We call upon the Malaysian government explain the sketchy, lacklustre search-and-rescue (SAR) performance by the authorities in the ill-fated incident of the 7 missing Temiar Orang Asli children from SK Tohoi, Gua Musang from the 23rd August 2015 to date.
On the 12 October, both Member of Parliament for Batu Kawan Kasthuri Patto and Damansara Utama State Assemblyperson Yeo Bee Yin along with Tham Kar Lye coordinator for Impian Malaysia, Irene Tan and Johnny Goh, the DAP Kelantan representatives visited the families of the missing Orang Asli children from SK Tohoi in Gua Musang and to hand over a contribution of RM1000 from the Democratic Action Party (DAP) to each bereaved family.
We had convened in the house of a relative to one of the missing children where we were greeted by Dendi bin Johari who is the Chairman of the Jaringan Belia Kampung Orang Asli Kelantan as well as the Deputy Chairman of the Jaringan Kampung Orang Asli Kelantan, Nasir bin Dollah. We spoke to the parents and were astonished to discover they had not been given a chance to have a proper dialogue with the fleet of Ministers, Deputy Ministers and other VIPs who had visited SK Tohoi despite the fact that the families are the main stakeholders in this entire episode.
Besides that, conversations with the families also revealed shocking discoveries on the chronology of events that had unfolded upon the incident of the missing children on the 23rd of August 2015.
Firstly, the parents had not officially notified by the school authorities on their missing children. It was the security guard of the SK Tohoi hostel and by word of mouth from other Orang Asli villagers that the parents came to know and upon checking, realized that their kids had been missing on Sunday, 23rd of August by way of a broken down chain-link fence. There was no official missing children list by the school until at a much later stage in the development of the case. Why had the parents of the Orang Asli children not notified or informed officially by the school authorities as their children had been under the care and jurisdiction of SK Tohoi and its wardens when they had gone missing? Is there a different set of SOPs between SK Tohoi and other schools in more urban areas, when informing the parents of missing children and reporting to the authorities on the unfortunate incident? Had this happened in a city, would the school authorities wait for days on end to formally inform the respective families.
Secondly, SK Tohoi only made a police report on the 25th of August, 2 days after the children went missing and the authorities had arrived at Pos Tohoi for their SAR mission on the 27th of August, a total of 4 days after the children went missing. The burning question here is why it took 4 days for the authorities, be it PDRM, JAKOA, BOMBA as well as JPAM to launch their SAR knowing well that they would be scouring and combing through rugged unforgiving terrains, virtually impossible for children to survive without basic survival skills and tools?
Thirdly, the already distraught parents and the orang asli communities were prevented by the authorities from organizing search and rescue mission for their children. Pasukan Gerakan Am Senoi Praaq, which is an elite team under PDRM (Polis Diraja Malaysia) consisting mostly of Orang Asli men who were expert in jungle terrain and some from the Temiar tribe, were only deployed on 29 September 2015, more than a month after the kids went missing and suspiciously after the visit by the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi!
Fourthly, the parents had been left in the dark on the developments of the SAR from day one and had to scavenge for information as and when they communicate with the relevant authorities. In the period of 47 days, we were told by the parents, that representatives from the Welfare Department had showed up once at the doorstep of the house of one of the parents and within earshot, asked for them to be patient. Where is the counselling service promised by the Director General of JAKOA Datuk Hasnan Hassan and the Welfare Department for the broken parents?
A first hand visit by DAP to the bereaved parents reveal that there is more than meets the eye on the dissemination of information on the developments of the SAR, the latest updates, the lack of compassion and care by the Welfare Department and the skewed information by the school authorities and government must be held accountable and responsible on the chronology of the SAR.
While we appreciate all the efforts of our men and women in blue who have been camping out and working around the clock painstakingly in their SAR mission, the glaring fact remains – there are far too many questions than answers on the 4 day delay in response by the authorities.
With that, we call upon the Malaysian government to explain such sketchy, lacklustre search-and-rescue (SAR) performance by the authorities in the ill-fated incident of the 7 missing Temiar Orang Asli children from SK Tohoi, Gua Musang from the 23rd August 2015 to date.
