MIRI: Children as young as seven are getting hooked on drugs and rubbish dumps here, raising alarm bells among state politicians and community leaders.
Two street kids, aged seven and nine, were rescued on Sunday after they were found slumped among some paper boxes near rubbish dump next to the high-rise Imperial Hotel and Shopping Complex right in the heart of the city.
Assistant Minister for Infrastructure Development and Communication Lee Kim Shin was shocked to find the children stretched out motionless under a pile of discarded boxes, following a call from a concerned member of the public.
Near to them were cans of glue, which police identified as tyre glue. The two children refused to disclose their names and where they were from. Policemen in a mobile patrol unit took them to the police station and yesterday handed them over the state Welfare Department.
"The relevant authorities must deal this issue as soon as possible. This problem of very young kids getting involved in drugs and glue-sniffing, and living on the the streets, must be overcome.
"It is getting serious, I have directed the Welfare Department to help these kids and others like them. Save them from the streets and rehabilitate them fast," Lee said,
The two rescued children are believed to be siblings. A woman shopper identified one of them as a Year Three pupil in her school.
"This kid might have dropped out though," she said.
There are other such youngsters loitering about the streets of Miri. They can be found near the old market area, along the riverfront shophouses and outside four-digit outlets areas frequented by drug users.
Here, there are no shelter facilities for boys rescued from the streets. There is a rehabilitation centre for girls called Taman Puteri. The biggest boys' home in the state is in Kuching.
Source: Star newspaper
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