she did not entirely understand the seriousness of the situation.

by D. KANYAKUMARI.

Read more @http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/04/19/Dont-get-pregnant-at-17-Girl-wished-her-parents-had-talked-about-premarital-sex/

Over 300 children died in accidents in the first three months. Some parents are deliberately putting their children in harm’s way.

There’s an accident at a busy traffic junction. As the tow truck moves in, a traffic policeman directs traffic. A woman on a motorcycle ignores him and rides past. A lorry brushes her and she falls onto a pavement.

She’s fine. But not the three-year-old who was sitting on the bike in front of her.

He hits his head against the pavement and dies on the spot. He was not wearing a helmet.

Another woman fiddles with a phone, supposedly arguing with her husband. Her two children are playing by an escalator. She takes her eyes off them and one just slips over the escalator and falls five floors.

She dies instantly.

Two young lives gone due to carelessness.

I will not point fingers at the parents. God knows they will be blaming themselves and carrying the painful remorse for the rest of their lives.

Parents and caregivers, do need to be careful when children are around. No, more than that.

They have to stop putting the children in harm’s way. Or, as Federal traffic chief Datuk Mohd Fuad Abdul Latif says: “Parents have to stop killing their children on the roads.”

He was talking about those on motorcycles. There just are too many young kids zooming around on motorcycles with a devil-may-care attitude.

The statistics are frightening. Some 310 students have been killed in accidents in just three months of this year – that’s more than 100 a month, more than three a day! Thirteen of them were primary school ­children.

The other statistics are just as worrying. About 85 were critically injured and close to 22,000 summonses were issued to schoolchildren.

by DORAIRAJ NADASON.

Read more @ http://www.thestar.com.my/Opinion/Columnists/Why-Not/Profile/Articles/2015/04/17/Why-dont-they-ever-learn/

Grieving parents: Nurhayada’s mother being consoled by her husband at the KL Hospital while the younger daughter looks on. (Inset) The scene of the tragic accident at the mall.

In this day and age of multi-tasking, it isn’t always easy to keep an eye on our children. Before judging others, we should take a look in the mirror.

I WAS in two minds on whether to watch the horrifying video clip that had gone viral. The chatter about the video was that it involved the death of a child.

However, I could not resist watching it. The black-and-white one-minute CCTV footage showed six-year-old Nurhayada Sofia Musa playing with her five-year-old sister near an escalator on the second floor of Kenanga Wholesale City Mall in Kuala Lumpur about 3pm on Friday, April 3. Their mother was seen on the phone and then texting.

The two girls were seen climbing over the banister and Nurhayada fell through the gap between the balustrade and the escalator. The mother, who was still fiddling with her phone, ran down the escalator with the other daughter trailing after her Nurhayada fell to her death.

Later, at Hospital Kuala Lumpur mortuary, Nurhayada’s father Musa said his wife was on the phone with him when the girl fell to her death. The father and mother were on the phone over a petty argument.

“We were still arguing when I heard a commotion and the line was cut,” Musa said. “Minutes later, my wife called back to say that Nurhayada was dead. I just couldn’t believe it.”

On social media, Nurhayada’s death was heavily debated. Some blamed the mother for negligence. Some defended the mother.

As for me, I don’t want to judge the mother. I know — as a parent of Apsara, my six-year-old girl, and Sylverius Junior, my 17-month-old boy — I have had lapses in my parenting. Let me tell you my lapses. Please don’t judge me.

by PHILIP GOLINGAI.

Read more @ http://www.thestar.com.my/Opinion/Columnists/One-Mans-Meat/Profile/Articles/2015/04/18/Parenting-lapses/

LABUAN: Close cooperation between the school authorities and parents and their strict monitoring are important in addressing the smoking habit among students.

Labuan Health Department director, Dr Ismail Ali said despite efforts made by the national authorities, information campaigns and advice on the deleterious effects of smoking, the inability to reduce smoking addiction was indeed regrettable and a cause for serious concern.

“Cigarette smoking is a prevalent habit among students and we believe the number of student smokers is growing. We need the cooperation of the parent-teacher associations (PTAs) to help resolve this issue,” he told Bernama today.

He said undeniably, the habit was influenced by their family members’ habit, mainly of their fathers’.

“Hence, parental behaviour, whether it is positive or negative can have a great impact on the growing years of children and even during their adolescent period,” he said.

Dr Ismail said peer pressure at school and the workplace was another major factor for individuals to pick up the smoking habit.

“There must be a set of rules and policies to guide students on proper behaviour and on having good habits.”

He noted that the mass media could play a significant role in disseminating important information about the bad effects of smoking, by supporting anti-smoking campaigns and promoting intervention programmes against smoking.

“Education and enforcement are two important elements in tackling the problem and they must go hand in hand,” he said.

Secondary school teacher, Sitiphanus Alwi said the type of school attended by students was one of the major reasons for students to pick up smoking or not.

BERNAMA.

Read more @ http://www.nst.com.my/node/72695