We get worked up pretty fast on sensationalize news in the media, be it in the printing presses or the electronic media like tv, radio or even the net. However, we also tend to forget things very easily too as times goes by. Am I right, my precious readers? We do tend to forget things that was plastered all over the media as time passes. Let’s be frank. We often see thought provoking news, gossip about it for a couple of month and then, one day, wham, we’ll forget about it and will never bring up the matter that was once so important that we sometimes discuss it over our tea session or small talks ever again.
Today, I would like to talk about a girl who was forgotten by most Malaysian. She made quite a headline in the news almost one year ago, and she had been a topic to gossip about during tea breaks or family dinners. Bloggers blogged about her for quite some time. She was a hot topic in mainstream media and new media. She was a star. Her poster was plastered all over public and private premises in Malaysia. But today, nobody talked,write or blogged about her anymore. She was all but forgotten and became another news that’s fading away with time. Her news reports, her poster are worth nothing but a nasi lemak wrapper now.
Do you know who am I talking about? Do you remember who that girl was, my dear readers? Do you remember her name? Some might have forgotten about her, so allow me to jolt your memories a little bit. The girl who once was a figure that have her posters plastered all over Malaysia but now forgotten is Sharlinie Mohd. Nashar. She was reported missing on 9thJanuary2008. It’s almost one year since she was reported missing from the safety of her home. The authorities suspected that Sharlinie was kidnapped. Below was the poster that used to be plastered all around Malaysia and cyberspace.
Almost one year ago, the police, the media, bloggers and even those bloody politicians alike were working like a mad dog overdosed on caffeine to look for her. Last year, politicians took advantage of the missing girl’s news to campaign about it and made the public believe that they truly care for this missing girl as general election was near and it’s a good publicity to ‘talk’ about this girl. They tried to gain popularity by pretending to care about this girl. What happened to those hypocrite and unscrupulous politicians now? What happened? Why were they silenced now? Bloody hell, all those asshole of politicians care now is just about their party and lust for power. I am truly disgusted with those two-faced hypocrite bastards.
The police even went as far as checking private residential without warrant during Chinese New Year to look for this girl,which I seriously think is damn wrong as searching for something or someone in the civilian’s home who is not a crime suspect is a form of abuse and invasion of human rights as well as privacy. How do we know the one who’s doing the freak search is a real police or some thief or rapist dressing up as one? What’s more, it was done during festive season who most went back hometown to spend time with their families. What happened to the aggressive search for the missing girl now? Did the police give up looking for this girl and considered the case close? Have they forgotten about the little girl too like most Malaysians? Or they simply found better things to do like stopping cars and issue summonses to people who do not buckle up their seatbelt behind?
Almost everyone I know forgot about this girl. What happened, actually? Why everyone forgot about her? The search for her seems to be halted and went on hiatus. There was no updates about her, the latest news about her family was in September 2008, which is more than three months ago. Even the families are no longer venting and ranting or even begging the authorities and the media to look for their daughter. Last check, Sharlinie’s family moved away to another state so that they could ‘start a new life’. What does that supposed to mean? Did they lost hope on her or something? Don’t they want to know if their child is dead or alive?
Everyone seems to move on, but why can’t I forget about the horror of the news that’s seems no longer hold any importance anymore? Why the news is still haunting me after one year? Am I a freak?
Sharlinie is not my child. But I could not help wondering what happened to her, where she is right now, and whether she’s still alive somewhere or suffered the same fate as Nurin Jazlin Jazimin, the cute little girl who was found sexually abused and dead on 17th September 2007. I wonder if Sharlinie is a victim of murder or a victim of child trafficking and prostitution? Nobody gives me updates now. She seems to be erased from everyone’s memories. Nobody talk about her or even remember her now.
I would have gone crazy if she was my child. I wouldn’t be able to move on, and I would definitely be hit by a severe case of depression and anxiety she was my child. I can have another child to fill my longing for my missing child, but it would never be the same. I would still give my missing child a thought if I am in those parent’s shoes. I will not forget easily. Well, I probably would have, but I can assure you, if it happened to me, I would not forget in just one year time.
When I see how easily the family, the public and the authorities alike have forgotten about the missing child, I could not help but wonder if the news is merely a tool to earn public attention and sympathy. Sometimes I really wonder… if the news about her was merely a political game or even a conspiracy.
Frankly speaking, if my child went missing, I would not rest until he or she was found and safe in my arms again. And I would not be such a bloke to make the news of my missing child public because I would be scared to death that my child would be harm as soon as the news is made public. If it’s a kidnap, there is possibility that my family would be contacted for a ransom, so why would I tell and shout to the whole world that my child has gone missing and practically tell the kidnapper through national TV that I know that they had kidnapped my child and tell them to watch out as I’ve sent the authorities to catch them and look for my child?
That would be telling the kidnapper to go ahead and sell my child or even worst, kill my child, isn’t it? I would have allowed the police or private investigators to do their job discreetly so that the kidnapper would not be alarmed. Wouldn’t that raise the possibility that my child will be returned to me safely? Sometimes, I really cannot understand why the parents of some missing children made their case public. Were they having death wish for their kids or something? Did they not know that by making such things public would alarm the criminals and would anger them and the consequences would be fatal to their child?
I pray such thing will never happen to my family and yours, but if that happens, I do hope the families involved would put their child safety a thought first before making the news public and alarm the criminals. I humbly think if the search for missing child is done in a more discreet manner, the possibilities that your child is still safe is higher.
Anyway, before I end this article, I would like to put up the picture of Sharlinie and how she could possibly look like now…though I am not sure if the authorities and the family is still looking for her. I know that the chances of her being safe or even alive is low, but all is not lost yet as long as we do not find her dead body in a sports bag or something. Perhaps, she is still around, and if you see her somewhere, you can contact the authorities for further investigation.
Cleffairy: Do you prefer to announce to the world that you know a thief’s trick and alarm him about it or would you prefer to keep quiet about it and ambush him?