Aminulrasyid's parents failed us. Not the PDRM.

How has the PDRM failed us citizens of Malaysia?

Every day we hear cries of the PDRM falling below the standards of what is expected of them in terms of curbing crimes and keeping the streets safe. When you hear of a snatch theft whereby a victim dies in the process, we yell "Oh, the police are useless!" or if you know of a house which has been burgled you sigh "Oh what can you do? The police are no use anyway."

Yet, in the wee hours of the 26th of April 2010, an individual driving a vehicle and speeding away from the police, who continued driving even with ALL tyres punctured by bullets, and continued to resist arrest, was shot dead (whether on purpose or not) and the citizens yell "OH MY! THE PDRM SHOULD BE ASHAMED THAT THEY KILLED AN INNOCENT 15 YEAR OLD BOY!"

But suppose you take the age out of the equation, what if this individual, was indeed a robber? Or a hardcore criminal? What if this man had indeed just robbed a bank and was trying to flee the hands of the law? Would it make a difference to this scenario? Do we the citizens pat the police on their backs and say "good job!".

Has anyone asked the mother to this 15 year boy what she was thinking when she allowed her son to drive a car without a license? Has anyone questioned her parenting skills? How do you allow your son to 1) go out at midnight when the next day is a school day AND 2) drive a car without so much as driving skills and without a license to boot? What responsibility is she assuming for this "tragedy" ? If anybody has FAILED Aminulrasyid, its his MOTHER.

His mother who had not been vigilant in keeping her son safe at home and not out on a joyride with some friends. His mother who has to date, only taken pictures of young innocent doe eyed Aminuralsyid to gain sympathy from the public of how her poor son, who wanted to be an Angkasawan, is now dead due to the negligence and over zealousness of the police.

Sorry Ma'am. I am not falling for it. You failed your son. Not the PDRM. They did what they were trained to do.

They saw a car speeding away, the try to flag it down. It continues speeding. They try to flag it down again. It continues, and the police on hot pursuit, try to stop the vehicle by puncturing its tyres, but does it stop Aminulrasyid? No. He continues because "he wanted to go home."

And what does his sidekick Azamuddin Omar has to say about this whole saga? He just "wanted to go home" and he was "afraid that he would be reprimanded for going on a joyride."

15 year old aspiring Angkasawan, weighs the options in his head, RESIST ARREST AND FLEEING FROM POLICE vs REPRIMAND FROM FAMILY.

He chose the former.

Sorry bad choice. Unfortunately, he paid for that bad choice.

How is the police to know that a 15 year old boy was behind the wheel they were in hot pursuit of? How were they to assess that this was merely a boy out on a joyride who was petrified of being reprimanded by his family?

And what type of friend does this 15 year old have? One who claims his friend DIED IN HIS LAP, but then runs away (not before being "assaulted by police" - somebody has obviously not learnt the word ARREST under the CPC) from the scene, leaving his dead friend in the car, does NOT make a police report, NOR inform his policeman father of what happened, but goes home, silently and tries to forget the whole incident?

And, only comes forward to make a police report after watching the EVENING NEWS (rough calculation would be 15-16 hours after his friend was shot dead) accusing him of being a "robber".

Seriously?

If I see my friend being shot dead and dies in my lap, I will be much too traumatised to RUN AWAY from the scene and keep quiet about it! Unless I have indeed something to hide. Spare us the tears and sombreness. Spare us the drama.

Aminulrasyid and Azamuddin's parents failed them. They failed to educate these youths. They failed to teach them right from wrong. The failed their duties as parents to these two boys. And unfortunately, their failure took center stage on 26th of April 2010 where one of these boys died.

Take that responsibility. Do not shift the blame to the police. They were doing their jobs and I applaud them for it.

You, Norsiah Mohamad. You failed your son. Now you have to live with the consequences.