KUALA LUMPUR: A house belonging to the family of Siti Aishah, one of the two women detained in connection with the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the elder half-brother of the North Korean leader, is located in a very secluded area, far from Jakarta, Indonesia.
According to Jakarta-based Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) correspondent Azeman Ariffin, reaching the house was like going through a maze.
"To reach the house, I had to travel in and out of the cities, went through several villages and there was a small lane to pass through, causing my car to end up in the mud.
"I was the only one who was driving in that area," he recalled when met after receiving the Communications and Multimedia Ministry's Excellence Service Award (APC) here today.
Serving at the Jakarta office since 2015, Azeman shared his experience of travelling for nine hours from Jakarta to Siti Aishah's village at Kampung Rancasumur in Sindangsari Pabuaran, Serang to meet and interview the woman's family members.
Siti Aishah was detained by the Malaysian police to facilitate investigations into the murder of Jong-nam, a North Korean national, at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) on Feb 13.
On that day, Jong-nam was waiting for his flight to Macau when he was attacked by two women wiped his face with their poisonous liquid-stained palms.
He died on the way to the Putrajaya Hospital.
Although Azeman had not visited Siti Aishah's village, Kampung Rancasumur before, as a journalist he made a point of asking for directions along the way to help his journey.
Meanwhile, Bernama's Domestic News Service Editor, Khairdzir Md Yunus, another APC award recipient and attached to the news agency for the past 32 years, said new and young journalists needed to work hard and be sincere in performing their duties.
Earlier, Communications and Multimedia Deputy Minister Datuk Jailani Johari presented APC awards in the form of certificates of appreciation and premium savings certificates to 530 recipients from the ministry's eight agencies, including 33 of Bernama staff.
Among Bernama staff who received the awards were assistant news editors Mohd Shukri Ishak and Muna Khalid; deputy chief sub-editor (Bahasa Malaysia) Noor Hammad Wariman; chief sub-editor (English, Economic News) S. Durga Varma; and Bernama.com unit head, Ahmad Kamil Mohamed Tahir. -- BERNAMA