Dr Kelvin Yii
KUCHING (March 11): There is an urgent need to improve the National Urgent Response Alert (NUR Alert) to make it more accessible for people to report missing children to them, said Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii.
This is to ensure that the alert is sent out fast and has the widest outreach to expedite the investigation to increase chances of children being saved.
Referring to the report of a four-year-old boy who has not been seen, since he went missing on March 7 from a house in Taman Riverview, Bintawa, Yii said the alert from Nur Alert in that case was not widespread as he had double checked with many people in the area who said they had not received any notification of the missing child.
“This is something serious and I am disappointed that the alert and awareness of the missing child is not widespread even among the residents and public of that area.
“NUR Alert is supposedly responsible to spread information quickly and as fast as possible through SMS/MMS to help trace missing children (below 12 years of age) who could be victims of crime or abuse,” he added in a statement yesterday.
He added when it comes to missing children, time is of the essence and a quick and widespread alert is important to increase chances of the child to be found quickly and for the law enforcement agencies to carry out their investigation faster.
Such alerts are also important to inform the public to keep a lookout and this is the best weapon to limit movements of alleged abductors and even deter anyone from planning any abductions.
“Based on the announcement by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), it is announced that cellular users must first go through some procedures and choose to accept the NUR Alert announcement before it is sent.
“This for me creates all kinds of barriers and limits the outreach of this alert which is the most important factor for it to be effective and quick. Instead we receive all kinds of unnecessary SMS from the National Security Council (MKN) especially during this period and even promote Keluarga Malaysia events on our phones without consent.
“When it comes to saving children’s lives, they create barriers, but when it comes to government propaganda and unnecessary SMS, they send anyways without our consent,” he said.
He opined that there must be a significant improvement to the alert system as one cannot just rely on enforcement officers sticking “missing person posters” at banks or public notice boards as there is a need to adopt technology to ensure the alert is quick and widespread.
Yii added there must be a single platform where all such important information can be accessed directly not just by different enforcement agencies, but also by shopping malls, banks, elected representatives’ office, cinemas, members of the public and many more.
Any obstacles to obtain such an alert, especially all kinds of confusing consent procedures, should be removed.
“Once such information is obtained it can be spread out on all social platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Whatsapp and even SMS/MMS of residents in that area.
“That way, malls can show it on their digital noticeboard, banks can show it on the ATM screen for a few seconds before the public withdraw their money or many other ways to spread the message quicker and clearer,” he said.
A platform for the public to inform the authorities quicker should also be created when they see suspicious behaviour, or they see the missing child from the alert they received.
“I strongly believe the public will understand and be supportive to receive such an alert on their phone rather than all kinds of unnecessary spam and government propaganda on their phones especially when they can participate to save a child’s life.
“That is why the whole NUR Alert system must be significantly improved as every seconds counts when it comes to saving a child’s life,” he said.
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3hW6PRt
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