01 December 2013

Siti Aishah tak mahu pulang, nafi dihambakan...


Wanita yang dikatakan menjadi mangsa penghambaan selama 30 tahun, Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab enggan pulang ke Malaysia dan berkata beliau tidak pernah diperhambakan di London, kata aktivis Hishamuddin Rais.

Katanya, Siti Aishah yang mendakwa dirinya tidak diperhambakan masih berpegang kepada ideologi Maoist.

“Siti Aishah berkata dia tidak pernah menjadi hamba kepada sesiapa. Itu adalah ideologi kepercayaannya.

“Dia juga tidak mahu pulang ke Malaysia,” kata Hishamuddin yang berada di London ketika dihubungi oleh The Malaysian Insider.

Mengulas lanjut,Hishamuddin melalui blognya Tukar Tiub menceritakan butiran lanjut situasi pertemuan Siti Aishah bersama kakaknya, Kamar Mahtum Abdul Wahab.

“Perjalanan enam jam dari kota London dan dua kali bertukar kereta di dua balai polis. Cikgu Kamar jumpa adiknya di satu tempat rahsia. Ada dua pegawai polis wanita dan lapan pegawai polis lelaki.

“Wakil dari kedutaan juga tidak dibenarkan turut serta. Cikgu Kamar memeluk adiknya sambil menangis penuh emosi dan Siti Aishah juga dilihat menitiskan air mata,” katanya mengulas mengenai pertemuan dua beradik itu yang berlangsung selama 40 minit.

Kamar Mahtum merupakan bekas guru sekolah yang terbang ke London pada Selasa dalam impiannya untuk bertemu adiknya yang sudah lama terpisah dan ditemani oleh Hishamuddin.

Pihak berkuasa United Kingdom mengesahkan status Siti Aishah sebagai warganegara Malaysia dengan nama berdaftar Aishah Wahab dan dilahirkan pada 27 Mei, 1944.

Hishamuddin berkata, Aishah dilihat memakai baju merah dan berseluar hitam sementara Kamar Mahtum membawa bungkusan untuk diberikan kepada adiknya.

Katanya, dalam pertemuan singkat itu, Siti Aishah sempat bertanya keadaan ibunya dan adik-beradik yang lain.

“Cikgu Kamar membawa beg yang berisi hadiah iaitu sejadah, jubah dan kain tudung. Aishah bertanya tentang ibu, Kamar Mahtum menjawab telah lama pergi.

“Aishah bertanya tentang kakak yang satu lagi, beliau turut memberi jawapan sama,” katanya.

Hishamuddin berkata, ketika dijemput pulang ke Malaysia untuk diperkenalkan dengan saudara-mara di sini, dia menjawab: “Satu masa nanti.”

“Aishah diberitahu tentang ajaran Islam dan dia menjawab di London pun ada masjid serta ramai kawan beragama Islam,” kata Hishamuddin.


 

Katanya, Kamar Mahtum berusaha sedaya upaya memujuk adiknya pulang ke Malaysia namun tiada sebarang petanda positif.

“Saya berleter. Aishah amat British,” kata Kamar Mahtum.

Di hujung pertemuan itu, Hishamuddin berkata, Siti Aishah mengakui bahawa dia senang di kota London dan mempunyai ramai kawan di sana.

Katanya, Kamar Mahtum dapat merasakan bahawa ada perkara sulit dalam hidup Siti Aishah yang ingin diceritakan namun tidak disampaikan dalam pertemuan singkat tersebut.

“Ada tiga permintaan Kamar Mahtum kepada adiknya iaitu meminta Siti Aishah tidak lupa membaca Al-Quran, meminta Siti Aishah mengirim surat dan terakhir sekali Kamar Mahtum meminta adiknya itu agar kembali ke Malaysia,” katanya yang kini masih berada di kota London.

Siti Aishah adalah salah seorang daripada tiga wanita yang dibebaskan pada 25 Oktober di London selepas seorang daripada mereka menghubungi pertubuhan kebajikan.

Dua lagi wanita adalah warga Ireland berumur 57 tahun dan warga Britain berumur 30 tahun.

Akhbar Britain melaporkan pasangan yang ditahan ialah Aravindan Balakrishnan, juga dikenali sebagai “Comrade Bala” berasal dari Singapura dan isterinya Chanda dari Tanzania.

Polis Britain mengesahkan pasangan itu pernah ditahan pada 1970-an tetapi tidak menyatakan sebabnya.

Polis juga enggan mengesahkan identiti pasangan itu yang dibebaskan dengan ikat jamin sehingga tarikh perbicaraan pada Januari depan tetapi mengatakan ketiga-tiga mangsa tidak kelihatan seperti didera secara seksual tetapi tidak menolak dakwaan wanita itu dipukul.

Ketiga-tiga mangsa bebas daripada “perhambaan” selepas salah seorang daripada mereka menghubungi badan kebajikan Freedom Charity pada 18 Oktober. - TMI


Siti Aishah refuses to return, stands by her Maoist mates...

In what is a big slap in the face for Malaysian officials, who over the past week have been gushing over the discovery that a Malay woman was allegedly enslaved by a Maoist extremist in London, the 69-year-old has snubbed their calls and those of her family's to return to her country of birth.

Worse still, Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab has also refused to renounce her leftist beliefs, which run in direct contradiction to the Islamic religion.

"Siti Aishah has said she was not anyone’s slave. That is her ideological belief. She also does not want to return to Malaysia," Malaysian activist Hishamuddin Rais was quoted as saying by The Malaysian Insider.

If Siti Aishah had agreed to return, especially if she was willing to renounce her past, she and her family can be assured the Malaysian government would give her a major heroine's welcome for returning to the 'right' path.

There would be a huge propaganda blitz, using her experience as a lesson to others in the country with 'liberal' leanings, so as to justify the government's controversial policies.

But just as Siti Aishah did some 30 years ago, she did so again today - she simply refused to forsake her beliefs.


In Malaysia, which is seeing a clear escalation in Islamic fundamentalism and even extremism, all Malays must embrace the religion and remain Muslims until they die or face punishment including jail and moral 'rehabilitation'.

Indeed, there is no freedom of choice for the Malays, who not only form the predominant racial group in the country but also regard themselves as being the 'Supreme' race over the other ethic groups.



One of the bedrooms in the Maoist 'collective'

Family disappointed but will keep trying

Siti Aishah was allowed by the UK authorities to meet with her sister Kamar Mahutm, who had arrived in London earlier this week to persuade her to return.

Kamar, 73, met up with her sister - thought to be the first time since her family flew to the UK in the 1980s to try to convince her to return home - at a location several hours away from London.

Kamar told the Daily Mirror: "Basically it was a very emotional day, very revealing.

“But then I was contented. I got what I wanted and I can go home with beautiful memories and I’ve a feeling she may want to come home eventually and we are working hard to persuade her.”

Scotland Yard is investigating claims that Siti Aishah, who moved to Britain in 1968, and two other women were held as slaves for 30 years in a flat in Brixton, London.

Aravindan Balakrishnan, 73, known as Comrade Bala, and his wife, Chanda, 67, were arrested last week and bailed to January in connection with the allegations.

The couple ran an extreme left wing Maosit militant group which had several clashes with the police during the height of their activism in the 1970s.



Brainwashed or personal ideology?

Initially, the news out of London was that a Malaysian Chinese woman was among the three women alleged to have been enslaved. However, the news only became viral in Malaysia after the UK authorities confirmed that the woman was a Malay.

It is extremely unusual for a Malay woman to have such strong ties to ideology, which has prompted many of her friends and family to opine that she had been "brainwashed" by Comrade Bala.

Members of his cult were forced to cut off contact with their families and faced severe discipline if they breached any of his strict rules. Young women were always at the heart of his revolutionary sect.

Dudley Heslop, a former member who managed to break free from the cult's spell, alleged that Comrade Bala also took money and property from his followers.

"He would say 'I am the Christ follow me'," Heslop told the Evening Standard.

"Women abandoned their careers and their futures for him. They would have to put him and the collective before their families. He would take the wages of others for the collective, he was in control. They would run errands and things like that."

"He wasn’t holding these women by force, he just kind of got them to believe he was like Jesus Christ."



One of the bathrooms in the house

Propaganda blowup for the M'sian govt: A huge heroine if she returns

The Malaysian media, most of which are controlled by the government, have tried to spin Siti Aishah's tale to the advantage of Prime Minister Najib Razak's Umno party, using the episode to further drum up anti-Chinese and anti-Communist sentiments among the Malays.

Great effort was also made to show the government's willingness to help any Malay in distress in any part of the world, even to the extent that they would reinstate Siti Aishah's citizenship if she had lost it "unknowingly".

Yet, just months ago, the Najib administration refused to allow the family of the former chief of the Malayan Communist Party, Chin Peng, to bring back his ashes for interment in his hometown. The reason given was that they feared Chin Peng's family and former supporters might build a memorial for him.

The 88-year-old Chin Peng had died in Thailand, after the Malaysian authorities refused to let him come home despite having signed a peace treaty with the Communist Party that specifically allowed members to return albeit with conditions.

The Najib administration considers Chin Peng a traitor for having killed scores of police during the Communist insurgency in Malaysia in the 1960s but  conveniently omits the fact that Chin Peng had also defended the country against the invading Japanese army during World War II.

"I guess it is a sad reflection on Malaysia. It has become worse and worse and I am not surprised Siti Aishah doesn't want to go back, even though if she did she would be hailed as a Malay heroine and qualify for heaps of benefits and special privileges," Nicholas Chong, a Malaysian who has lived in London for some 25 years told Malaysia Chronicle.

"From what we know, from what we have read and what our families and friends tell us, might has become right and every issue that crops up eventually boils down to a very deep-seated racism. Even in our days, this was being deliberately cultivated by the government and this is why many of us left. It was just too sick."


Backyard view

Threw her engagement ring into the River Thames
 

Before the reunion, Mrs Mahtum said it was her “sincere dream and hope” that she would see her sister again.

When the retired teacher arrived in London on Wednesday, she had brought with her a letter begging Aishah to return “to the fold” and be a part of her life again.

In it she wrote: “Aishah we love you very much, we miss you and have been missing you desperately all these years.

“In our family’s ups and downs in life, we always thought that it would have been a very great difference if you had been there.”

She added: “All of us are waiting with love and hope. We love you Aishah.”

Earlier this week she told how Aishah had moved to Britain in 1968 with her fiancé, Omar Munir, hoping to pursue her studies and have a family.

But as Siti Aishah became more involved with the cult, she broke off with her fiance, even throwing her engagement ring into the River Thames.- malaysia chronicle







cheers.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

kerajaan Negeri Selangor 'bersih' rasuah la sangat...

Anonymous said...

Sekurang2nya lebih bersih daripada negeri BN/UMNO lain!!!