KLANG: A single father from Aceh, Indonesia, risked his life crossing the sea with his three-month-old daughter in an attempt to return home after his wife disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only a note.
The 32-year-old man, who wanted to be known only as Raja, said his decision to travel by sea was driven by desperation after his wife suddenly abandoned their infant.
This was coupled with the fact that he had no family members or support system in Malaysia, he added.
According to Raja, his wife, who worked at a salon in the Setapak area, left about seven days before the incident while he was at work.
He only realised she was gone when he returned home to find their baby crying.
"When I got home from work, she was already gone, leaving our baby alone in the house. I heard my child crying and saw her face was red.
"My wife left a note saying that if I could not take care of the baby, I should hand her over to the family," he said when questioned by the authorities.
Raja said the baby is his first child and that he had to borrow money to return to Aceh, as both his parents had passed away and his only remaining family member is his sister, who is married and living there.
"I have no one in Malaysia. It’s hard to work in this situation. My baby is only three months old. I just want to go home," he said, adding that his passport was valid but had yet to be renewed.
Raja was among the undocumented migrants detained aboard a pom-pom boat near waters off Bagan Nakhoda Omar, Selangor.
In a separate boat, a 46-year-old local man was among those detained when the vessel from Tanjung Balai, Indonesia, arrived in the same waters.
The man, a lorry driver who declined to be named, said he had travelled to Medan to visit his pregnant second wife.
When asked why he did not use valid travel documents, he said his passport was being held by his first wife.
"Usually, I would fly to Indonesia, but this time my first wife is holding my passport," he said, adding that he had spent five days in Medan.
He said his first wife, who is also from Medan, works as a canteen operator in Rawang, and that they have been married for 19 years and have four children together.
Both men were among 50 individuals detained during a special operation conducted by the Selangor Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in the early hours of Monday (Jan 26).
Selangor MMEA director Maritime Captain Abdul Muhaimin Muhammad Salleh said all those detained had been handed over to the relevant authorities for further investigation.
The case is being investigated under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Atipsom) Act 2007 for entering and leaving the country through non-gazetted routes.
