KUCHING, Aug 15: Santubong MP Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has questioned why all resources could be channelled to look for 15-year-old Nora Quoirin, while the case of two missing Sarawakian soldiers is treated as “trivial matters”.
He felt the armed forces have shown a lack of concern over the missing army personnel, Cpl David Edmund Rapi from Dalat, Mukah, and L/Cpl Moses Logers from Senibong, Lundu.
“Where are the senior officers of the Ministry of Defence, the minister and the deputy minister? Is the missing personnel too trivial to them?
“Of course there is no reward of 10,000 pound sterling being offered for the search of these personnel. There is no international observers watching whether they are found or not.
“They are just two poor soldiers from small villages in Sarawak. I am not politicising this matter but I am concerned and disappointed,” he said in a statement, while also referencing to the case of the Irish teen who was found dead after reported missing on Aug 4.
Quoirin, with special needs, had gone missing from a resort where her family had been residing for their holiday.
This triggered a massive SAR operation involving hundreds of personnel from the police, Fire and Rescue, Civil Defence Force, People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela), General Operations Force and the Federal Reserve Unit.
Wan Junaidi said it was heartening to note that the government and the authorities concerned had mounted the search for the teenager and deployed over 350 personnel of various agencies including assets from helicopters to drone and heat emerging technology.
However, he had to raise the disparity in efforts of the authorities between the two cases.
“Intensive search was being made to ensure that no stone left unturned. Now, they have found a body. What noteworthy commitment and persistence shown by authorities in the search effort for the two missing Sarawak soldiers? It seems to have been forgotten.
“The search was mounted on the 19 July when they were discovered not in the roll-call and was called off on July 26. The search has resumed but only carried out by the military. What happen to the state emergency committee? Why other agencies are not involved?
“Have they deployed helicopters, drones, emerging technology or dogs?” Wan Junaidi pointed out.
He also questioned why the families of the two missing soldiers were not updated on the case. — DayakDaily
