‘Cold-hearted and cruel killers’: Wife of missing retired Felcra officer Sabari Baharom speaks out, remembers his kind soul

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 — “How could they (the suspects) commit such cruelty against my husband? Their hearts are so cold,” said Subhiah Roslina Shahibi, 57, the wife of Sabari Baharom, 62, who is believed to have been murdered after being reported missing since September 4.

Yesterday, police confirmed that Sabari was thrown into the Padang Terap River in Jitra, with his hands bound and mouth taped shut, according to a report published in Harian Metro yesterday.

This information was obtained by the police from the confessions of two local men aged 26 and 38, who were arrested last Friday.

To Subhiah, the suspects’ act of throwing her husband into the river is beyond comprehension, but she believes that all the evil they have done will eventually come to light.

“No matter how clever a squirrel jumps, it will eventually fall to the ground. No matter how smart we think we are, there is always foolishness; if we do evil, we cannot hide it,” she said when contacted yesterday.

Recalling the incident, Subhiah learned about the report of her husband being thrown into the river around 2pm yesterday through a family WhatsApp group.

“Initially, my husband’s nephew informed the family group, followed by my husband’s son, who mentioned they were at the Kedah Police Contingent Headquarters meeting with the state police chief. From there, I learned that my husband had been thrown into the river. Although it is heavy, I am relieved because after waiting for 26 days, we finally have an answer. Now, we are just waiting for my husband’s body to be found,” she said while en route to the incident location in Jitra from Kuala Lumpur.

Subhiah hopes that the search operation will be facilitated and that the police will be able to find her husband’s body or any belongings belonging to him.

“I hope anything related to (the search for) my husband, such as clothing, will be found, even though the hope is slim because the area was severely affected by flooding (previously),” she said.

Subhiah, who was in a long-distance relationship with Sabari as she worked at the Felcra headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, said that she will miss her husband’s cooking.

“My husband really loved to cook... his favourite dish to make was curry because he was from the north. After this, I will miss his cooking,” she said.

Only meeting him when he was free, Subhiah described her husband as a good person known as a “surau member.”

She said her husband was not a harsh person and was always gentle, and the incident that befell him was deemed very cruel.

“What I miss the most is when he came to Kuala Lumpur; he would always tidy up the house, and now that he’s not here, I start to remember him and feel this longing. My husband served in several states before retiring, but I have never heard anyone speak ill of him; instead, they always praised his goodness.

“My husband always spoke kindly, and he also advised me not to go to areas with sinkholes since I live in Kuala Lumpur, saying that if I went missing, it would be difficult, but he ended up being the one who went missing,” she said.

According to Subhiah, she accepts the divine decree, and their family will continue to perform special prayers.