JITRA – Single mother Loh Siew Hong is eternally grateful to an anonymous person who had tipped her off on the whereabouts of her three children when she was heartbroken and desperately searching for them.
Earlier this year, the unknown party posted on her Facebook account a photograph of her children with the name of their halfway home in the background.
“I am forever indebted to this kind soul for reuniting me with my children,” said Loh in an interview with The Vibes.
Her habeas corpus application to regain custody of her twin daughters aged 14 and son aged 10 will be heard at the Kuala Lumpur High Court tomorrow.
The 35-year-old was trying to locate her three children who went missing for the last three years while she was undergoing treatment for mental and physical injuries from an allegedly abusive marriage.
She had divorced her husband and obtained custody of their children last year, with the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordering police to ensure the return of the children to her.
After she was discharged from the treatment centre for abused women in 2019, Loh scouted the northern region of Penang, Kedah, and Perlis to trace her children.
“It drew a blank. My estranged husband was in jail and his family refused to help me,” she recalled.
“My (ex) hubby even deleted the handphone numbers of my own relatives. Most of my relatives had by then relocated to Singapore. I was alone.”
She also lodged up to nine police reports and began the legal proceedings to have full custody after she finalised her divorce from her husband, who is now reportedly serving time at a Kelantan prison for using narcotics. He is due for release by November.
Loh is hoping to thank the person who fed the information to her for playing a significant role in this controversial case.
She then alerted police and sought help from the NGO Malaysian Tamilar Kural based in Butterworth.
Over the last two weeks, she has managed to see her children thrice.
When met yesterday, Loh said that she is only concerned with performing her duties as a mother to her three children as she awaits a crucial court decision in the next 48 hours.
She said that she only wants to impart her love to her three children, nothing more or less.
I think we have been hurt enough. They too after witnessing the domestic violence and separation. I too have been hurt. Enough of this. It is time to share our love as a family.”
Hence, Loh is hopeful that her habeas corpus application will be sanctioned by the court.
It is done to compel the return of her three children into her custody, as she alleges that they are being held illegally by the Perlis Islamic Religious Affairs Department.
Children are open to reconcile with her
Loh has indications that her children are open towards reconciliation after a three-year separation which saw them placed under the care at a Perlis religious department’s halfway home, while they were educated at a nearby religious school there.
They were reportedly converted to Islam three years ago although they are minors. Only their father, who became a Muslim himself, consented while Loh was unaware of it until recently.
I will also not impose anything on them and will help them uphold their Islamic faith if they wish to. Upon reaching the age of 18, I hope by then they can decide for themselves on whether they want to formalise their status as Muslims.”
She claimed that she suffered a serious head injury after being hit by a hammer, broke her legs twice, fractured her hand once, besides suffering bruises all over.
Loh also showed photographs of a family in happier times in 2017 before her husband began to allegedly display his aggressive tendencies in 2018 which climaxed in the authorities rescuing her.
She recalled that despite suffering injuries, she worked to tend to her children, cooking for them before rushing to her bedroom to treat her injuries.
“I suffered in silence. I hid my anguish from my children as I did not want them to see me in pain,” she said.
Her relatives lodged a police report, and she was rescued by the police before a women’s rights group admitted her at the Women’s Centre for Change in Penang for treatment.
She reiterated that her reunification with her children has nothing to do with race or religion. It is about a mother’s love for her children, which knows no boundaries.
And her motherhood instinct came back naturally as she rushed around Penang today to buy some Indian delicacies which her son adores eating.
She was asked by her daughters to consider buying some Islamic attire, to which she replied that she will try as she needs to get their measurements first.
She does not believe in fairy tales after the suffering she endured, but Loh, who hopes to run her own food business one day, believes in perseverance – The Vibes, February 20, 2022
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