Masitah’s parents, kids living in limbo since arriving from Champa
PEKAN: The parents of an 11-year-old girl whose body was discovered on Saturday are believed to be descendants of Champa from Cambodia.
Siti Masitah’s parents — Ibrahim Ali, 39, and Solihah Abdullah, 35, — do not have any identification documents or permanent residency card, but have lived in Malaysia since the early 1980s.
Solihah’s aunt, Zaharah Ismail, 53, said the former had arrived as a young girl from Kampong Cham (a province of Cambodia) to live with her in Bera in 1993.
“Solihah was 9 when she came along with her elder brother and another female relative from Cambodia. Her brother died last year due to illness.
“Solihah did not have formal education. She got married to Ibrahim (also from the Cham community) who was working in Johor. They settled down in Pekan some 15 years ago. Her husband does odd jobs in the village while Solihah is a housewife,” she said yesterday.
Zaharah said although Ibrahim and Solihah did not have identification documents, their four children, aged between nine and 13, had birth certificates as they were born at Pekan Hospital.
“Although they have birth certificates, they are listed as non-citizens, which made it difficult for them to receive formal education or obtain a MyKad. Schools have rejected them as their parents do not have identification documents.
“I have met several individuals for help, including the Malaysian Islamic Welfare Organisation (Perkim) to secure the identification documents, but nothing has materialised. It is sad that the children cannot attend primary school and even Masitah was only attending religious classes in the village,” she said.
A villager, who only wanted to be identified as Ismail, said most of them were first-generation Cham Muslims, who had fled Cambodia more than 40 years ago.
He said many of them have settled down here doing odd-jobs, including working as cage fish farmers.
“There are hundreds of villagers here and most of us do not have documents. That is why it is tough during an emergency, including when Masitah went missing,” he said.
Checks in Kampung Kemahang yesterday revealed that the villagers lived in a closeknit community and some of them could converse in fluent Bahasa Malaysia while some did not understand the language.
Siti Masitah’s religious teacher, Mohd Salleh Ibrahim, 29, described her as a hardworking pupil who never failed to attend lessons at the Madrasah Islamiah here.
“Siti Masitah will always arrive early at class and will listen to instructions...she was a good student.
“I am saddened by her death and hope the individual responsible for her death will be punished,” he said, adding that she even attended lessons on Jan 30 before she went missing.
Her classmate, Riduan Ibrahim, 12, said he last saw Siti Masitah riding pillion with the suspect about 5.30pm in front of SK Tanjung Medang on Jan 30.
“I was at the school for volleyball practice when I saw them on the motorcycle.
“They were travelling fast and Siti Masitah, who was wearing a helmet, managed to wave at me .... that was the last I saw her.”