MALAYANS MISSING

Press, Volume C, Issue 29626, 23 September 1961, Page 5

MALAYANS MISSING

Repatriation Ordered (N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright), DARWIN, September 21. Two Malayans who were to be repatriated were not at Darwin airport today, and the jet airliner on which they were to travel left without them.

The men are believed to have gone into hiding. They are Daris bin Saris, aged 31, who has been in Australia 12 years, and Zainal bin Hashim, aged 32, who has been in Australia five years. A third man Jaffa Madunne, aged 35, is due to be flown home in a few days when his passport 'is readj', and a fourth man, a Chinese. Chan See Cham, aged 30 will be repatriated later to Hong Kong. All the men came to Australia as indentured pearling divers, but recently lost their jobs because of a slump in pearlshell prices. Both Saris and Madunne were staying with Mr and Mrs Salluh bin Sallik in the Darwin suburb of Winnellie. Mrs Sallik said today: “Daris and Jaffa have gone. I don't know where they are.” Friends say that Zainal bin Hassim is with these two men. Demonstration Cancelled A mass demonstration to have been held at Darwin airport today was cancelled “in view of other developments.” Saris’s fare of £B7 10s has been paid to Qantas Empire Airways by his bondsman, James Gonzales, the pearling master who employed him. and had contracted with the Federal Government to repatriate him. Gonzales is no longer in business. Gonzales is likely to lose his bond of £2OO for each of the three men. unless they are found. Meanwhile, the Darwin City Couhcil has added to the many protests against the repatriations. A resolution was carried to the effect that the council, the chief civic organisation in Darwin, viewed the deportations “with disgust.”