KUALA LUMPUR, Fri The story of four missing Malaysian women who were believed to have been abducted to North Korea 27 years ago, was resurrected today by the brother of one of them who said he hoped to see her again even after all these years.
"I never told my children about her. I had wanted to forget," said Ying Ah Tai, 50, when questioned about his sister, Ying Yoke Tai , one of the missing four.
His children never knew they had an aunt who may be living in North Korea against her will.
"Now the children are asking me how could my sister have disappeared in such a manner?" he said.
Ying was very uncomfortable with the attention from the media, whom he felt was treating him like a celebrity as they followed him out of the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department today.
"I am not Alan Tam. I am not a movie star," he said, as photographers jostled to take shots of him holding a picture of the then 19-year- old Yoke Tai.
Ying was the only person from the four families of the missing women who attended a Press conference called by department head Datuk Michael Chong today.
The brother of another missing Malaysian also described news of their possible whereabouts as shocking.
According to Chong, the other women’s families could not attend as they were either too old, incapacitated or living out of state.
"For instance, the brother of Yap Mei Leng, another one of the missing women, wanted to come, but he is in a wheelchair and it is too difficult for him," said Chong.
"However, all the families have given us full mandate to go ahead and try to locate the women," he said, adding that the families had given up hope of locating the women until two days ago.
It was only when the local media highlighted the case, which has since attracted foreign attention, that hope is starting to stir again.
"All the families told us that they considered them as dead after waiting for so many years," he said.
"Now they are harbouring hope to see their loved ones."
Chong said the families themselves did not know what exactly happened.
"According to them, they did not even realise the women were missing until they read about it in the newspapers 27 years ago. Only then did they lodge police reports," he added.
At the Press conference, Ying said that up till two days ago, he had given up hope that Yoke Tai was still alive.
In fact, he had been trying to forget the whole incident as the years went by.
Ying said that his sister had already left the family home in Cheras when they were informed that she was missing.
"By the time we found out about her disappearance, my sister had been away from home for two to three months. She went to Kuala Lumpur to work as a housekeeper," he said.
Ying said till today, he was not really sure what happened to his sister. "There had been no news of her since she disappeared."
Yoke Tai had been working in a printing factory before she left for Kuala Lumpur.
Yoke Tai, along with three other Malaysians, Yap Mei Leng, See Toh Tai Thim and Margaret Ong Guat Choo, have been missing since Aug 10, 1978. All are believed to have been abducted and held against their will in North Korea.
