KOTA BARU: While the nation watches and reads anxiously the news about the seven Orang Asli children who went missing in Pos Tohoi, two students of SMK Tengku Indera Petra 2 have deliberately been kept in the dark.
The two are the elder brothers of Ika Ayel, 8, whose remains were recovered last week.
Reney, 14, and Mang Lie, 15, have yet to be told of their sister’s death. The boys know only that she went missing with six other children.
Their parents do not want them to know yet and school authorities are respecting their wishes.
A spokesman for the school said the school has three other students who are siblings of the seven children who went missing. The three know more than Reney and Mang Lie as their sisters were the two children who were found alive.
They are Amirul Imran, 15, and Amiru Imran, 14, the siblings of Norieen Yaakob, 10, and Jajue, the sibling of Mirsudiar Aluj, 11.
Kelantan Education director Ab Aziz Abdullah said the five siblings of the missing children were given counselling so that they would not be traumatised.
Aziz said their parents, who visited them recently, had allowed them to remain in the hostel.
State police chief Datuk Mazlan Lazim said the authorities considered only two of the seven children dead. This was because two skeletal remains were yet to be identified.
He said police could only confirm that Sasa Sobrie, 8, and Ika, 9, were dead as their remains were identified. Should the two skeletal remains be identified as that of the other missing children, that meant one child was still missing, he said.
“Police have yet to identify the two remains because they are undergoing a DNA test at Gua Musang Hospital. We deny the report that the remains found yesterday (Saturday) were of Juvina David, 8, because we are waiting for the DNA test.”
In Gua Musang, Juvina’s mother, Shela Omar, yesterday said she was sure that the remains found on Saturday were that of her daughter.
“I’m sure that’s my daughter. Maybe my husband couldn’t recognise her, but I can from her beaded chain,” said the 26 year old.
She arrived at Gua Musang Hospital at 10.30am yesterday with her husband, their five other children and Siti Zabedah Kasim, a lawyer representing the Orang Asli families.
Juvina’s father, David Kuasan, 31, said he would not be surprised if the remains found on Saturday were that of his daughter.
“I accept her fate,” he said. Additional reporting by Hariz Mohd