Parents have to be examples

DESPITE all the warnings issued by the authorities that it is an offence to bring children along to any public rally, it was to everybody’s surprise that children were again brought to the recent KL112 rally organised by the opposition.

Were these rally participating parents ignorant of the law or doing it in outright defiance of it?

When will parents learn to become wiser especially in the way they inculcate good values in bringing up their children?

What did the children learn from attending the rally?

Being too young, the innocent kids wouldn’t be able to understand what the rally was for. Unfortunately, they could probably have the wisdom to sense that the rally was an event of confrontation or disagreement.

From such a young age, they are wrongly exposed to the unhealthy way of confrontation in solving an issue.

Our children nowadays are not as naïve as those who belonged to the older generations.

Soon or even before the rally, they probably came to know that it was an event too risky for children to be present thus it was an offence to expose them to such risks.

From young, these children are taught by their parents to defy law. How would they learn to become law-abiding citizens in future, if from young they were taught to confront and defy law?

The law enforcement authority is facing an uphill task to deal and educate the many ignorant parents.

Their ignorance contributes to the biggest source of the many delinquencies and offences committed by our youngsters.

Unless we nip the problem in the bud, our society will only be plagued with more social problems in time to come.

Every social problem has its root causes thus the authority must be wise to employ the right approach to deal with the root causes.

Perhaps if the authority had taken a stern and far-sighted approach to nip the mat rempits’ problem when the number was smaller, the menace wouldn’t have reached the current level that has wreaked havoc.

Definitely the population of this group of traffic offenders wouldn’t have reached such an amazing level, circa 200,000.

In April 2009, IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan told reporters that this group of youngsters was violent and brazen and not just a public nuisance.

Unless the authority is stern in reprimanding those parents who have violated the law, there would come a day when the police would be affected by low morale due to the overburdening of an increasing crime index.

While taking stern and prompt action against offenders is the right way to go, do not overlook the importance of educating those ignorant parents through the media.

As a long-term measure, rope in the child/ criminal psychologists and retired police personnel to contribute ideas as to how to tackle the many social problems plaguing us.

Parents are the first teachers, counsellors and facilitators to their kids.

If the kids misbehave, do not blame society, teachers and the Internet for their wrong doings.

Do not also blame the police for not being able to reduce the unhealthy crime index that is plaguing our society for a long time now. PATRICK TEH Ipoh