Never let your guard down — Lim Mun Fah
JUNE 4 — A baby girl was reported missing with her babysitter. The babysitter was found injured and hospitalised, and the baby girl was found dead.
Later, it was reported that two babies under the same babysitter’s care had died of suffocation and brain damage. The development of the event is alarming and the deeper we think about it, the more terrible it is!
Why has one baby after another under the same babysitter’s care, died? How did the babysitter get injured? How could four-month-old girl Lim Xiu Yao die of suffocation? Why were the babysitter’s alibis inconsistent? Were the three cases involving the same babysitter an unfortunate coincidence?
The truth cannot be hidden. If the babysitter has really done nothing wrong, she should then courageously come forward, not only to clear herself, but also to make it clear to the baby girl’s parents.
But whatever the truth, the babysitter cannot evade the responsibility or escape from being questioned and condemned by the community and families of the victims.
The incident has not only caused a great concern in the society, but also raised doubt on whether the police investigation on the previous two cases has been rigorous enough.
In 2010, a baby boy under the woman’s care choked to death while drinking from a milk bottle. It is understood that his parents refused an autopsy as they could not bear it. However, did the police carry out a serious investigation and were suspicious clues missed before concluding the case as a sudden death?
The same goes for the baby girl who died of brain injuries. Did the police conduct appropriate investigations after her parents lodged a report? Did the police find that the same woman was involved in the “sudden death” of another baby nine months ago?
Clearly, the police must immediately restart investigations of the two cases. If someone should be responsible, then the person must be charged in court. Otherwise, the person’s name must be cleared.
We heard about accidents caused by babysitter’s negligence from time to time in recent years. Apart from feeling shocked, we must also take seriously the problem of babysitter negligence.
Most parents of the previous generation took care of their children themselves and took it as their own responsibility. However, to many parents from double-income households today, it is not that they are not willing to take the responsibility, but the environment and conditions do not allow them to do so!
The social culture has been changing and multi-generational families are rarely seen nowadays. However, problems between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law have not been eased following the tendency of the younger generation to form small families.
Also, as it is not easy to find a good nursery, the demand for babysitters has surged and, thus, it has given rise to new social problems. How should the government control the industry and set conditions to set up more quality and reliable nurseries? How should parents choose babysitters or nurseries for their children? These problems should no longer be ignored.
In any case, we must be very cautious in choosing a babysitter for our children. My advice would be to harbour no ill intention against others, but never relax vigilance against evil-doers. — mysinchew.com
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.
