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.
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.
