KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15: The mystery behind the four Malaysian women who disappeared without a trace from Singapore 27 years ago may be unravelled soon.
Today, families of the four made contact after reading news reports of the women. They are expected to meet MCA Public Services and Complaints Bureau chief Datuk Michael Chong tomorrow.
Unfazed by criticism from Japanese media that he is enjoying the limelight for a story which they first broke, Chong said: "The families have contacted me ... we agreed to meet tomorrow."
Interpol began investigations last month after being contacted by their counterparts in Singapore.
Chong said Interpol was also interested in interviewing the families tomorrow.
The four women ― Yeng Yoke Fun, Yap Le Leng, Seetoh Tai Thim and Margaret Ong Guat Choo ― were last seen on Aug 10, 1978. It has also been established that Yeng Yoke Fun is actually Yeng Yoke Tai.
Hopes were raised in recent months that the four could be alive and may be in North Korea, after American army deserter Charles Robert Jenkins claimed he had seen one of them in the Stalinist state.
The 65-year-old faced a court martial in November last year for deserting to North Korea 40 years ago, and was sentenced to 30 days’ confinement.
Now residing in Japan, Jenkins in an interview with TV Asahi aired on Nov 4 claimed that women of various nationalities, described as abductees, were being held against their will in North Korea.
When shown photographs of the four Malaysian women, he told the Japanese broadcast journalist that he had seen one of them in 1980 or 1981.
Jenkins’ wife Hitomi Soga, whom he had met in North Korea, also admitted to being an abductee since 1978.
