COMMENT | Malaysia, help me bring back my father

COMMENT | My doorbell rang at 3am on April 29, 2017. It was my brother. Even now, I can still remember how his face was full of fear and confusion. My brother and I had been eagerly expecting our parents’ arrival in the US later that day.

But instead, we found out that our 72-year-old father, Mamat Abdullah (above), had been detained by the Chinese government.

That was the beginning of the darkest time of our lives.

My father is a former chief of the Bureau of Forestry in our homeland, the Uyghur Region of China (a.k.a Xinjiang). At the time of his arrest, he had worked for the Chinese government for more than 40 years.

In that time, his leadership and integrity allowed him to make numerous contributions to our society and our environment. He’d helped to save wild animals like the Przewalski’s mustang from extinction and reduce rapid deforestation by preventing illegal logging.

He was a model citizen, but he suddenly became ...