Long-missing father found in S'pore four years ago passes away

KUALA LUMPUR: Four years ago, his children joyfully shared the happy news that their long-lost father Ali Jais had been found in Singapore. However, today brings a different story.

Ali, a Malaysian citizen who had been separated from his three biological children for 20 years at that time, passed away at Pasir Puteh Hospital, Kelantan, at around 4pm Monday (April 15).

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"Abah left when I was cleansing his body. I called him but there was no response. With the help of a nurse, I was informed that Abah had gone," his elder daughter Hasliza said when contacting Bernama to convey the sad news.

According to Hasliza, her father, who was brought to Kelantan to celebrate Hari Raya with their family there, was admitted to the hospital on the second day of Aidilfitri due to a lung infection.

The search for Ali, around November 2020, garnered the attention of Singaporeans who also assisted in locating the elderly man's whereabouts.

Less than 24 hours after news about him was reported by a Bernama correspondent in Singapore, the search for Ali came to an end. Ali, 88, was discovered in a nursing home for the elderly in the republic.

Though she and her two other sisters had time to be together for only about four years after their father was found, Hasliza is still grateful that Ali breathed his last with them in Malaysia.

Thanks to the cooperation between the authorities of both countries, Ali was repatriated to his children a month after he was found, amidst the closure of the Malaysia-Singapore border due to the Covid-19 pandemic in December 2020.

Ali was laid to rest on Monday. - Bernama