Hospital assistant Yabi Gintukod, 45, was seen walking towards his stilt house in Kampung Kepayan Baru as dogs broke out howling at 10.30pm on Friday.
He keeps his eyes closed most of the time and communicates only with his wife Mainis Gumpat in sign language.
Doctors found him physically well and have referred him for psychiatric treatment. He is currently under observation in the district hospital ward.
"I thank God he is back. I thank everyone who helped in the search for my husband,'' said Mainis who reported to police that her husband vanished in front of her very eyes after dinner on Feb 20.
Keningau district police chief Deputy Supt Abdul Hadi Baharudin said yesterday they would record Yabi's statement after he completed his medical treatment.
"We are happy that he was found. We don't know why he left or where he went but he seemed to have returned the same way he left,'' he said.
He said family members told Tambunan police that they heard dogs barking and on checking they found Yabi coming out of a forested area, some 150m from his house.
Yabi was wearing the same trousers and shirt he was last seen in.
"According to my OCS (officer in charge of station), Yabi looked fresh and there seemed to be nothing wrong with him physically,'' DSP Hadi said.
Yabi's disappearance caused a stir and some 700 villagers in the district mounted a search for him while bomohs and other mediums were brought in to communicate with "his soul.''
His brother-in-law Mahat Kulimpang had claimed that Yabi might have been taken by aliens or other supernatural beings.
As mysteriously as Yabi went missing, he has re-appeared. However, many questions remain unanswered, just like in the X-Files.
A woman told police that her husband became "invisible'' right before her eyes, and has not been seen since the incident last week.
Keningau district police chief Deputy Supt Abdul Hadi Baharudin confirmed that a report was lodged by a housewife who said her husband, hospital assistant Yabi Gintukod, 45, had gone missing.
However, he declined to give details of the police report, only saying that they have classified it as a missing persons case.
"Like all missing persons cases, we have flashed the information to all OCPDs and are seeking the help of the village committee to help trace Yabi,'' he said.
Mainis Gampat, a mother of eight, claimed that Yabi suddenly became invisible and vanished into thin air before her eyes just after dinner on Feb 20.
"We have not been able to locate him since then,'' she told reporters at her house in Kampung Kepayan Baru here.
She claimed it was the second time that her husband had disappeared.
In the last incident which occurred two days before his second disappearance, Mainis said Yabi was found sitting in a bush in a stupor. They sent him for a medical check-up and he was found to be in good health.
Yabi's brother-in-law Mahat Kulimpang claimed that Yabi had spoken to him of an encounter with a man whom he claimed to be an "alien'' with a square body.
"Yabi told me that the alien wanted him to go a strange place,'' Mahat said.
He claimed that Yabi had always wanted to go to that place.
"The night before Yabi disappeared, he was wearing white and his feet were not touching the ground.
"When I touched his shirt, it slowly turned black and he soon passed out,'' claimed Mahat, who seemed puzzled by the phenomenon.
Police, however, are not ready to comment on the family members' stories saying only that they were searching for Yabi.
In the meantime, Yabi's wife has also sought the assistance of bomohs to trace the whereabouts of her husband.
Invisible Malaysian Returns Under Mysterious Circumstances
[Original headline: Man who 'vanished' reappears near home]
TAMBUNAN: A man, whose family claimed was abducted by aliens, has returned home after 11 days.
• Story originally published by •
The Star, Petaling Jaya / Malaysia | By Muguntan Vanar - March 5 2001Alien Involvement Claim In Invisible Man Case
Tambunan, Malaysia: A police report has been lodged about an incident that could have come right of an X-Files episode. [Original headline: Wife sees husband 'vanish']
The Star, Petaling Jaya / Malaysia | By Muguntan Vanar - February 27 2001
