KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 — The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) has shown neither urgency nor intent in pursuing existing leads on the whereabouts of M. Indira Gandhi’s ex-husband and missing daughter, offering only non-substantive responses during an arranged meeting at Bukit Aman today, said Indira Gandhi Action Team (Ingat) chairman Arun Dorasamy.
Describing the meeting chaired by Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Mohd Khalid Ismail as a complete “disappointment”, Arun said the discussions were largely non-substantive, with the police showing a total lack of seriousness on the matter.
“Basically, it was multiple assurances with lip service.
“It is insulting to us and to the public, this meeting was again nothing more than what we had six years ago (when we met with former IGP Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun),” he told reporters after the hour-long meeting concluded here.
Arun said there remains hesitancy to cooperate with the authorities, as there has been no indication of any substantial investigative work carried out over the past 16 years to locate Indira’s daughter, Prasana Diksa.
He said this was evident in the multiple affidavits filed in court regarding the investigation updates, which Arun described as “lepas batuk di tangga” — a Malay proverb meaning something done superficially or half-heartedly.
“I have no reason to work with them yet until there is some element of trust.
“I will do my level best to work with PDRM, but they have to come forward to show some seriousness before we can do anything,” he said.
Separately, Indira said she had hoped today’s meeting would be different as she renewed her 16-year fight to find her missing daughter, Prasana Diksa — but later conceded she was once again met with nothing more than promises.
“We were not given what we wanted to hear, again, we had to repeat ourselves on what transpired the last 16 years.
“We do not want promises, we want action. We want to see what has materialised these years,” she said.
Indira also said she brought along her missing daughter’s teddy bear — a symbolic reminder of the child she last saw at just 11 months old — to show Khalid, as a gesture of her enduring hope and longing to reunite with her daughter.
“I also told him (Khalid) I want a solution before my daughter turns 18 and I hope he will do something,” she said.
The meeting between IGP and Ingat was facilitated by Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran, who was present earlier as well.
Earlier, Arun said today’s meeting focused on key questions regarding the whereabouts of Indira’s ex-husband, Pathmanathan Krishnan, now known as Muhammad Riduan Abdullah.
The questions raised included Riduan’s recent use of government incentives, which hinted at his possible presence in Malaysia — leads that Arun claimed the police failed to act on adequately following its exposure.
On November 22, Indira, her two older children and their supporters carried out a “March for Justice” from outside the Sogo shopping centre to the police’s headquarters at Bukit Aman, as part of the mother’s decade-long struggle to find her missing daughter.
Last month’s rally was held following a viral social media post alleging that Riduan was still in Malaysia and had received government assistance, contradicting previous official statements that he had left the country.
The IGP later said efforts to trace the ex-husband are still being carried out, including “further investigations against the allegation of the existence of an individual who is suspected of using his identity to receive various forms of government aid such as BUDI95 and Sumbangan Asas Ramah (SARA)”.
Indira has been separated from Prasana Diksa for more than 16 years, when her former husband left the house in 2009 with the child who was then 11 months old.
The High Court in Ipoh had on May 30, 2014 issued an arrest warrant on Riduan over his contempt of court, after he had failed to return Prasana Diksa to her mother as ordered by the court.
Following lengthy court battles that went all the way up to the Federal Court, the court directed the police to enforce the arrest warrant on Riduan.
On November 21, the High Court in Ipoh ordered the police to widen the search for Riduan to the entire Malaysia instead of looking for him only in Kelantan, and also instructed the police to liaise with the Immigration Department to block Riduan’s exit from the country.
While Indira had won custody of Prasana Diksa in the civil courts years ago, Riduan’s and Prasana Diksa’s location are currently still unknown.
Recommended reading:
- ‘Mr IGP, return my child’: Indira Gandhi leads Bukit Aman march in 16‑year fight for missing daughter
- IGP: Police still tracing Indira Gandhi’s ex-husband, daughter; travel ban remains in force
- Indira Gandhi’s lawyer criticises IGP over ‘speculation’, says no travel ban on ex-husband in Immigration Dept records
