KUCHING, Aug 9 — The families of two soldiers who mysteriously disappeared while on assignment on an island in Kedah last month hope the Armed Forces will resume its aborted search for the two men.
The families of Corporal David Edmund Rapi, 39, from Dalat and Lance-Corporal Moses Logers, 25, from Bau, approached Works Minister Baru Bian at the Kuching International Airport here today to plead for help after the army called off its search-and-rescue (SAR) on July 26, just a week after the two soldiers vanished from Pulau Perak on July 19.
“Today, the family members came to see me and it is very urgent to them because of the unsatisfactory ways as far as they were concerned regarding the authorities dealing with the search and rescue operations.
“As they consider it to be an urgent matter, they want me to highlight this. They really want SAR operations to immediately commence further,” Baru told reporters upon arrival from Kuala Lumpur.
He said the families hoped to be able to be present at the search sites on the Kedah island to for immediate updates on the new SAR operation.
“I have directed my special officer to liaise with the Defence Ministry, especially the officers, who can assist the family members,” said the Sarawak PKR chief.
Baru said the families were told of the disappearances on July 19, the very same night it happened and travelled on their own initiative to the peninsula and travelled to Penang, Perlis and Kedah in their search for the duo.
He said they even chartered a boat to ferry them to Pulau Perak, adding that he chipped in a bit with the fees.
“They went there and they told me that they were very disappointed because they didn’t see any evidence of search and rescue activities being carried out on the island,” he related.
He added they only met 13 soldiers in the island.
He said they tried their best to get information on what really happened, adding that they were not given a full picture of the SAR operations.
“According to them, they managed to meet the commanding officer at a roadside coffee shop for a brief period. Not much information was obtained from him,” he said, adding that they tried to contact him later, but it was “very difficult”.
Baru said the family members were later told that SAR operation has been halted and would only restart if there were new leads.
Michael Jinep, uncle to Moses, was also present at the airport and told reporters what the family found out from their journey to Pulau Perak — a three-hour boat ride away from Langkawi.
He related that his nephew and David had dinner with the other 13 soldiers on the evening of July 19 at their camp during the operation codenamed “Op Pejarak”.
“After dinner, all of them went to their rooms at 7pm. At 10pm, when the roll call was made to give the soldiers some medicine, Moses and David were found to be missing,” he said.
“That was the information we got from the army,” he said.
Jinep said when he and the rest of family members, including the family members of David, went to the island, there were 13 soldiers still there.
“All their personal belongings including their weapons were still there. The only thing missing were their handphones,” he said, despite there being no phone connection on the island.
“They went missing with their handphones,” he added.
