Jacqueline Pascarl made headlines 30 years ago when her two children were abducted from Australia by her former husband, a Malaysian prince. She didn’t see them again for 14 years.
While relentlessly fighting to get them back, Jacqueline, 59 was steeled by the trauma to become a humanitarian aid worker, including setting up, in 1997, her own not for profit relief organisation, Operation Angel.
Her efforts were recently rewarded with an Order of Australia, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. OAMs recognise Australians who have demonstrated outstanding service or exceptional achievement.
There’s a famous saying: “Don’t get bitter, just get better.” It could encapsulate Jacqueline Pascarl’s life.
Jacqueline was a 17-year-old ballerina in 1980 when she met a prince, HRH Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad, grandson of the former king of Malaysia (then in Melbourne studying architecture), who whisked her off her pointe shoes to a marble palace in the Islamic state of Terengganu, Malaysia.
Over the next few years, the fairytale went horribly wrong, descending into a cycle of abuse, deception, and virtual imprisonment, according to Jacqueline.
With her two children, toddler son Iddin and baby daughter Shahirah (Shah), she was sent home to visit Australia shortly after the prince took a second wife.
Jacqueline decided the violence and other conditions back in the palace were untenable and chose to remain in Melbourne with the children.
On July 9, 1992, the prince had Iddin and Shah kidnapped.
“My two children [then aged 9 and 7 respectively] were abducted from my legal custody and subsequently taken to Malaysia,” Jacqueline recalled in 2018.
“The kidnapping took place under horrific and dangerous circumstances with my children drugged, abused, and terrified.
“I did not see, speak, or hold them again for 14 long years, by which time, all that should pass between mother and children in the normal and humane course of childhood had been lost to us.”
At a news conference in Kuala Lumpur in 1992, Raja Bahrin Shah indicated that he would not be returning the children to their mother and had taken them because of “Allah’s will”.
“It was not my decision but almighty Allah’s,” he said. “When Allah wants something to happen, it happens. Allah in this case wants my children to grown up as Muslims.
“They were born Muslims, but I was surprised that they were baptised one-and-a-half years ago. I fail as a father and a Muslim if I don’t do something.
“I am perfectly amazed myself to see they are adapting very well to life in Malaysia, and I have no intention of returning them to Melbourne.”
The story made international headlines as Jacqueline (known at the time by her then-married name, Gillespie) battled relentlessly – but ultimately futilely – to have her children returned.
It was only in 2006 she received an email which became the first step in the highly anticipated and emotional reunion, first with Shah and then Iddin.
TURNING NEGATIVES INTO POSITIVES
Even as she battled for years to have her children returned, Jacqueline channeled her grief and loss into a positive force.
“I have spent my life since then dedicated to helping others, in humanitarian aid work, refugee assistance, and in war and disaster zones attempting to make the world a better place for all children,” Jacqueline says.
“I learned to rebuild myself amid devastation. Although nothing will EVER heal our family or restore the 14 years of hell and emotional torture we were forced to endure, I have found happiness and fulfillment in my professional and personal life. But it has taken hard work.”
In those intervening years, not one to sit still and wait, Jacqueline retrained and studied humanitarian law and advocacy, emergency response and infection control.
She deployed as a humanitarian aid worker and emergency medic with CARE International and represented the agency as Special Ambassador and later Global Patron, as well as in advocacy in the sphere of international law and human rights, advising Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the US State Department, and the European Union, travelling and working everywhere from East Timor, Africa to Bosnia and other disaster zones.
LIFE BEGINS ANEW FOR JACQUELINE PASCARL
Eventually, Jacqueline went on to have two more children: daughter Verity, now 21, and son Zan, 19.
However, before their safe arrival, she suffered the stillbirth of twin sons, Angus and Fergus, and a little girl, Madeline, who was delivered at 32 weeks and did not survive.
Today she is blissfully married to a Melbourne dental surgeon, Ian, who enthusiastically supports her endeavours. In her “spare” time, Jacqueline runs his practice.
“Let’s just say, I have finally found true fulfilment and peace with a person who is intellectually and morally on equal footing with me, and we support each other professionally,” she says.
“Having formerly experienced severe domestic abuse, despite all my professional achievements and been a victim of childhood sexual abuse as well, I am happily at peace.
“Instead of compartmentalising my emotions and my thoughts, or stymieing my intellect, I can be wholly me.
“He is my greatest cheer squad and indefatigable volunteer when needed, even with the long hours he works himself in his practice.
“It also helps that we have so much in common – he is the epitome of an Aussie gem, and he is an amazing father, clinician and human.”
A POWERFUL PORTFOLIO
Since the 1990s, Jacqueline has worked in radio and TV, and as a filmmaker; her portfolio including the award-winning documentary Empty Arms – Broken Hearts. She also received the United Nations Media Award for her writing as an author and filmmaker.
In 1995, she moved into the area of child literacy and established Operation Book Power in Kenya and South Africa.
In 1998, she was appointed Special Ambassador for CARE International and worked as an emergency aid worker in the war zones of Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor.
Jacqueline has been a high-profile international lobbyist on human rights and refugee issues and in recognition of her humanitarian work she was appointed to a new role as a patron of CARE International in January 2007.
An internationally recognised expert on the Hague Convention and International Parental Child Abduction, Jacqueline has lectured at the US State Department, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the European Union and the Hong Kong Family Law Association.
She was awarded the United Nations Special Commendation for the International Year of the Family in 1996 and received two recognition awards from the US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. Jacqueline is the Recipient of the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal (several clasps) from the Governor General and several other medals.
Additionally, she was the first woman to be appointed as National Vice Chairperson of the Australian Defence Force – dealing with Reserve Forces, Medical and Humanitarian issues, holding the role as a statutory appointee for a number of years until she retired in July 2020.
OPERATION ANGEL TAKES FLIGHT
Today, Jacqueline’s humanitarian and charitable efforts are focused on Operation Angel, the not for profit, secular organisation she founded in 1997 and of which she is CEO.
“Operation Angel brings practical relief and self-sustaining assistance to individuals and families affected by natural disaster or large-scale human tragedy in Australia,” she says.
It was originally designed to assist disadvantaged and war-affected children and women in building self-reliance and self-esteem, but Operation Angel was reinvigorated during the 2009 Victorian bushfire crisis to respond to local catastrophes, evolving into a rapid response, community and volunteer support organisation, providing sustainable aid in times of emergency and disaster across Australia.
“Its work as a key relief agency came to the fore during the national bushfire emergency of 2020, supplying hygiene kits and comfort packs to fire fighters and first responders, as well as displaced citizens,” Jacqueline says.
SOME OF OA’S OTHER KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
During the 2009 Victorian bushfire crisis, Operation Angel individually curated and collated humanitarian hygiene comfort kits.
Massed community groups, individual families, retirees, school groups, and corporations – including the ANZ Bank and ANZ Private Wealth Group and the NAB – volunteered hundreds of staff to assist in the quality control, packing and distribution of assistance.
“Each pack also had a hand-written thank you note from a child or grateful citizen – achieving a tangible way for the pubic to express admiration and solidarity with firefighters,” says Jacqueline.
“This was an end-to-end initiative, whereby I also drove trucks 14 hours a day, twice weekly (as a qualified emergency responder) into and through the fire cordons to deliver the packs to the base camp staging areas.
“We organised and distributed over $2 million of humanitarian relief supplies including quality clothing, toiletries, toys, water filtration systems, tools, bedding, hoses, nappies and bicycles to Victorian bushfire survivors and raised over $3.6 million worth of new goods via corporate donation, organised distribution and collections and drove trucks in convoys across the state to make deliveries.
Responding to the Queensland floods and cyclone relief in 2011, Operation Angel directed efforts into school premises in Brisbane and the Lockyer Valley utilising donated cleaning supplies, including procuring and managing logistics support from Queensland Rail and the Australian Defence Force.
OA also worked in the areas of Queensland flattened by Tropical Cyclone Yasi, which destroyed hundreds of homes, and co-ordinated and managed volunteers, collection points and corporate donors across seven states, in addition to resources from New Zealand, Hong Kong, China, the UK and US.
“We are Melbourne based but in times of national crisis, we use volunteers around Australia [those interested in volunteering can follow through on Facebook],” says Jacqueline.
“Scores of volunteers trust me to set a course and develop a cohesive and innovative response when needed.
“When I am operating on my own, I often stumble over people or situations that need individual assistance and just do my best to iron out problems for them or source what they need.
“I am currently working with a young mother of two who has a very serious oral cancer and not a lot of practical family support due to illness in other members of the family.“I put out a call for wigs for her, found her a freezer from an unexpected and welcome donation, and filled that with home-cooked meals for her and her family. I love a practical solution to a problem or for someone who needs a hand.
“I pack boxes, drive trucks, conceive new projects and implement them in a hands-on way. If I’m not getting dirty or being at the coal face, then I am not doing my role properly and I’m letting people down who count on Operation Angel.
“Essentially, we are successful with what we do as we can pivot quickly and develop innovative solutions that pop into my head to meet desperate needs.”
STOP VIOLENCE AT THE START
Last July, Jacqueline became involved in a national media campaign about steps to prevent family violence – Stop It At The Start – a cause she is passionate to highlight.
Stop It At The Start is being raised to a new level in February with a TV campaign, in which Jacqueline appears with youngest daughter Verity.
“I am very proud to be involved [in a campaign] combatting and educating our society about family violence and importance of respect,” she says.
“It’s something I believe in passionately, and feel strongly about in terms of how we, collectively, raise our children and teach them how to respond to challenges.
“As a person who has experienced domestic violence and abuse, I know that it is never too early to begin teaching our kids about respect and what is acceptable behaviour.
“It’s never too early to start with little ones. This new campaign covers off on violence and acceptance of children and people who identify as members of the LGBTI+ sphere; why as parents, loving our children is all that matters and how short-sighted it is to reject a kid just because they love who they love.”
THE CELEBRITY CONNECTIONS
As a result of her own best-selling books, Jacqueline was introduced by their mutual publisher to powerhouse British, LA-based author Jackie Collins – who sold 500 million copies of her 32 steamy romance novels – and sister of actress Dame Joan, over a lunch in Melbourne’s famous Stokehouse restaurant.
“We literally sniffed each other – identifying a very rare perfume we both had worn for years!”, Jacqueline recalls.
“Mine I had adopted at aged 16 and Jackie for at least 20 years. [Jackie and I] corresponded for years and visited each other or co-ordinated dates to meet up overseas when possible.
“Even when she was very sick [the author died of breast cancer at 77 in 2015], Jackie made sure to blog about my daughter Verity’s writing and support her with an endorsement to her own fans.
“She passed away not long afterwards, and I still miss her sassy notes and pointers on marketing which were sterling and innovative. Boy, did she know how to sell a book, or ice to Eskimos!
“Jackie was a great supporter of my work as well, and it was she who introduced me to Sidney and Joanna Poitier and Michael and Shakira Caine.
“Shakira became my London girlfriend and Sir Michael a friend as well.
“The photo was taken [by Sir Sidney Poitier] the day I met Shakira at Le Dome restaurant in Los Angeles and we have been friends ever since.”
Following the death of the pioneering, legendary, Oscar-winning actor Sir Sidney Poitier, Jacqueline posted reminiscences of her friendship with him and wife Joanna, and how she [Jacqueline] looked out for their daughter, Sydney, when she once visited Australia.
