Six-day old infant unwitting victim of stand-off

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LAHAD DATU: Infant Wan Mauliana Amani Aziati turned six days old today, which also marked the number of days she has been cramping with 670 other villagers at a temporary evacuation centre in Kampung Embara Budi.

The newborn girl, who suffers from mild jaundice, had yet to be vaccinated, and already she is challenged to live in a poor hygienic place.

Fondly nicknamed ‘Amoi’ by the adults at the centre, she has not been given proper bath due to the lack of clean water supply.

“All we could do was to wipe her body. Luckily, she is not grumpy, maybe she understands the difficulties we are in,” said her mother, Adawiyah Tuljannah.

The 25-year-old housewife from Kampung Tanjung Labian said, Wan Mauliana was born at 6.26 pm on Mar 3, just two hours before they were forced to board a lorry and rushed to the hall.

“She was delivered by my mother-in-law, who is the midwife in my village. I was still weak when we were asked to leave and only managed to grab two or three pieces of baby cloths and some essential things for my newborn, apart from our change of clothing,” she said.

Adawiyah said, they were excited to welcome their latest bundle of joy.

“We have bought a lot of things for her, but everything had to be left at our house. So I hope we can go home soon and live a normal life again,” she said, holding the apple of their eyes close to her.

Accompanying her were husband, Bakri Kabir, and the couple’s two other children, Ikwan Mohd Ramdan, six, and Wan Shafiah Nafisgah Balqis, three.

Basri, meanwhile, revealed that Adawiyah started having her contractions at 6 am.

“I wanted to take my wife to the clinic at around 5 pm but all entries were closed by the security forces. We heard about the attack on Mar 1 resulting in the death of two commandos so we understood the purpose of the roadblock. So, since we cannot go out, we turned to my mother instead,” he said.

The 26-year-old labourer at the Felda Sahabat oil palm plantation said, they were asked to ‘take a rest’ since half a month ago following the stand off here.

Basri is keeping his fingers crossed, not knowing their fate, or whether their salaries would be paid.

“All I know is I need to protect my family and ensure nothing happens to them.

“It is sad that Wan Mauliana was brought to this world at a time when we are surrounded by all these chaos … but I believe something good will come out from all this.

“Looking at her makes us forget the challenges ahead of us and I am optimistic that the situation will change for the better,” he said.