Published: Wednesday March 18, 2009 MYT 12:37:00 PM
Updated: Wednesday March 18, 2009 MYT 2:37:38 PM

2 alleged armed robbers still held under emergency laws

By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: The nursing mother who was arrested with her husband and brother-in-law under the Emergency Ordinance for alleged armed robberies in Bintulu, northern Sarawak, was released after 60 days in detention.

Melati anak Bekeni, 28, walked free after the Sarawak police released her on Sunday.

However, her husband Marai anak Senggok, also 28, and his brother Bunya, 21, had been banished from Sarawak.

They were flown to Johor and are now in the Simpang Renggam detention centre.

Bunya, Marai and Melati were arrested in January this year and placed under the Emergency Ordinance after the police in Bintulu accused them of being involved in a series of robberies.

However, the trio's family had claimed that the three were arrested because of their dispute with a development consortium over a project on a plot of land that these natives claimed was their ancestral heritage.

Melati is still nursing an 18-month old daughter, Victoria. She also has a three-year old son, Vincent.

Tuai Rumah Sengok anak Sabang, father of Bunya and Marai, confirmed Wednesday that Melati had been freed and that she had been reunited with her children.

"She is safe. She is now living with relatives in a place near Miri. My two sons have been flown to Johor. The police did not tell me why they had been taken out of Sarawak.

"Last week (Friday), the police took all three from Bintulu to Kuching. On Sunday, the police told Melati that she is free to go home. She took a bus from Kuching to Bintulu and then to Miri.

"The police then asked my two sons to sign some sort of documents and then flew them out to Johor. I have not heard from them since," he told The Star.

Sengok appealed to the police and to the Home Ministry to release his sons, saying that he need them to help earn a living for the family.

"I don't know what to do next. The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) and Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) are trying to help.

I want to know how I can get in touch with my sons. I want to speak to them and find out how they are," he said.

SAM’s field officer for Sarawak, Jok Jau Evong, said on Monday that SAM's lawyers in Kuala Lumpur learned that Bunya and Marai had been placed under another two years of detention under the Emergency Ordinance.

He said the extension of their detention comes with an order of restriction, adding that SAM did not know how long the duo would be held at the Simpang Renggam detention centre.

Suhakam's commissioner for Sarawak Dr Mohd Hirman Ritom said the commission had tried its best but still failed to get the duo released.