As thousands of Malaysian families prepare their children for the pressures of SPM, M Indira Gandhi marks the occasion in silence.
For her, this should have been the year she fussed over revision schedules, worried about subject choices, and reminded her youngest child to get enough sleep.
Instead, as Prasana Diksa turns 17 and enters her examination year, Indira is left with no updates, no photographs, and no assurance that her daughter is safe.
The milestone that unites most families has become, for her, a painful reminder of how long justice has been denied.
Reminiscing about the little memories she has of her long-lost daughter, Indira admits that it is hard for her to imagine the adult her child has grown into.
“She was taken away when she was only an 11-month-old baby. And now she is a 17-year-old adult.
“Even if she walked beside me tomorrow in a shop or pasar malam (night market), I wouldn’t even recognise Prasana.
“I mean, to not be able to imagine your own child’s face, it is too sad. 17 years, that’s a long time. Too long, I would say,” she said in an interview with Malaysiakini.
Indira, who works as a kindergarten teacher and a tutor, admitted that it has not been easy, as she is often plagued by deep regret over the possible future she could have had with her daughter.
“Every time I see a child her age, I would just imagine, ‘My daughter would be like this’.
“We have never even celebrated Deepavali as a family. I usually go to my mother’s house to celebrate Deepavali, but I always feel that my family is not complete yet,” she said, wiping her eyes.
A mother’s final appeal
After nearly two decades of yearning for her missing daughter, Indira recently announced that she would be organising a symbolic march on Nov 22, as “a mother’s final appeal to her nation’s conscience”.
During the rally, the grieving mother will be pushing her daughter’s stroller towards the Bukit Aman police headquarters, where she will personally hand her daughter’s teddy bear to the inspector-general of police (IGP), as a symbol of a mother’s faith that justice, though delayed, will still be delivered.
“These are the only things I have left of Prasana. I don’t even have her (recent) photos, only baby photos.
“I’m getting older, and my memory is also fading, but I will always remember that baby face of hers, wrapped in her napkin.
“Our memories are not much, but I will always keep that in mind,” the mother said, now with tears streaming.
In a message to her daughter, Indira said that despite the hardship she has faced, she wished for her to be well and that she would never stop praying for the day they reunite.
“To my dear daughter Prasana, it has not been easy for me these past 16 years to look for you. I have walked on thorns, roses, stones, hardship, everything, but I hope you are well out there.
“Hopefully, we will meet one day, and I have the time to tell you all these 16 years that I have been longing for you,” she said.
Indira also urged the public to join the rally, emphasising that the “justice walk” goes beyond religion and is a testament to a mother’s plight who has been denied her child for 16 years.
Lengthy legal battle
On March 31, 2009, Indira’s ex-husband, Riduan Abdullah, then known as K Pathmanathan, abducted the then 11-month-old Prasana, who was still nursing, and disappeared.
The following year, the Ipoh High Court granted Indira full custody, but in 2014, the Court of Appeal overturned a High Court order directing the IGP to recover Prasana.
The legal battle culminated in 2016 when the Federal Court ordered the police to arrest Riduan and reunite Prasana with her mother.
With no news of her daughter’s whereabouts, Indira filed a RM100 million suit in 2020 against former IGP Abdul Hamid Bador, the police, the Home Ministry, and the government, but the High Court dismissed the case.
Earlier this year, the Court of Appeal heard that the police do not owe her a duty of care in the search for Riduan and Prasana.
Then, on Oct 26, new revelations showed that Riduan was still in the country, based on records of Budi95 and Sara government aid; a discovery that sparked outrage as authorities long claimed he had fled to Thailand.
Indira’s close to 20-year ordeal has been under the purview of six IGPs, yet none of them could deliver news of her abducted daughter, despite concrete evidence showing her husband’s presence in the country.
READ MORE: COMMENT | Will Indira ever see justice in this country?
“It shouldn’t take 16 years for the police to find this man. He has withdrawn his EPF, has a few cars under his name, and he has paid his summons. All of this happened in Malaysia.
“How come all these IGPs are being so quiet and saying that they couldn’t find him? With today’s technology, it is very easy to find a man,” Indira said.
She also added that only two IGPs have openly talked to her about the case, and no government agency has reached out to offer support for her plight. - Mkini
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