DUNGUN: It has been 18 years since Sharlinie Mohd Nashar went missing but her mother Suraya Ahmad, 46, still hopes her daughter will one day return.
Suraya said she prays every day and hopes to be reunited with her third of four children.
Sharlinie, then aged four, disappeared in Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya, Selangor on Jan 9, 2008.
"I still hope to meet Nini (Sharlinie) again, safe and healthy. I believe she is still alive. Nini, who was born on Jan 30, 2004, will be 22 this year.
"If we are destined to meet again, I will still recognise her because she closely resembles my second child, Sharliena, who is now 26," she said when met at her home in Kampung Padang Pulut here on Saturday (March 14).
Suraya who divorced he ex-husband Mohd Nashar Mat in 2018, said that her longing for Sharlinie is especially strong whenever Hari Raya Aidilfitri approaches.
She said Sharlinie was always cheerful during Aidilfitri and would be excited to show off her new clothes.
"Since she disappeared, every Aidilfitri celebration feels incomplete," she said.
For now, she said she can only look at photographs of her daughter and gently touching two sets of pink and yellow clothes Sharlinie used to wear.
However, Suraya said her longing for her missing child is eased somewhat by the close relationship she has with her three other children as well as her two grandsons aged four and two, who bring joy to her life.
Suraya said she now works as an assistant at a food stall near her house.
She also makes and sells banana chips on a small scale to supplement her income.
Sharlinie's disappearance in 2008 shocked the nation.
She was walking home with her sister Sharliena from a playground just 200m from their rented house in Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya.
Although thousands of posters about her disappearance were distributed and various efforts were undertaken by many parties to locate her, no information on Sharlinie's whereabouts has surfaced to this day. – Bernama
