After being denied access by the Perlis Welfare Department yesterday, single mother Loh Siew Hong finally managed to spend an hour today with her three children who were taken away by her then-husband and unilaterally converted to Islam three years ago.
Loh said her children - a pair of twins aged 14 and a 10-year-old - were excited to see her today and had asked her when they could follow her home.
“They asked me where I am staying, and I showed them my workplace at Genting Highlands, and they asked when we can go there.
“I also got to give them the things I bought for them yesterday and fed them the food I cooked.
“They asked me to buy them all sorts of things, and I am already planning to buy each of them a blue watch, a black watch and a pink watch. They also wanted sports shoes and jeans and so on,” a joyful Loh recounted to Malaysiakini today.
However, she said, her one-hour visit today came with several conditions - no photos with the children, her car had to be parked outside the premises and she would have to take a Covid-19 test.
She had also asked the officer from the Welfare Department whether she could be allowed to visit her children again after this but was informed that it would require approval from above.
Brief reunion
The three children were briefly reunited with their mother at the Kangar district police headquarters in Perlis on Monday (Feb 14).
Loh said the children appeared reluctant to follow her home at that time and she wanted to give them some space to avoid further traumatising them.
She said that is why she decided to let them stay with the Perlis Welfare Department first, pending the outcome of a habeas corpus application set for Feb 21 at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
“I have full custody and I can take them home with me in my car, but I don’t want to force them. They should want to follow me on their own accord,” she said.
Loh and her husband Nagahswaran Muniandy separated in March 2019, and she spent some time recovering at a domestic abuse shelter amid the process of obtaining a divorce and the full custody of the children.
It was reported that Nagahswaran had abducted the three children in Loh’s absence to be converted to Islam and placed them in an Islamic centre in Perlis. He is now in prison for a drug-related offence.
Loh subsequently managed to divorce her husband and obtain full custody of the children in March 2021, with the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordering the police to ensure her children were returned to her.
The children were finally tracked down at an NGO for Muslim converts. After initially refusing to allow Loh to see her children, the woman at the NGO reportedly contacted Loh after she lodged her police report and told Loh to meet her and the children in Perlis. - Mkini
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