Firecracker menace

Year in year and year out the guilty parties are the same -- the people who peddle the illegal stuff and the parents who never learn. Sometimes images in the newspapers of children with fingers maimed and faces burnt do not shock anymore because it happens with alarming regularity, particularly as Hari Raya approaches. But it could be our son on that hospital bed with eyes patched, face scarred and fingers blown off.

The peculiar aspect of firecracker mishaps is that most, if not all, of the casualties are Malays. Does this mean that they are more mischievous than others or are they simply more foolish? Perhaps both. Strict parental control and supervision are needed if such accidents are to be curbed.

In the first place firecrackers are banned. Yet children have access to them and have the means to acquire them, showing that there are people out to make a fast buck by breaking the law at the expense of fun-loving kids. And parents cannot plead ignorance because, firstly, it is their money that children use to buy the firecrackers. Secondly, playing with firecrackers is a noisy affair and there is no way children can indulge in it discreetly or undetected.

Parental supervision is therefore a most important element if measures to curb firecracker injuries are to be successful. Strict enforcement too is needed for the supply lines to be cut. But ultimately, the fight against this menace can only be won by eliminating the demand.

-- New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur