A number of Ayah Pin followers have left Kampung Batu 13, the now-barren commune dubbed the Sky Kingdom in Hulu Besut, Terengganu, due to looming uncertainties.

During a visit to the village late last week, a few households were seen busily loading furniture onto a lorry, with children running around playing in the hot afternoon sun, oblivious to the events unfolding before them.

Mohd Ghani Yusop, 43, a father of two young children, said they had no choice.

"We were forced to make this decision out of economic necessity and the uncertainty over the future of our houses here," he said, dragging a table over a steep mound.

They were moving to Kampung Susudara in Kelantan, about two hours away.

"Shifting out has nothing to do with abandoning the village or Ayah Pin. It is a practical decision we were forced to make," said Mohd Ghani as he loaded more household items onto the small lorry.

"We've lived here for 10 years. This will always be our home but my family needs to be fed, so I decided that moving out... temporarily, would ease our financial burden."

'They might do it again'

Mohd Ghani said they were afraid that the district council's demolition squad will return unannounced.

"They have done it before, they might do it again. It disrupts and directly affects our livelihood. We can't continue to live in such uncertainty, with dependents and all."

Ariffin Mohammad, 65, better known as Ayah Pin, has gone into hiding following a series of actions by the authorities in recent weeks to stamp out his brand of spiritual philosophy dubbed the Sky Kingdom.

Since the early morning attack by dozens of masked, parang-wielding, white- robed men on July 18, and the raid by religious authorities two days later, only a handful of families have chosen to remain in the two-hectare commune.

Ariffin's third wife, Ruzilan Mokhtar, 41, who was at one of the nearby houses, reiterated an appeal for the district authorities to spare the homes of over 140 villagers.

Being demonised

A mother of three who only wanted to be known as Yah, 29, said they were being demonised by the religious authorities. They had moved from Kuala Krai to the commune in April to be close to her parents and in-laws.

"During the (July 20) raid, they entered our village real fast and in large numbers, which took us all by surprise.

"Then we saw the three huge police dogs accompanying the uniformed personnel. I was surprised because it was as if we were hardened criminals about to escape the law.

"The number of personnel, dogs, how quickly they entered the village and our houses is very scary. They thought we would escape but we've never resisted action. We're simple people with simple needs in life."

Furthermore, she said, the villagers were not told why or where they were going. Yah and two other women were allowed to remain and care for the 20-30 children whose parents had been arrested.

"We thought they will return soon because that's what we were told but only later did we find out that they had been detained," she said, relating the trauma suffered by many of the villagers, especially the womenfolk.

Four members of Yah's family were detained while a neighbour, Sulaiman Takrib, had eight members in his family arrested on that day.

She said many were confused about what to do next due to the different advise proffered by well-meaning friends and neighbours.

"Everyone is saying different things. Some are telling to move out, some say we should remain here. It's so difficult. Serabut kepala la... (at my wit's end)," she said

Children's safety

Yah's seven-year-old son, and a few other children from the village, have stopped going to school since the dawn attack. Most parents fear retaliation while their children are outside the commune.

"The welfare department did ask about the children's schooling but how can we send them after all this?

"The van which sent our children to SK Bukit Payong was smashed that day and we don't know what else outsiders would do to our children while away from here," she said.

Villagers recently said that only 10 families were left because they had nowhere else to go.