Acehnese man wants to stay in Malaysia

Acehnese man wants to stay in Malaysia

MALAYSIA: A 20-year-old Acehnese man who survived eight days in the ocean by clinging to an uprooted tree after being swept away by tsunamis has appealed to be allowed to stay in Malaysia, reports said on Friday.

Rizal Shahputra, from Meulaboh in Indonesia's Aceh province which was hardest hit by the Dec. 26 disaster, is recovering in a Malaysian hospital after being rescued on Monday evening by a container vessel.

Shattered by the total destruction of his village, and with his parents and two siblings feared to have perished, he said there was nothing left for him to return to in Aceh.

"I have nothing left to go back to, I want to remain here," he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

Rizal is the second tsunami survivor rescued by Malaysian ships after housewife Malawati Daud was plucked out last Friday by a fishing boat after drifting in the sea for five days.

Malawati, 23, who is pregnant, has expressed her desire to return to Aceh to look for her 25-year-old husband, the newspaper said. -- AFP