For two months, she was haunted by three female voices in her head telling her to hurt her four-month-old baby.

One voice would say: “He’s just a burden to you.”

Another would go: “Why not you hit the baby? Then your life will be back to normal.”

That was what Miss Nur Hafizah Kamarulzaman struggled with when she was 19 – an age where many are fretting over their studies.

The single mother was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder – a combination of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Now 23, she helps people who face the same struggles she did and is a part-time programme executive at Club Heal (Hope, Empowerment, Acceptance & Love).

It is a charity that assists and empowers those with mental illness to regain confidence and reintegrate into society.

The mental health wellness advocate will take part in a walk organised by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and other organisations to commemorate World Mental Health Day. (See report on right.)

Despite knowing that tongues may wag, Miss Hafizah decided to share her battle with her inner demons.

Speaking to The New Paper two weeks ago, she said: “For me, whatever happened is already in the past. If we are not willing to share, it means that we’re not willing to forget about the past.

“What I’m facing now is not a death sentence. It’s a common illness. It’s just a matter of how the public sees us.”

When she was 18 and five months pregnant, she was diagnosed with depression.

By then, her boyfriend at the time, the father of her baby, had left her.

She declined to dwell on the details of their break-up.

With her baby’s father out of the picture and her family angry with her over her pregnancy, Miss Hafizah became suicidal.

She said: “I even beat my stomach to try to take the baby away because I told myself that I didn’t want to live anymore.”

When her son was four months old, things took a turn for the worse.

HEARING VOICES

“That’s when I started hearing all the voices. I even saw a tall lady in my bedroom. The voices asked me to hit my boy, who was crying. The voices told me my baby was to blame for the situation I was in,” she said, adding that her family still ignored her after she had given birth.

A few times, Miss Hafizah shouted at the voices in her head to shut up, out of frustration.

The three female voices only grew louder and more distracting.

“Just to shed the voices, I followed what the voices told me. I slapped and pinched him.

“When I realised what had happened, I was shocked. I’m not this kind of person. I really adore kids,” she said.

Racked with guilt, she promised herself never to do it again.

Miss Hafizah added: “But each time the voices came, I would do it again. I thought I was a bad mum. No mother would beat her children like this. I felt useless.”

The vicious cycle went on for two months before she sought help from her social worker and psychiatrist at the IMH. That was in 2012.

Looking back, it felt like two months too late to seek treatment, she told TNP.

Diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, Miss Hafizah was warded at IMH for a week.

Her son was placed at IMH but in a different ward as there was no one at home to care for him.

The incident helped her reconcile with her parents in an unexpected way.

Miss Hafizah’s mother Maryati Hassan, 52, told TNP in a separate interview that she cried at learning of her daughter’s diagnosis.

Nine years ago, Madam Maryati, a housewife, had herself been diagnosed with the same condition.

Said Madam Maryati: “I felt guilty. How could this have happened? Did I pass it on to her?”

She now attends the daily rehabilitation sessions that Miss Hafizah conducts at Club Heal.

Madam Maryati is proud of what her daughter has achieved.

She said: “She has a pure heart, and loves to help others using her experience. I’m so happy and proud of her.”

Miss Hafizah’s colleague, Ms Yohana Abdullah, described her as strong yet gentle and down-to-earth and added it showed in her interaction with her rehab session participants.

She is firm and commands attention when she conducts psychoeducation, but never fails to engage in friendly banter with her rehab session participants.

“For me, I just want to be with them throughout their recovery, and prove to them that it’s not the end of the world,” said Miss Hafizah.

“I always tell them that even if their condition improves by just 0.1 per cent, it really means a lot to me. It makes me determined and motivated to strive together with them for more.”

HELP LINES

• Silver Ribbon: 
Samaritans of Singapore: 
1800-221-4444
• Singapore Association for Mental Health: 
1800-283-7019
• Institute of Mental Health’s Mobile Crisis Service: 
6389-2222
• Care Corner Counselling Centre (Mandarin): 
1800-353-5800
• Silver Ribbon: 
6386-1928

What is schizophrenia?

Often mistaken as a disorder of split personalities, schizophrenia is actually a disorder of fragmented mental processes.

Sufferers may present positive or negative symptoms, or both.

Positive symptoms reflect a distortion or exaggeration of functions that are normally present. This includes hallucinations – voices, smells, or tastes that do not exist – delusions of being persecuted or controlled, and disorganised or bizarre behaviour.

Negative symptoms reflect a deficiency of a mental function that is normally present. The symptoms include social withdrawal, apathy, and lack of motivation and drive.

Although schizophrenia can affect anyone at any age, the onset of this major psychotic condition is usually in adolescence or young adulthood.

Read also: ‘I thought I was possessed’: S’pore man on battling schizophrenia

If left untreated, patients are at a higher risk of suicide, aggression and drug abuse.

Antipsychotic medication remains the main treatment method to normalise the biochemical imbalances in the brain, which often cause schizophrenia.

The medication can relieve the hallucinations, delusions and thinking problems associated with schizophrenia.

These antipsychotic medicines are also important in reducing or eliminating the chances of a relapse.

Read also: Her battle to survive schizophrenia: The top student who landed in a mental hospital

Another effective form of treatment is psychotherapy, which helps the patient make sense of his illness and come to terms with it.

Rehabilitation and counselling help the patient function in society.

Social skills training, which can be provided in group, family or individual sessions, helps to build social relationships and independent living skills.

Source: Institute of Mental Health

ABOUT THE WALK

In light of World Mental Health Day on Oct 10, the Institute of Mental Health, Agency for Integrated Care, the Health Promotion Board and 11 other government and mental health voluntary welfare organisations are organising a mass walk along Orchard Road on Oct 8.

The walk will start and end at *Scape in Orchard Road, with a mini carnival from 10am to 3pm.

During the carnival, there will be talks conducted by professionals, people with mental health conditions, and caregivers to provide insights on the various mental health conditions.

This article was first published on October 03, 2016.
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He calls it “wasted talent”.

Gifted 13-year-olds or children as young as 10 are getting involved in cybercrimes, thinking it is cool among peers, said Mr Steven Wilson, head of the European Cybercrime Centre at Europol.

Their career path often begins with a simple hack. And then it escalates when teens realise they can make money out of it.

Mr Wilson, 50, said: “They start to develop their expertise. They interact with criminals who are more organised and that’s when they are brought into groups… becoming more professional in their actions.”

He spoke to The New Paper on the sidelines of Wednesday’s Interpol-Europol Cybercrime Conference held here at the Interpol Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI).

Mr Wilson, a former police officer in Scotland dealing with counter-terrorism and covert policing, added: “I recall on some operations, it’s sad that I’ve seen young children, who are supremely gifted in relation to technology, become involved in cybercrimes…

“What we need to do is identify the potential of these children at a very early stage and actually use them for a good purpose.”

Read also: Teen admits hacking Istana site for ‘a joke’

At the conference, which was attended by 200 people from 56 countries, the experts spoke about the cybercrime fallout across the globe.

Among the threats identified by Europol’s Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2016, ransomware, DDoS attacks, encrypted communication among cyber criminals, and credit card fraud continue to cause heavy losses in some business sectors.

Locally, cyber security experts like Associate Professor Steven Wong, president of the Association of Information Security Professionals, said Singapore sees similar threats.

He said: “Ransomware is recognised as the top threat for 2016…”

“If you look in recent years, the number of methods of Ransomware have increased tremendously.”

Ransomware is a malicious software that blocks access to a computer system or mobile phone until the owner pays up.

When ransomware was first detected, around 2010, it came out with only one or two permutations a year, said Assoc Prof Wong.

Top 7 scams in Singapore and more

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

www.scamalert.sg

Ransomware

Likewise, the cyber sleuths at Trend Micro lists ransomware among its top threats for Asia.

Its country manager for Singapore, Mr David Siah, told TNP in an e-mail reply that in 2016, Trend Micro detected 80 million ransomware threats globally.

Of those, 16 million threats, or 20 per cent, came from Asia.

Mr Siah said: “In Singapore, from January to August 2016, we have blocked more than 211,000 ransomware attacks, averaging 870 cases on a daily basis.”

Cyber criminals will exploit any vulnerability, especially when there is an opportunity to make money or sell their expertise, said Mr Wilson.

He said: “Cyber criminals can make $1 or $2 here, thousands of dollars there, or millions of dollars.

“Collectively, it becomes a massive effect on the economy across the world, not just a region.”

Despite facing an unseen enemy working across borders, the good guys occasionally win.

In June, the seventh Global Airline Action resulted in the arrest of 140 individuals suspected of airline ticket fraud.

The two-day operation involved 74 airlines and 43 countries and took place in more than 130 airports around the world. It was coordinated by Europol in The Hague, Interpol Singapore, Ameripol in Bogota and other agencies.

There have also been other successful anti-cybercrime busts.

Mr Noboru Nakatani, executive director of IGCI, attributed the success to the sharing of information and help from private sector partners like banks, financial institutions and academia.

He said: “We need to change the mentality from need to know, to need to share.”

The more law enforcement understands its other partners fighting cyber threats, the better all parties can address cyber threats, he said.

Cybercrime on the rise here

The number of cases reported under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act (CMCA), which covers offences including unauthorised access to computer material and unauthorised use or interception of computer service, has increased.

The Singapore Police Force said 178 cases were reported under the CMCA between January to June 2016, a 20.3 per cent jump from the 148 cases reported in the same period last year. .

It was the same from 2013 to 2015, with 169 cases registered in 2013, 197 cases in 2014, and 280 cases in 2015.

According to the chairman and co-founder of the Singapore Cybersports & Online Gaming Association (Scoga), Mr Nicholas Khoo, cybercrime activities such as DDoS attacks or ransomware are not carried out by young people in Singapore.

Some online misbehaviours, however, are worrying. These include youngsters embracing the ideals of hacker groups, participating in in-game online betting, and misrepresenting their age.

Mr Khoo said: “Sometimes, online misbehaviour can be as simple as not declaring your real age.

“Some games have a minimum age, but some youth claim to be older than they are to play these games. But is this considered cybercrime?”

Read also: 11 scams that are happening in Singapore now

Scoga observed that a majority of the at-risk young people referred to them are from vulnerable families, with the youngest just 12.

Mr Khoo said: “Family issues – such as tension within the family, or parental neglect – may make them more susceptible to online misbehaviours.

“Struggles in school or with prevailing social norms may also compel them to embrace alternative, more radical ideas online.”

Scoga reaches thousands of game enthusiasts and counsels five to 10 young people aged 11 to 21 every year.

It conducts cyber wellness workshops across schools, and trains befrienders.

But country manager for the cyber security firm Trend Micro, Mr David Siah, said they have seen some high-profile cybercrime acts carried out by young people in Singapore.

He cited the example of an 18-year-old student who hacked the Istana’s website by using a cross-site scripting attack in 2013.

Istana site hacking: Businessman and student questioned

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Facebook screengrabs, Instagram, The Straits Times

This article was first published on October 3, 2016.
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