A poor Kota Marudu mum's anguish
Published on: Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Diminutive Idot Imoh has this sinking feeling that she may not see her son Jonius Ondie again. In fact the last couple of weeks she has been wondering if he still is the boy she had raised. Her face is a picture of disbelief.
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She had not heard from the factory worker for about two years now, though as a filial son, the 24-year-old had been sending home money intermittently from the peninsula where Idot, like any other mother in her place, thought he was working. So it all came as a bolt out of the blue when her relative told her two weeks ago that he was in police custody. And she was devastated when we broke the news to her – that her son has been charged with attempting to murder eight people in an entertainment outlet in Puchong, Selangor on June 28.Until then, no one had told Idot who lives an hour's drive from Kota Marudu, a journey, which even to an off-road buff, is perilous and taxing, no thanks to a steep and winding gravelled road. Maybe no one knew, given the remoteness of her existence. Maybe no one wished to tell her.
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Either way, it is suffice to say that she was totally dismayed when we turned up at her doorstep, if only to find out who Jonius really is. Idot's face lit up when asked about Jonius."I remember carrying him on my back to send him to school. I put a cloth on his head to shield him from the sun.
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He was so attached to me and so scared, I had to sit in the class with him. When I wanted to leave, he would not let me go and clung on to my shirt," she said.Jonius' school days only lasted a few months before he eventually told his mother he did not want to go back because he could not understand what the teacher was teaching anyway.Idot laughed as she remembered her son fondly but the laughter stopped almost abruptly as she turned her attention back to the photo of her fourth child on the newspaper cutting we had brought. She ran her fingers on her son's photo."Iti noh tanak ku, tanak ku ie Jonius (this is my child, my child Jonius)," she said in Dusun. She paused a moment as the reality sank and started sobbing silently, her thin frail body trembling as she tried to control her emotions.The 58-year old farmer lives with her second husband, Unjin Oyung, in a ramshackle one-bedroom house, in Kg Lombiding which is devoid of electricity and only relies on gravity water.They have no fixed income except for Unjin's RM150 government assistance and rely on Idot's children's generosity for other needs."Jonius always sends money. RM200, RM300. He sent us RM1,000 in 2014 to buy zinc for our house. But because we did not have use for the zinc yet, they were kept here instead," said Idot, pointing to the roof of the Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) church which is a stone's throw away from her house.She said that Jonius had first gone to Singapore when he was only 17 through an agent. He did not tell her because he was afraid she would not have let him.His father passed away in 2010 due to tuberculosis. Jonius did not know about it until a few days later.Until the time he died, Idot said, Jonius' father was wondering about him. But the family could not contact him at the time."When he finally found out, he was distraught. He told us how sorry he was that his father died without having the chance to enjoy a better life, especially because he said, he has stable income now," she said.The last time Jonius came home to the village was in 2014. He stayed with his mother for four days. Even told her that he would come home in two years' time and that he would not be going back to the peninsula to work on the family's land.Unjin who considered Jonius as his own son told him that it is his wish to give him his land, about a few acres, for Jonius to work on. "We did not see any significant change in him when he was here. He was still the same quiet and shy Jonius as we have always known him. He is so shy, to the best of our knowledge, he had no girlfriend. Even scared of women," she said.Jonius also did not tell his mother of his conversion to Islam and Idot only knew about it through a relative. In fact, all but one of her five children have converted."I cried and almost fainted when I saw his photo in the phone," she said, recalling the visit by her relative two weeks ago.According to Unjin, Idot was so deeply affected by the news that she did not eat the whole day.But she did not know why he was arrested, as she kept repeating how she had always told him to choose his friends wisely.When told of what Jonius had allegedly done and the implications of the offence, Idot said: "I don't think I will live that long to see him come back to me. I am 58. I am not well." All these developments are a bit much for Idot. She does not understand what is going on much less fathom the thought that her son is being described as a pengganas (terrorist). The gravity of the situation escapes her.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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