Firecracker menace

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