AWARENESS: Media, social networks played a role in Nayati’s case, says Dutch envoy
KUALA LUMPUR: PAUL Bekkers, the Netherlands ambassador here, believes that public awareness created by the media and social network sites played a big role in bringing Nayati Shamelin Moodliar safely back home.
However, while Nayati had the support of the embassy, the government and many others, Bekkers expressed concern about the scores of other missing children who
had none of these means to locate them.
“We are thankful that this support system has indeed created a situation to help Nayati. But what about the rest of the kids who are still missing?”
He said the Malaysian government should put proper procedures in place so that families of
victims who were still missing could get access to every means possible.
Bekkers said in Nayati’s case, the parents, who were educated and affluent, knew how to get the word out, referring to the press conference that was called by Sham and Janice Moodliar just hours after their son was kidnapped.
Posters of the missing boy were also distributed around the Klang Valley and other parts of the country, and within hours, social networking sites were abuzz with news of the kidnap.
Meanwhile, Sham said, although the move to alert the media through the press conference was not the norm in such cases, he insisted that it had helped.
“I would say the press conference was done out of sheer desperation. We wanted to put pressure on the authorities to do something.
“I’ve never been in such a situation before and did what I had to. It was only later that police told us to clamp down on the media. We were told not to say anything or have any more press conferences.
“The police assured us that getting our son back safely was their No. 1 priority. They said they would only move in on the kidnappers once Nayati was back with us.”
He was grateful that police had kept their promise.
Sham also thanked Bekkers, who he said had a calming effect on everyone who was trying to do their part to help.
“He brought control to a chaotic situation,” he said.
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