Parents around the country breathed a sigh of relief when five-year-old Raisyah Ali was reunited with her parents on Friday after spending nine days with her abductors. Several men allegedly involved in the girl's kidnapping were arrested Thursday and Friday.
Raisyah's abduction, the latest in a series of kidnapping cases in the county, attracted a great deal of public attention and media coverage. It made headlines in several newspapers and television stations produced special reports on the case, including interviews with the girl's parents, who amazingly appeared strong and composed in front of the cameras.
It could be said that this extensive media coverage may have put additional pressure on the authorities to quickly solve the case. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also went public Thursday with a plea for Raisyah to be released. Although some of us may question his motives, his actions may have provided a morale boost for police working on the case.
The outcome of this case offers a ray of hope to those of us who live in big cities such as Jakarta in that it demonstrates helping hands are available to assist those in need. During their time of uncertainly, Raisyah's family were helped enormously by the caring public, including friends and relatives.
An executive colleague of Raisyah's father at the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI), for example, established the Raisyah Care hotline center, at which volunteers received calls from members of the public with information about the case.
However, in the minds of many others, Raisyah's abduction demonstrates that safety is becoming an increasingly precious and expensive commodity in Jakarta and other big cities.
Some quarters rightly question whether or not police would have extended the same resources to a family without political connections such as those Raisyah's father has. Likewise, would the media have given the case so much attention in the absence of such connections and would the President have gone public with his plea for the abducted girl's return?
Now police have succeeded in rescuing Raisyah, it is high time they improve their capabilities to not only be able to solve similar cases, but prevent such incidents occurring in the future.
The most surprising aspect of Raisyah's ordeal is that her alleged kidnappers were past and present students of a state high school. Yogi Purnama, who has been named a prime suspect in the case, taught Koranic recitation as an extracurricular activity at the school, serving as a major blow to Islamic teachers, scholars and Muslims in general.
Those who teach Koranic recitation are generally considered to be trustworthy and noble members of the community. The fact such a teacher could be tempted into crime means it is harder than we thought to find people we can really trust to teach religion, and other subjects, to our children.
While this may be an isolated case, it demonstrates that we must remain vigilant at all times to protect our children from such dangers.
This incident highlights that a trusted member of the community can be tempted into crime whenever he or she faces financial or other difficulties.
Managers of schools, especially kindergartens and elementary schools, need to strengthen their security systems and screening processes without sacrificing freedom of movement.
But most importantly, it is parents who need to go the extra mile to protect their children. We must ensure extra efforts are made to find the right supervision for our children. We must be careful when hiring nannies, maids, gardeners and other helpers. At the same time, we have to pay attention to their welfare, and ensure their salaries are fair.
If parents were to become more vigilant in protecting the welfare and safety of their children, police resources would stretch further, in turn making the city safer.
