POLICE UTTER FAILURE: 'They were looking for Orang Asli kids at home'

The missing students from SK Tohoi could have been found earlier if there had been trust between the authorities and the parents of the missing Orang Asli children, says activist Colin Nicholas.

“There is no trust between the police and the parents,” he told Malaysiakini today.

The Centre for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) coordinator said the authorities were working on the assumption that the children made it back home and parents were hiding them back in the village.

He claims the police even sent people to the missing pupils’ village “to spy” and check if the pupils were there.

The children were regarded as missing after they did not return to their hostel, reportedly because they feared punishment for swimming in a river without permission.

The six girls and a boy - aged between seven and 11 - had been missing from Aug 23, and the first set of remains were found only 47 days later on Oct 8, and two survivors a day later.

Parents of the missing pupils, Colin said, thought the children went home, and were looking along logging roads leading towards their village.

“They (the police and parents) were not working together. That is why everything broke down

“The assumptions were stupid, if I could say that. The actions, directions, and strategies taken were twisted. That is the mindset, in terms of how the (search) operation was carried out.

Search process to blame

Steps taken are rooted in the strong undercurrents of “prejudice and discrimination” which the authorities have of the Orang Asli community, he argues.

“If ever anyone is to be blamed, I would say it is in how the search process was organised, how transparent it was, how inclusive it was. It wasn’t. Parents were excluded,” he explained.

Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Azizah Mohd Dun said the authorities did all it could to look for the children, who fled the remote hostel fearing punishment after swimming in the river.

More than 400 personnel were deployed for the search.

Pos Tohoi is 41 kilometres overland from Gua Musang, and is accessible only through logging trails. - M'kini