[VIDEO] Haunted by guilt, Ras Adiba doggedly searches for missing friend, presenter Zalina Azman

SHAH ALAM – Swallowed by remorse and guilt that she may have failed her friend in a time of dire need, Senator Datuk Ras Adiba Radzi has gone on an unrelenting crusade to search and bring home her old TV3 comrade-in-arms and former 1990s television personality Zalina Azman.

Spearheading a volunteer search party, the Bernama chairman and her husband, Mohamed Azam Ali who was also a TV3 staff, began scouring the nooks and crannies of Shah Alam for the second night in a row on Thursday for more than four hours.

Abandoned but relatively clean home

The search, which began at 6.45pm up till after 10pm also explored Zalina’s abandoned home in Seksyen 3, Shah Alam, with The Vibes’ Bahasa Malaysia sister portal Getaran’s team and TV3’s own 999 crew tagging along.

In their search, the party found her bungalow abandoned, without any electricity with the front door left unlocked.However, it was rather bizarre to find that even though the house has been left behind, it was not too messy and there seemed to be a lack of dust accumulated amongst her furniture, which was also still arranged in a relatively organised manner.

Despite failing to find her long-lost friend two nights in a row, an emotional Ras, laden with guilt, stressed that she will not stop searching for the missing former presenter.

“Zalina has been my friend since the early 90s, so when I found out, when I read that she was missing, I told myself that I must help and do what I can to find our missing friend.

“So, when I was told by my elder cousin, Haleeza Hashim in London about the report, she asked me about it and it was only then that we realised she’s been missing since the year that I was told.

“So, it was something that was very hard for me to accept because we are in the media line. How did we lose track of one of our own until she disappeared?

“So, truthfully, I feel guilty. I feel guilty because this happened under my nose and I didn’t realise it. And thank Allah that we also see netizens coming out to say that they’ve spotted her or seen her in some locations,” she said to Getaran.

Our last hug

The last time the two friends met was in 2020 when Ras and her husband coincidentally bumped into Zalina at a restaurant in Petaling Jaya where the two quickly caught up with one another.

The senator and community activist recalled that when they were hanging out, it felt like they had never been apart.

“I remember telling our other mutual friends that when we were about to leave, she hugged me.

“At that time, I felt like that hug was the last hug. I don’t know how to say it at that time, it’s just that I felt so bothered when I tried to reach out to her and she had my phone number but we couldn’t catch up because of the Covid-19 lockdown,” said Ras as she began breaking down in tears.

She added that she has been swallowed by guilt for letting her friend go through such an unfortunate situation alone, without anyone to help.

People have called me crazy, but I don’t care

Furthermore, she acknowledged that there are people who have described her and her quest as “crazy”, seeing that even police have failed to track down the missing Zalina, even though her disappearance was reported by her son in November last year.

“Everyone told me: You’re crazy. Police took months to look for her. How are you going to find her? I said never mind, let them call me crazy.

“I still want to do it, to look for my friend. At least I’ve tried instead of not trying at all. If I don't look for her, I will always feel guilty because I let my friend go missing and I didn’t try to help her,” she said as a hint of steel began to glint in her teary eyes.

When asked if she had contacted Zalina’s family members regarding the disappearance, Ras explained that she never reached out to them in order to respect their privacy.

So far, her search party involves a small group including her husband, close friends, and those in the media fraternity.

She also thanked Malaysians and social media users as a whole for sharing their information, especially whenever they update her on Zalina’s possible whereabouts.

The veteran media personality also asked the public to take pictures or record a video if they encounter a person they believe to be the missing former tv presenter.

Please come home

As her emotions finally overwhelmed her, Ras tearfully asks her old friend to come home.

“So, to Zalina, if you, to Zall, if you are watching this, and you are seeing this, if you are watching this, I want to tell you, come home. It’s okay. It’s okay to not be okay. It’s alright if we are not all right.

“We’re friends, we’re old friends and we help each other through thick and thin, through good times and bad.

“Please Zally, if you are listening to me, if you are listening, I just want to say, come home. Come home so we can help you and look after you. That’s all I’m asking.” – The Vibes, July 23, 2022