“I don’t understand. How do people have the heart to exploit these children? How can they let the young ones carry out their dirty work for them?” Apparently, former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan’s words have not been heard here in Singapore.
On 18th June, sixteen year-old Nur Azliah Ithnin was hired by unlicensed moneylenders to splash paint and write graffiti on debtors’ walls. She was paid forty dollars for such acts. Not bad, for a secondary four student, considering it could be done in less than fifteen minutes. The loan sharks upped the ante, and decided they were willing to part with two hundred dollars, if the girl set fire to the debtors’ belongings. Being the innocent, impressionable child she was, Nur Azliah Ithnin took up the offer. The money it seems was too attractive. Within four days, she had chalked up an income close to five hundred dollars.
This is exactly what Mr Annan was referring to. The loan sharks played on Nur Azliah Ithnin’s sense of responsibility. She was just trying to earn some quick cash so that it would be easier to make ends meet. Yet, she ended up getting caught, which will likely see her being placed on probation, sent for reformative training, or at the worst, sent to jail with an accompanying fine of four thousand dollars no less.
In the past two years, loan sharks’ runners have been getting younger. Compared to four out of ninety-three runners caught in the first half of 2007, nearly a quarter of the eighty-seven loan shark runners arrested in the first half of this year were aged nineteen and below.
Such a trend is certainly worrying and it is picking up. It means that the earnest student sitting in the classroom in the morning, working hard to do his family proud, could be the runner who is setting people’s property ablaze at night. All in the name of helping his loved ones.
As minor as this may seem, when taken in the larger context of our society, this trend is very disturbing. What it means is that Singapore is becoming a breeding ground for young lawbreakers. What it means is that the Singapore in twenty years’ time will not be the one we are currently familiar with – a hinterland where peace and progress are givens.
Yet, what is most paradoxical about this child exploitation is that most Singaporeans are not apathetic. When it was reported that there was widespread child exploitation in the Philippines, several non-governmental organizations based here volunteered to step in and try to help to weed out such practices there. So what exactly is hindering us from helping our own children back at home?
Perhaps, it is the fact that many Singaporeans do not know about it. In a recent poll conducted by The Staits Times, the reporters found out that almost two-thirds of those polled did not know that loan sharks were making use of children to do their dirty work. What is vital now, is to ensure that the problems we have back home are made known to the public, so that we do not have issues such as child exploitation going on right under our noses even as we try to help other countries solve them.
Even if there is the possibility of external help, we must still equip the children sufficiently to protect themselves. Education is the best way forward. As seen from the example of Nur Azliah Ithnin, many young runners take up the job so as to help their families. We need to show them that by becoming runners, they will cause harm to others, while at the same time bring about severe consequences for themselves. More importantly, it is imperative to demonstrate how becoming a runner would impact their loved ones negatively, as Nur Azliah Ithnin learnt the hard way.
Carol Bellamy once said, “In serving the best interests of children, we serve the best interests of all humanity.” Let this be a call to all to stop child exploitation for the sake of our future.
