'See you in the immediate future' -- Siti Aishah says to family in Malaysia
Astro Awani
November 30, 2013 03:37 MYT
November 30, 2013 03:37 MYT
After spending some 40 years apart, Kamarmahtum Abdul Wahab, 73, finally met her long-lost sister 'London slave' 69-year-old Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab yesterday night.
In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, parts of which was posted in a video clip online, Kamarmahtum shared details of the 40-minute she spent with the sister she had not spoken to since 1968.
“I sobbed... I cried... I was angry... I was sad... I was disappointed,” said Kamarmahtum, who met Siti Aishah at a secret location after flying to London.
Siti Aishah also did not know about their mother’s death 19 years ago. “She asked me, ‘how is mum?’ and I said, ‘mum is gone’.”
Kamarmahtum said that she expressed to Siti Aishah her disappointment for disappearing without a trace to London for more than 30 years, by repeatedly asking “how could you?” However, Siti Aishah seemed uncomfortable being ‘nagged’. “She said I was scolding her, but I wasn’t.”
The former school teacher also said that she felt that she had to say this to her sister as this could be the last time they meet, unless Siti Aishah returns to Malaysia.
In a note that Siti Aishah wrote for the people at home, Kamarmahtum said she wrote about being happy to see Kamarmahtum and that she “eventually might come home”.
“She says she misses everybody at home and also wrote ‘see you in the immediate future’. I take that as a positive action,” said Kamarmahtum.
Kamarmahtum said that her sister expressed that what was important for her now is to “complete whatever she is doing”, though she added that “they are very secretive” and she did not know what it was.
“I feel that she wards off such questions, I just don’t go into that again. I know she ... although she didn’t say it in so many words... I know she doesn’t want me to touch or like me to touch into her private life,” she said.
Kamarmahtum said when she asked her about her sister’s needs, Siti Aishah replied that she has Muslim friends, and that she was fed by her friends.
However, Kamarmahtum said she felt that her sister was trying to say that she can survive without the family.
“Mmmm... when she said that I felt that she was trying to tell me that even without us, she can survive. As she had been for the last 40 years. We are nothing that important, well... do you think it is wrong for me to feel that I am unimportant to her? Do you think that it is wrong for me to feel a little bit of disappointment?”
Holding back tears, Kamarmahtum said that she shook her sister’s hand and hugged briefly after saying “ I have to go now”. However, Kamarmahtum said that as she watched her sister walk down the stairs away from her, she realised that they did not say goodbye and ran after Siti Aishah.
“We hugged, like the first time we hugged... and the police stopped me from following her,” she said.
Kamarmahtum is expected to arrive in Malaysia on Sunday morning together with her nephew Zan Azlee Zainal Abidin, who is also the editor of the Magazine Desk at Astro AWANI.
Siti Aishah is one of three women ‘slaves’ who were on Oct 25 “rescued” from a Maoist commune by British police.
They were allegedly subjected to years of brainwashing and emotional abuse.
However, recent reports now appear to suggest they may not have been physically prevented from leaving the sect.
The leaders of the Maoist sect, India-born Aravindan Balakrishnan and his Tanzanian-Indian wife Chandra Pattni, were arrested but later freed on bail.
On Wednesday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar confirmed Siti Aishah’s identity. He also said she has been a student activist who fled to the UK in the 70s to avoid police action for communist links.
#Aravindan Balakrishnan
#Chandra Pattni
#Kamarmahtum Abdul Wahab
#Khalid Abu Bakar
#London
#Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab
#slave
#The Telegraph
#Zan Azlee