SEARCH parties are still combing the jungles in the Temenggor Forest Reserve in Perak for nine-year-old Kamiliah Anab, who went missing while gathering rattan about a month ago.

Kamiliah, or Ayeng to her friends and family, is from the Jahai tribe in Sealor Village in Gerik, Perak. She has been missing since January 13 after going out to gather rattan with her family members.

She was last seen in a yellow top and orange pants with a backpack. Search and rescue teams and villagers have not been able to locate her whereabouts.

Asok, the tok batin coordinating search parties among the villagers, said heavy rain in the area has made it more difficult to search for Ayeng.

“We are still looking for her everyday but almost four weeks in, we can’t even find any of the belongings she had with her when she went into the forest,” Asok told The Malaysian Insight.

“It’s also been raining heavily here, so the terrain is muddy and slippery.”

Search and rescue (SAR) teams from the police, Fire Services Department, Orang Asli police tracker unit Senoi Praaq, World Wildlife Foundation and Department of Orang Asli Affairs (Jakoa) looked for her for six days from January 14 to 19.

Ayeng, who is mentally disabled, is also afraid of strangers, her mother Kasima Anab said.

“Whenever she sees strangers, she will hide and won’t come out.

“It is possible when the rescuers went to search for her, she hid because she was afraid,” Kasima said, implying that that could have been why the SAR teams could not find her.

A team of volunteers from civil society group Panthera, who conducted a grid search along with a rotating team of villagers from January 20 to 26, also found no trace of her.

While the authorities’ coordinated searches have all but stopped, several teams from the Gerik police station have been travelling on and off to the village to continue searching for Ayeng.

“We have gone back into the jungle twice in the last two weeks but just like before, we didn’t find anything,” a source from the Gerik police station said.

Rescuers had previously described the terrain as challenging with thick foliage as well as home to wild animals such as tigers and elephants.

While the odds seem to be stacked against rescuers finding her whereabouts, Asok said Ayeng’s family and the villagers would continue to look for her.

“We won’t give up on her. If we ever decide to stop looking, we will inform the authorities,” they said. – February 10, 2022.