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Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the early years
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FEATURED ARTICLE *** Helping Malaysia's street children Jasbant Singh, Al Jazeera, english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2007/07/2008525172813676892.html [accessed 17 June 2011] About 500 children
are left to loiter at night in the back streets minutes away from the bright
lights of "I know people
say what I do is immoral and not good for children, but if I don't do this who's going to feed my child?" asks Anita, one of ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF
– www.unicef.org/infobycountry/malaysia.html [accessed 17 June 2011] Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61615.htm [accessed 20 February 2011] CHILDREN
- The
government has demonstrated a commitment to children's rights and welfare and
allocated approximately 25 percent of the national budget to education. The
government provides free education for children through age 15. Although
primary education is compulsory, there is no enforcement mechanism governing
school attendance. Attendance at primary school was 96 percent, while
secondary school attendance was 82 percent. A variety of programs provided
low cost health care for most children. No documents, so street children of KK
can’t get into school Muguntan Vanar,
The Star, thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/1/18/nation/2953739&sec=nation [accessed 17 June 2011] Haris is among a few
hundred “document-less” children mainly from marriages between locals and
foreigners. Without any valid documents, they are unable to enrol in schools. The children mostly
become “street kids” taking up odd jobs ranging from car washing to peddling
contraband cigarettes. Many are blamed for various crimes such as petty
thefts here and in other parts of the state. However, Azlan Jeh, 12, said not all the
children were involved in unhealthy activities. “We work and go fishing although we don’t
go to school.” Muguntan Vanar,
The Star, thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/7/9/nation/20080709160828&sec=nation [accessed 17 June 2011] Sabah Police
Commissioner Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim said the
special operation to rescue street children would be conducted at major towns
where these children are not schooling and were mostly loitering and peddling
goods in the streets. "Not all of
them are children of foreigners. We have found that children of locals are
also resorting to street peddling activities. "They are not
involved in crimes but more involved in selling contraband cigarettes,
lottery results and begging, among other things," he told reporters
Wednesday after launching the Campaign for Security, Unity and Harmony. Refugees International, 13 June 2007 www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,RI,,MYS,4562d8cf2,47a6ee98d,0.html [accessed 17 June 2011] Decades of
irregular migration to Sabah in eastern The exact number of
street children in Sabah is unknown, but they are estimated to be in the
thousands, mostly of Filipino descent. There is strong local resentment of
undocumented migrants in Sabah, and the street children are portrayed as a
criminal element by authorities and the media. The children working at the
fish markets are wary of outsiders and are under constant threat of raids by
police. In 2006, the police arrested about 160 street children who were
placed in detention. Those with family contacts were eventually released, but
there is no information on the whereabouts of the others. Zugoh, a 12-year-old boy
of Filipino descent, works through the night at a fish market in Kota Kinabalu. He pushes a heavy wooden cart hoping that
customers will allow him to transport their purchases to their car. Zugoh earns around 1 MYR, or 30 cents per customer. Zugoh does not have a father. He has a mother, but he
does not stay with her. Zugoh told RI that he
sleeps somewhere on the street near the fish market. He does not go to
school, and he has no identity documents. Special squads to help ‘street children’ of
Johor Hamdan Raja Abdullah, The
Star, Muar, September 12, 2007 thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/9/12/nation/18852540&sec=nation [accessed 17 June 2011] Special squads will
be formed by the state to help “street children” found loitering in Johor Baru. The squads will
help and guide these children and provide then with skills training. She said the
children, mostly aged between 11 and 19, had been roaming the city, including
in the wee hours, although many had parents. “We want to save these children before they
get into trouble and become a nuisance. Plans are under way to set up special
squads to help guide, train and advise these children,” she said. Helping Jasbant Singh, Al Jazeera, english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2007/07/2008525172813676892.html [accessed 17 June 2011] About 500 children
are left to loiter at night in the back streets minutes away from the bright
lights of "I know people
say what I do is immoral and not good for children, but if I don't do this who's going to feed my child?" asks Anita, one of Undocumented children in Camilla Olson, Refugees International,
06/13/2007 [accessed 17 June 2011] The Government of
Malaysia has been cracking down on irregular migrants in the country. In
Sabah, raids are conducted in housing areas where the migrants live and in
markets and public areas where many work. Those arrested are deported back to
their country of origin. Many children whose parents have been deported and
who do not have any other family or guardian in Sabah end up living and
working on the street at a very young age, often in fish markets. A local
community worker told RI, "It's those who have nobody who are there [in
the fish markets]." From streets to schools New Straits Times, April 20, 2007 www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-138008283.html [partially accessed 17 June 2011 - access
restricted] Society tends to
see street children as social sores who tarnish the
tourist landscape and make a general nuisance of themselves with their
aimless loitering, hassling for handouts and sleeping in the streets. Many
respectable citizens would like nothing better than to see the authorities
harry homeless kids, take them off the streets and put them in the special
homes for the wayward. Ruben Sario, The
Star, April 18, 2007 thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/4/18/nation/20070418145805&sec=nation [accessed 17 June 2011] She told Mohd Kamil Datuk
Mohd Kassim (BN-Tanjung Batu) that the Women,
Family and Community Development Ministry would provide the funds for the
shelter in Inanam. We will get kids back in school Deborah Loh, Putrajaya At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 17 June 2011] "If somebody
can identify them and bring them to us, we’ll find ways to get them back in
school," he said after his ministry’s post-cabinet meeting yesterday. The report said the
children were between 14 and 18 years old. About 16 of them are often seen
roaming Johor Baru’s streets, sleeping on cardboard
boxes on the pavement, eating restaurant leftovers, using public washrooms
and braving older boys who extort money from them. The teenagers had
said that they preferred to spend time on the streets as their families were
poor or they came from broken homes, and teachers and fellow students
ridiculed them in school. Cops warn those who buy 4-D result sheets
from street kids This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 17 June 2011] City Police Chief,
ACP Ku Chin Wah, said police would be pulling up
people who buy 4-D result sheets from street children in the city. "We will arrest those who stop and buy
the result sheets, just as we would arrest the children," he said. Fund-raiser today for homeless, street
children in Chow Kit This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 17 June 2011] They have a place
to stay during the day but at night, they sleep under bridges or at stalls in
the Chow Kit area. This is the fate of
children with the Pusat Aktiviti
Kanak-Kanak Chow Kit, which has to close at 5pm
every day since it is only licensed as a day-care centre. Street kids facing bleak future... unless
they can bend it like Beckham Jaswinder Kaur,
24 Jun 2006 This article has been archived by World
Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 17 June 2011] The boys are among
thousands of children born to Filipino migrants who, for decades, have been
crossing rough seas to seek a better life in Many have Malaysian
birth certificates but can’t apply for MyKad as
their parents are from the Philippines. Others don’t even have any documents. These children have
no choice but to roam the streets in search of money. While some try to earn
a decent living, others pester tourists and locals for money. Some even
charge motorists a ‘protection fee’ for guarding their cars. Malaysian
Judicial Whitewash Eric F. Mallonga,
The At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 17 June 2011] Malaysian police
apprehended all street children and retarded children for deportation to the EDITORIAL: Save
the children The New Straits Times, Feb 1, 2008 www.nst.com.my/Friday/Columns/2129383/Article/index_html [Last access date unavailable] With no legal
status, they become fugitives from the law. Unschooled and unqualified, they
do odd jobs and peddle pirated VCDs or contraband cigarettes to keep body and
soul together. Desperation and despair drive some to sell their bodies or
into crime. They are falling through the cracks and there is no refuge nor respite for these fatherless and motherless
street children in Street
Children List Education As Their Priority Daily Express, 18 July, 2005 www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=35848 [Last access date unavailable] According to Fernandez,
the children said they want education when asked on their first
priority. During her dialogue with
Sabahans, she learned that Deutsche Presse-Agentur
(German Press Agency) DPA, [accessed 17 June 2011] During the amnesty
period, which began in October, nearly 400,000 illegal workers out of the
estimated one million immigrants left the country without facing any
penalties. Children
Pay High Price of Asian Economic Miracle Tony Austin, Free At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 17 June 2011] In All
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