Speaking to FMT, Santiago said the support systems available were too minimal to deal with the challenges that today’s children had to face.

He was commenting on the case of 14-year-old Nur Amirah Atirah Abdul Majid, a Klang resident who ran away from home to be with her boyfriend.

“There could be many things that prompt people to do what they do, but what we require are counselling services made easily available for the young,” he said.

He added that families, especially those of the working class, had come under severe strain in the last decade.

“Parents are working around the clock to put food on the table and provide education for their children,” he said. “And our low-cost home environment is not helping.”

He acknowledged that counselling services were available in the school system, but he said it was not clear how effective these services were in managing cases such as Amirah’s.

“Counselling needs to be given a positive spin and people should be encouraged to take advantage of these services,” he said.

Santiago said both the public and private sectors, including NGOs, had a role to play in providing counselling services that are of good quality.

“Our universities need to train more professional counsellors and the government needs to provide more funding,” he said. “NGOs could bring these services to the ground.

“You have NGOs such as Befrienders Malaysia that provide counselling services in urban areas. Maybe there is a need to set up dedicated services for young people too.”