SIBU: The search for two Sarawakian soldiers who went missing last month while on duty at Pulau Perak, Kedah will continue if there are new leads, says Mohamad Sabu (pic).

The Defence Minister said he had met the families of the two missing soldiers to convey that the search would continue once they had gathered new leads.

He added that the Armed Forces were not quiet on the matter as it had its own standard operating procedure (SOP) to follow when revealing information on the search.

“We, the Armed Forces have our own SOP in this search operation. If we have new leads, we will continue with the search,” said Mohamad.

He was speaking at a press conference after presenting the Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM) award for the Sarawak Armed Forces and the Pingat Kedaulatan Negara Peringkat Markas Pemerintahan Medan Timur to 200 recipients here on Sunday (Aug 18).

Recently, former Natural Resources and Environment minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar wanted the Defence Ministry to continue with the search instead of suspending it.

The families of the two missing soldiers had also insisted that authorities must resume the search for them.

The families believe the two men are still alive.

L/Kpl Moses Logers, 25, and Kpl David Edmund Rapi, 39, were reported missing while stationed at Pulau Perak for “Op Pejarak”, which was conducted by the Navy.

The operations involve the deployment of army personnel on two islands, one in Perak and the other in Kedah.

Located at the westernmost part of Malaysian territory, Pulau Perak is a small rocky outcrop with a diameter of 200m and steep cliffs of more than 100m.

The men’s absence was noticed during roll call on July 19.

On July 29, the Defence Minister said the search for the two men was suspended on July 26 as there were no leads.

Source – The Star Online