KUCHING: Every time she sees two paintings by her late nephew Mohammad Afif Tambi, Madzalina Ghazalee would feel overwhelming grief.
The two paintings are of a boy falling from the sky and a blonde-haired girl looking at the boy while standing next to an object in white and red, purportedly the wing of an aircraft belonging to Malaysia Airlines (MAS).
“Both paintings have a significant connection with MH17,” said Madzalina, who is Ariza Ghazalee’s sister.
Ariza died aboard MH17 along with her husband Tambi Jiee and their four children Muhammad Afif, Muhammad Afzal, Marsha Ameera and Muhammad Afruz.
It was during Ramadan on July 17, 2014 when MAS flight MH17 travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by a Russian missile and crashed somewhere over the vast sunflower fields of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
The tragedy snuffed out the lives of 280 passengers and crew.
Since then, it has never been easy for Madzalina and family to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri as she cannot help but recall the memories they had with their loved ones in preparing for the festivity.
“Every time during Hari Raya, she was the busiest person in the family – from cleaning the house, decorating, buying necessary items to cooking in the kitchen.
“Our home would be extra lively as Afif would go around joking with his cousins,” she recalled, adding that the victim had been excited to break fast and spend the festive celebrations back home with their mother and family.
Six pairs of pristine white baju raya belonging to Ariza’s family, along with the paintings, were some of the stuff they found at Afif’s house after the tragedy.
The family was coming back to Malaysia for good as Ariza’s husband Tambi had been transferred to Shell Malaysia’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
Although it has been almost five years since Ariza and family had passed on, Madzalina admitted that she could still not hide her anguish, and that she missed their regular Saturday morning conversations.
“Of course, I miss my sister. When she was in Kazakhstan with her family, we would chat through the Internet to update ourselves and share many stories.
“She would tell me what she and her family had been up to and I would update her on our mother and family members here in Kuching.
“Our conversations would remain etched in my memory forever,” a teary-eyed Madzalina told New Sarawak Tribune when met at the newly-built Masjid Al-Ghazali in Jalan Depo, Petra Jaya near here recently.
When asked whether her family had received any investigation updates from the authorities, Madzalina said she attended a briefing by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) under the Dutch authorities in Kuala Lumpur three months ago.
“From the briefing with the JIT, the investigation is bogged down by constant delays and foot-dragging because it involves a powerful country like Russia.
“The process is still ongoing but it requires a period of time.
“Based on my understanding, the JIT had called the two possible suspects – Ukraine or Russia – for information,” she elaborated.
She also mentioned that although the cause of the tragedy appeared to point at Russia rather than Ukraine, the JIT needed to gather concrete evidence to establish the truth and hold the perpetrators accountable.
“It may seem easy to blame Russia just because they are more high-tech than Ukraine. However, there are many things that they have to take into consideration during investigation,” she added.
“I have many fond memories of my sister. In fact, there are too many memories that we will never forget.
“As a Muslim, I accept the tragic deaths as fate and Allah’s will,” she said.
To remember the victims, the family used money from compensation to build the Masjid Al-Ghazali mosque.
