Family deserted in India returns home after 19 years
KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 — Deserted by their father 19 years ago, a family of six finally returned home to Malaysia yesterday with the help of the Umno Youth Community Complaints Bureau, after a life of destitution in India.
According to Bureau chairman Datuk Muhd Khairun Aseh, four of the siblings Mohammad Yusof Al Safeer, 25; Bismeera Al Jafeer, 23; Mohammad Yunus Al Safeer, 22; and Rahimmeera Al Jafeer, 21, were born in Malaysia and are still Malaysian citizens.
The youngest of the family Abdul Manaf Al Safeer, 19, who was born in India, and their mother, Nadeera Mohamedali Maniam, are Indian nationals, he added.
“Nadeera’s Malaysian husband, Mohd Ali Maniam, took the family back to her hometown in Kerala, India in 1993,” he told reporters during the reunion between the family and paternal grandmother and aunt here today.
Mohd Ali, a roti canai maker who returned to Malaysia after several days, has been missing since then and has had no contact with his mother in Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, he added.
Nadeera’s sister-in-law Rukkiya Ibrahim and mother-in-law Fatima Abdullah, 68, have remained in touch with her and were sending the family RM500 a month to tide them over.
Rukkiya’s concern for them finally led her to seek the help of the Bureau to bring the family home to Malaysia.
Khairun said as a result of the Indian government and Malaysian Immigration’s compassion, the family was able to return to Malaysia despite overstaying in India.
It was a moving scene at the Bureau’s office with a wheelchair-bound Fatima unable to stop sobbing upon seeing her grandchildren.
Fatima pleaded with her son, Mohd Ali, to return home while Rukkiya expressed the family’s gratitude for the Bureau’s assistance. — Bernama
