Mengalir air mata saya apabila membaca laporan tentang kanak-kanak malang ini. Tambah memilukan apabila melihat gambar-gambar yang dipaparkan bersama-sama dengan laporan tersebut.

Budak dalam gambar di atas bernama Ibrahim, berumur tujuh tahun. Dia bekerja sebagai buruh kanak-kanak di sebuah kilang membuat tali di Aganagar dalam daerah Keraniganj, Bangladesh. Biarpun masih terlalu muda, namun dia dikerah untuk berkerja selama 12 jam demi memungut upah sekitar Tk60 (1.21 dolar Singapura) sehari.

Bayangkanlah, kanak-kanak malang semuda ini dipaksa bekerja tanpa rehat yang cukup, mungkin juga bekerja dalam keadaan lapar dan dahaga, sudah tentu kadang kala melakukan sedikit kesilapan. Namun, hal itu tidak terlintas dalam fikiran penyelianya, malah dengan sepenuh kekuatan dia memukul/mencubit muka Ibrahim tanpa belas kasihan. Kejam dan menyedihkan!

Nama lelaki yang memukul kanak-kanak malang ini ialah Deen Islam. Betapa indah dan mulia nama tersebut, tetapi malang nama yang sangat mulia itu tidak menggambarkan perilaku pemiliknya. Dia dikatakan akan memukul buruh kanak-kanak di bawah kendaliannya walaupun mereka hanya melakukan kesilapan kecil.

Lebih menyedihkan saya, apabila Ibrahim tidak dapat membela diri atau mendengar bebelan atau arahan penyelianya kerana dia PEKAK dan BISU. Tidakkah kejam manusia dalam gambar di bawah ini memukul dan mendera kanak-kanak yang tidak boleh bercakap atau mendengar arahannya? Dalam keadaan dirinya begitu, sudah tentu kanak-kanak malang ini tidak dapat menyatakan: "Saya tidak bersalah/Saya tersilap, maafkan saya/Bukan salah saya, mesin ini mungkin rosak".

Saya tersentuh apabila membayangkan kanak-kanak di seluruh dunia terutama di negara-negara miskin diperlakukan sedemikian rupa. Bayangkan jika anak-anak anda diperlakukan sedemikian rupa. Bayangkan juga apabila dikhabarkan ada kanak-kanak yang dipotong atau dicacatkan anggota badan mereka semata-mata untuk dikerah meminta sedekah dan meraih simpati orang ramai. Bayangkan juga kanak-kanak perempuan yang diculik/dijual kemudiannya dijadikan pelacur atau hamba seks di serata dunia.

Saya doakan semoga Ibrahim yang dilahirkan pekak dan bisu ini memperoleh kehidupan yang lebih bermakna suatu hari nanti. Mudah-mudahan kanak-kanak malang yang lain juga terbela nasib mereka suatu hari nanti!

* Detik-detik Ibrahim dipukul oleh penyelianya. Hukuman di bawah ini sudah tentu bukan yang pertama dan terakhir bagi Ibrahim.

Lanjut, sila baca pautan di bawah ini:

[ASIAONE] A momentary lapse of concentration, and there is no getting away with it. But at the age of seven it's not so easy for Ibrahim to maintain concentration for 12 hours since daybreak every day.

The work seems never-ending to him like the coils of rope he produces every day at a rope factory.

Perhaps, he got his mind off the work for a moment recalling once again that he cannot communicate with anyone like the other kids as he was born deaf and dumb. Perhaps, his little soul became lighter and suddenly he wanted to be free.

Perhaps, it was then that he missed to get hold of a string his master was making.

With full force his master's muscled hand would land on his face several times, leaving a little Ibrahim, who works at Tk 60 (S$1.21) per day, trembling and tossing with fear.

"How many times have I told you not to be absentminded?" Deen Islam, head of the workers at the rope factory, would say as he beat up the little boy defying every law.

Ibrahim's lighter mind became heavier with the cruelty of the world. Pale and downtrodden, he continued work with trembling hands, unable to utter a single word.

He doesn't know for how long he has to undergo this experience under the Buriganga Bridge in Aganagar in Keraniganj, Bangladesh. But he's not alone. There are 39 other children who toil away all day long in four rope factories there every day.

This is happening when hundreds of NGOs for children's welfare and rights organisations hold discussions, seminars and symposiums to ensure the rights of children.

There are thousands of children involved in different kinds of child labour in the country. Many of them are enduring unbearable pain like Ibrahim at any given moment today when the entire world is observing the International Human Rights Day.

When this correspondent approached Ibrahim, he did not understand anything and just gave a blank look. His brother Rahim, another child labourer of eight, came to his aid.

"He [Ibrahim] can neither hear nor speak," Rahim, who works for Tk 50 (S$1) every day, said.

As Rahim returned to his place, having a chit-chat with his fellow workers, Ibrahim continued his work with his head down and eyes focused on the ground, dipping deep into a soundless world.
- The Daily Star/Asia News Network