Thursday June 14, 2012
Siblings reunited with kin
By LEE XIAN
newsdesk@thestar.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: Five siblings who endured 19 years of hardship in India have finally been reunited with their aunt and grandmother in Malaysia.
Umno Youth's Community Complaints Bureau managed to successfully bring home the siblings from Kerala, India, as well as their mother, who is an Indian national.
They had been abandoned by their Malaysian father Mohd Ali Maniam Abdullah in Kerala in 1994.
“Negotiations with the Indian immigration bureau took a long time as they had overstayed their tourist visas by 19 years.
“After years of overcoming challenges and barriers, we managed to bring them home,” said bureau head Datuk Muhd Khairun Aseh.
The five siblings and their mother Nadeera Mohamedali, 52, scraped a living by doing odd jobs.
Their father's sister, Rukkiya Ibrahim, would send RM400 to them each month.
Long-awaited reunion: Grandmother Fatimah Abdullah (in a wheelchair) shedding tears of joy after being reunited with her family as Khairun (seated second from left) checks on Mohammad Yusof who appears to be tired after the journey. “I turned to Umno Youth for help as they were victims of their father's lack of responsibility,” said Rukkiya.
Mohammad Yunus Al-Safeer Mohd Ali Maniam, 22, the third child of the family who was only four when he was abandoned in Kerala, spoke on behalf of his siblings, Mohammad Yusof Al-Safeer, 25, Nabish Bismeera Al-Jafeer, 23, Nabish Rahimmeera Al-Jafeer, 21 and Abdul Manaf Al Safeer, 19.
“When I heard that I had relatives in Malaysia, all I wanted to do was go home,” he said.
“Now that we are back where we belong, the future is beginning to look brighter,” he said, adding that they lived in a small clay hut.
Khairun is aiming to secure long-term visas for Nadeera and Manaf, both of whom are Indians.
He is also looking to obtain financial assistance from the Welfare Department as well as ensure that the siblings receive some form of vocational training.
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