After three weeks of searching, family of missing elderly, Ali Mohd Nor, had to face the sad truth
It is one those stories that tear at your heartstrings and you fervently hope for a good ending. Unfortunately, this is not fiction, nor does the ending is what you want it to be. Real life hurts when a family you know suffers from uncertainty to be finally saddled with the bitter truth that the unrecognisable face in the morgue is your 84-year old father after he has been missing for three weeks.
This is the story of the late Ali bin Mohd Nor who will be laid to rest in the Muslim cemetery in Paya Datuk, next to the Alor Gajah Hospital in Melaka at 10am on Thursday, 20 April 2023.
Missing Since 28 March
I have met the late Ali only once when I attended a barbecue at the residence of his second son, Dr Ismail Ali, at USJ Heights, Selangor, some four years ago. He seemed like a serious person then, but little did I know that in later years, he would suffer from occasional bouts of dementia, but the episodes lasted only for a short while, Dr Ismail told me a week after his father went missing on 28 March.
According to his youngest son, Abdul Mutalib Ali, 52, about two weeks ago they received a call from the police that they have recovered a body of a man in Alor Gajah, Melaka and the family members were told to go to the hospital to undertake the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) test to identify whether the deceased is related to any of the family members.
“We were told then that the body was in advanced stage of decay as it could have been underwater for more than a week. The features were unrecognisable. Because of the condition of the deceased, the lab told us that it would take about two months before the test results could be confirmed.
“But in my heart, I was sure that it was not my dad as I believed he was still alive and it was just a matter of time before we will be reconciled with him,” said Mutalib, whom we affectionately refer to as Sam.
Unfortunately for Sam, Dr Ismail and the rest of the family members, they were given the news this morning that it was 99% positive that it was his dad as confirmed with the DNA testing.
Ironically, Sam was getting ready to host a media conference at 11 am this morning with the hope that the media can assist to disseminate the information to other parts of the country as his father was noted for travelling quite a bit, even on his own.
“My father was staying with me in Taman Midah, Cheras, here, and out of the blue, he left home on 21 March without informing any of us.
“I tried looking for him and after inquiring from a few people, I was told that he spent the night at the Foodcourt at Taman Maluri and another witness saw him taking a bus to Bidor, Perak.
“Thereafter, some friends said that he went to Skudai in Johor where we were told he spent a night at his friend’s place there,” he added.
After much searching in the various places, Sam and his brother Raoof turned to social media to ask for assistance. Even in the family’s Whatsapp groups, no one sighted him anywhere.
His father was last seen on 28 March at the Jetty in Melaka around 5.30pm. They believed he drowned between 6pm and 8 pm.
Felda Settler
The late Ali was a simple person, according to Sam. He started as a gardener in a Chinese school in Raub, Pahang and in 1981, he became an oil palm settler in Felda Mempaga 1. But what made this family so amazing was that, thanks to his upbringing, all four sons became successful beings and contributed much to society.
His eldest son, Mohd Sulutan is a former USM lecturer and now manages his own business. Dr Ismail is a successful Specialist Doctor in a private hospital in Johor where he also lectures at a medical academy there. Abdul Raoof, an art teacher, is number three while Sam is a professional tourist guide.
Theirs was the first family in Felda Mempaga to make it to university at that time. When Dr Ismail took his SPM exams, he emerged as the best student in Wilayah Persekutuan and the whole of Felda in Malaysia.
The late Ali was married to Jalina bt Abdullah, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 82.
On behalf of the management and editorial team at newmediahit.com, we send our deepest condolence to the family of the late Ali bin Mohd Nor. May his soul be placed among the righteous.
“Surely to Allah we belong and to Him we will all return.” [Surah Baqarah verse 156, the Holy Quran.] – mediahit
