Papa Orang Utan still missing

More than 24 hours have gone by since Radio Free Sarawak (RFS) presenter Peter John Jaban was whisked away here by three unknown men early Thursday, and still there is no news on his whereabouts or the circumstances behind his disappearance.

A rumour going around in Kuala Lumpur yesterday was of someone getting hold of Jaban — or better known by his moniker Papa Orang Utan — through his cellphone, and managing to speak to the 48-year-old. Jaban is said to affirm that he was fine.

However, several calls by The Star to Jaban’s cellphone to confirm this were to no avail.

Just after 12.30pm yesterday, the paper also received a call from RFS founder Clare Rewcastle-Brown in London — she was also trying to verify the rumour.

Rewcastle-Brown said Jaban had not contacted her or any of RFS’ staff or even his family in Kuching.

A female friend whom Jaban had communicated with before leaving Kota Kinabalu early Thursday also told Rewcastle-Brown that she had not heard anything.

“I have tried to call him many times but his phone is out of service,” said Rewcastle-Brown.

When asked whether a police report would be made, she said there was even doubt that Jaban was really missing or he was merely taken away by friends for his own safety.

Rewcastle-Brown added that at the moment, she was giving Malaysian police the benefit of the doubt that they were telling the truth and were not involved in Jaban’s disappearance.

Jaban, apparently, is said to have been moving in and out of Sarawak freely and his last trip back was last December.

Which brings up this scenario: If the authorities were really into arresting him as claimed, they could have done so then and not waited until Thursday.

He was apparently spotted at some nightspots in Kuching that month, and The Star verified this with Rewcastle-Brown, who confirmed this via SMS.

If he could visit Sarawak freely before, then Miri police chief ACP Mun Kock Keong’s initial suspicion on Thursday that Jaban had been denied entry into Sabah was possible.

That was why he was asked to return to Sarawak on the next flight out, which was to Miri.

The stand made by the police here was verified by Jaban’s lawyer Alan Ling on Thursday. He had confirmed and double-checked with the police here and they were unaware of what had happened.

They had no instruction to arrest Jaban and were not involved in his disappearance.

Ling, who is also Piasau assemblyman, felt that Jaban should have had the decency to call and say he was safe, or if his disappearance on Thursday was staged for his safety.
Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How, when contacted yesterday, also affirmed that Jaban had been in and out of Sarawak before.

Jaban had alerted See when he was detained at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport on Thursday.

In response, See contacted Ling and Miri PKR chairman Dr Michael Teo to meet Jaban at the Miri Airport. They all expected the police to arrest Jaban there.

However, this did not materialise, but Jaban was clearly shaken and shocked upon arrival.
According to Dr Teo, Jaban was shocked that he was not arrested as he had been warned about this by the authorities in Sabah.

He arrived here at about 10.40am.

See met Jaban’s family yesterday, and said the family would only decide what to do after their meeting later yesterday.

At press time yesterday, ACP Mun confirmed that no police report on Jaban’s disappearance had been lodged and added that if any was made, they would refer it to Miri where Jaban disappeared.
Jaban is a former deejay with radio station Cats.FM. Before that, he was employed by the Land and Survey Department in Kuching.

He joined RFS since its inception in 2010 and came into the limelight when the radio station launched its Iban language call-in shows.

The show proved a tremendous success with listeners calling in and openly speaking about alleged corruption.

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