Protecting our children<\/p>\n
A word of praise is due to the Jakarta Police team that ended
\nthe drama of the abduction of Muhamad Hegel Muthahhari, 8, and
\narrested the abductors on Friday.<\/p>\n
It took the officers 10 days to find Hegel, but the boy was
\nrescued, safe and sound, and the abductors, Doni Wibisono and
\nNurul Lestaluhu, were arrested while hiding in a room at Hotel
\nHorison, Ancol, North Jakarta, thanks to a pair of slippers
\nbearing the hotel's logo found at Nurul's house in Muara Baru,
\nNorth Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The abduction was allegedly masterminded by Nurul's husband,
\nTaher alias Abah, as well as Nurul and Doni, who were
\n\"accompanying\" Hegel in the hotel room and are being interrogated
\nby the police. Taher is still at large.<\/p>\n
The abductors initially demanded a Rp 4 billion (US$465,111 ransom,
\nbut in the end reduced the amount to Rp 400 million. As reported
\nby the media, Hegel's parents transferred Rp 25 million to the
\nBank Central Asia (BCA) account of a certain Sayogo Hendro, which
\nled the police to the (alleged) abductors' address in Cisarua,
\nWest Java. The two, however, had already moved to North Jakarta.<\/p>\n
After a string of terrorist acts that have kept the police
\nmore than busy, the arrest of Hegel's abductors obviously brings
\na degree of kudos to the Jakarta Police. Tuesday's JW Marriott
\nHotel bomb blast, coming not long in the wake of two previous
\nbombings -- one at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and the
\nother at the House of Representatives complex -- must have caused
\nthe police to contemplate and review their shortcomings amid
\nwidespread public criticism.<\/p>\n
Many have asserted that the blasts prove that the police have
\nbeen lax in maintaining security in public places, including
\nvital facilities such as the airport and the House complex. While
\nthe police have become busier by the day because of the bombing
\nincidents, we do hope that they will not loosen their vigilance
\non crime, which now includes kidnappings. Thank God that one of
\nthe abductions has been dealt with properly.<\/p>\n
However, the police's success in solving Hegel's case is
\novershadowed by the still unsolved cases of another six children
\nkidnapped from March until July. Two of them, a two-year-old girl
\nand an eight-year-old girl, were found dead after apparently
\nbeing sexually assaulted, while two others have been released.
\nThe fate of the two other children is still unknown. The
\ntwo-year-old girl was abducted in Pademangan, North Jakarta, in
\nMarch while the eight-year-old was kidnapped in Cipayung, East
\nJakarta. The other four children were abducted in Cianjur, West
\nJava.<\/p>\n
Police assume that the six crimes were committed by the same
\ngroup of mentally unstable people. One of the alleged abductors,
\nidentified as Dani alias Deni Saputra, was arrested in the East
\nJava provincial capital, Surabaya, while his brother, Jerry alias
\nJefri Saputra, is still at large. No further information on the
\nresults of the questioning of Dani is available. What people know
\nso far is that the police have yet to find the group, plus the
\ntwo children they are still holding.<\/p>\n
The ominous message to be learned from all of this is that
\ndanger threatens children anywhere. Hegel's abduction is believed
\nto be related to the position of the boy's father as a top
\nexecutive in a company in the gold trade. The motives for the
\nabduction of the other five are still unclear.<\/p>\n
The message conveyed by the bomb blasts and the abductions, as
\nfar as Jakarta's citizenry is concerned, is clear: nobody,
\nincluding children, is safe in the capital. We all have to face
\nthe fact that nobody's security is guaranteed. The recent
\nabductions also teach us that we should not trust anyone,
\nespecially when it comes to our children.<\/p>\n
They, too, are now targets of potentially lethal acts of
\nterror.<\/p>\n
We suggest that the police start to develop a new approach to
\ndealing with abduction and the better protection of our children.
\nAlarm bells are ringing for parents to be more alert, as anybody
\ncould kidnap their children, anywhere, anytime. They must never
\nleave their small children unwatched, even for a second. Simply
\ndepending on the police is not enough. Parents should establish a
\nkind of network to protect their children, at least in their own
\nresidential areas or neighborhoods. In the end, who else can
\nchildren rely on to protect them, if not their own parents?<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/protecting-our-children-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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