Freed victim was on wanted list, says IGP
Published on: Thursday, November 28, 2013
Kuala Lumpur: A Malaysian who became a slave for 30 years in London was on the police "wanted list" in Malaysia in the 70s for leftist activities, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.In confirming the identity of the woman who was rescued on Oct. 25 in London as Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab, Khalid said she was involved in extremist communist activities."Siti Aishah was then a leftist student activist in the 70s, with their activities centred in London.
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"At that time, there were all kinds of freedom in London and that's why she was there. In the 70s, she was wanted here (Malaysia) but she managed to flee," he told a media conference, Wednesday, after conferring the National Sovereignty Medal (PKN) on 156 policemen involved in Ops Daulat at Lahad Datu, Sabah in February. Khalid said, at the moment there was no need to arrest Siti Aishah if she returned to the country.It was reported that a 69-year-old woman was among three women freed on Oct. 25 in London after one of them contacted a welfare organisation. The other two were Irish and British nationals.
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Siti Aishah, from Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan was said to have left the country in 1968 to further her education at the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom.While there, she was said to have been influenced by a Maoist movement and gave up her studies.
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While being held captive, Siti Aishah and the other two women were only allowed to go out to dry clothes or accompany the suspects during shopping. "I will hug her and cry if she comes back home," Siti Aishah's eldest sister, Hasnah Abdul Wahab, 88, said."I will hold a feast to thank Allah. We have been looking for her for a long, long time."UK police have arrested two people identified by British media as radical Maoists for holding the three women in a case that has shocked Britain.The couple, who have been released on bail, have been named by British newspapers as Indian-born Aravindan Balakrishnan and his Tanzanian wife Chanda.British police have kept a lid on the facts of the case during investigations.But Siti Aishah's brother-in-law Mohamad Noh Mohamad Dom said his wife Kamar Mahtum had flown to London on Wednesday to identify her sister after a British media outlet earlier told the family the woman may be her."We have mixed feelings," he said."Happy, because we believe we have found a lost family member, and sad, because we hear that she is sick and has been held captive for more than 30 years." After studying at one of Malaysia's elite schools, Siti Aishah obtained a scholarship to study quantity surveying in England but is believed to have fallen under the spell of the Maoist couple.Prominent Malaysian activist Hishamuddin Rais had been quoted as saying Siti Aishah had joined several other Malaysian students in a leftist group in Britain called the "New Malayan Youth" in the 1970s.British media have reported the Malaysian slave victim had suffered a stroke recently.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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