2 Tuesday, June 25 2013 ●
THE NEW PAPER
News
S’porean, 82, found wandering in
JB, said to be dumped by family
Despicable
REPORT: RENNIE WHANG
wrennie@sph.com.sg
T
HE 82-year-old Singaporean was found on
the streets of Johor Baru – dirty, hungry,
weak.
He was picked up by the Malaysian police, repat-
riated and sent to a home for the destitute here two
months ago.
The man is one of a number of elderly Singapore-
ans who have been abandoned overseas.
Social workers say his case is not unique, as Sin-
gaporeans have also been allegedly abandoned in
Indonesia and China.
A source familiar with the case said the man
claimed he was abandoned by a family member and
had a son in Singapore. While he could walk, he was
A
very weak and in a wheelchair.
We are not naming him to avoid embarrassing
him.
He was taken to Angsana Home under the Desti-
tute Person’s Act. His family was subsequently con-
tacted and he is no longer with the home.
“He was totally undernourished. I’ve never seen
a Singaporean in this condition. He was like a per-
son from a state with famine,” our source said.
He also looked like he had not showered in a
while.
His clothes were dirty.
“You could smell him from 10 feet away,” said the
source.
He was grouchy, claiming he was hungry when
he was picked up. He appeared slightly deaf, but
spoke good English.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesman
said the Consulate-General in Johor Baru provided
consular assistance to the Singaporean and, with
the support of the Ministry of Social and Family
Development (MSF), arranged for his return to the
Republic.
MSF said they could not comment on matters
concerning the family due to confidentiality.
Two social workers said overseas abandonment
is a cause for concern.
Fei Yue Family Service Centres’ assistant di-
rector Rachel Lee said it can be especially fright-
ening for the elderly when they’re not
familiar with the surroundings.
“It’s also not easy to prevent or de-
tect abandonment once the parent is
taken out of the country.”
Said centre manager Frances Lee of
Care Corner Family Service Centre (Toa Payoh):
“If (abandonment) is happening in Singapore and
we’re hearing about it all the time, what makes us
think they are not being abandoned elsewhere?”
Left in Indonesia
Ms Lee said she has heard of cases of abandon-
ment in Indonesia.
About three years ago, a man convinced his
mother to sell her HDB flat and “relocate” to In-
donesia, telling her that medical care was cheaper
there. The woman, who was in her 70s, suffered
from health and mobility issues.
He left his mother with a distant relative in a re-
mote village and disappeared with the proceeds
from the sale of the flat.
He visited her a few times initially, but later be-
came uncontactable, she said.
The woman was eventually taken to the Singa-
pore embassy in Jakarta and repatriated.
Dumped in Johor
About a year ago, Comfort Ville Home nursing
care centre in Taman Johor Jaya, launched a search
for Singaporean Joseph Tay, who had checked his
mother, who was suffering from dementia, into the
home for three months and was never seen again.
Said staff in charge, Ms Goh Ker Min: “He didn’t
pay the initial deposit, saying his relative would
come and pay for the first two months.
Their loved ones left them to fend for themselves
lone,
broad,
bandoned
“He left his phone number but we couldn’t call
through. He also left his Singapore address. We
asked our resident’s relatives to take a look. The
first time he wasn’t at home, the second time he told
them he would visit the home, and shooed them
away.”
A few days after the matter was publicised in
June last year, the Singapore Consulate-General
there brought Mr Tay’s mother back to Singapore,
Ms Goh said.
She said this was the only instance of a Singapo-
rean defaulting on payment at her home, which has
four Singaporean residents and has been housing
Singaporeans for the last 10 years.
Two other Johor homes said they had not en-
countered cases like Mr Tay’s, but did have Singa-
like a person from a
poreans owing up to seven months’ payment.
“Relatives will give cock-and-bull stories about
why they cannot pay. At some point, you have to
threaten to send the resident back,” said Mr Frankie
Ker, director of Spring Valley Homecare in JB, where
40 per cent of its 130 residents are Singaporeans.
– A source on the state of an 82-year-old
Added Mr Jeremy Yeo, owner of City Heart Care
nursing home, at which 30 of the 150 residents are
Singaporeans: “It’s less of a problem if Singaporeans
come here. If their relatives don’t want to take care
of them, at least we can tell the Singapore Embassy
and have them repatriated.”
Deplorable
“He was totally
yet not illegal
undernourished. COMMENT: RENNIE WHANG
I’ve never seen a wrennie@sph.com.sg
Singaporean in this ARE there gaps in our laws protect-
ing the elderly?
condition. He was For one, it’s not a crime to
abandon your parents – not on our
streets, not overseas.
The parent could apply for your
state with famine.” money under the Maintenance of
Parents Act (MPA), but getting jus-
tice for any other form of suffering
Singaporean found in Johor.
is more difficult.
This is in contrast with US states
like California and New Jersey,
TNP hotline: 1800-7 33
TNP PICTURE: ARIFFIN JAMAR
where family members who aban-
don or neglect their elderly parents
can be jailed up to five years.
In India, a 2013 survey by non-
governmental organisation HelpAge
India had 23 per cent of elderly say-
ing they experienced abuse. Under
Indian law, children who abandon
their parents can be jailed up to
three months.
In Singapore, on the other hand,
abandonment is an offence only un-
der the Children and Young Persons
Act (CYPA) – for children under the
age of 12 – and the Mental Capacity
44 55 SMS/MMS: 94778899
THE NEW PAPER Tuesday, June 25 2013 3
●
Understandable
but unforgivable
BEHIND many cases of abandon- appearing.
ment and abuse is caregiver burn-out, Tracking down a relative can take
where the caregiver faces multiple years, said Ms Chan.
demands and is overwhelmed caring She lodges cases with the police,
for the elderly, said Ms Melissa Chew, the Commissioner for the Mainte-
a senior medical social worker at Tan nance of Parents, and the Immigra-
Tock Seng Hospital. tion Checkpoints Authority, and
Other reasons include relationship checks for leads.
issues between the elderly and their Mr Chua said abandonment is a
relatives.
deliberate attempt to desert.
“There could have been divorce, or Sembawang MP Ellen Lee, mem-
the children are angry as there was
ber of the workgroup which pro-
another woman. There could have
posed changes to the Maintenance
been strained relationships with the
of Parents Act in 2010, said it can be
family,” said a director at a Singapore
considered clear-cut when there is
home for the destitute.
absolutely no contact between parent
Her home handled at least two cas-
es of Singaporean residents aban- and child for a sufficiently long time,
doned in other countries in the last and in cases such as Mr Tay’s in Johor
five years: One in China, the other at Baru.
Jakarta’s International Airport.
It may not be just a matter of chil- Family ties
dren rejecting responsibility for their More can be done to promote clos-
parents, she said.
er and stronger family ties, especially
Most cases of abandonment and
three-generational ties, she added.
abuse are carried out by the victim’s
Former Tampines MP Sin Boon
children, though it can also occur at
Ann, who was also a member of the
the hands of siblings and spouses and
other caregivers like domestic help- workgroup,said the abandonment of
parents overseas was not something
ers or even a neighbour, said social
worker Ms Odelia Chan of Trans Safe they considered.
Centre. He said it is a despicable act and
should be criminalised, but the au-
Director of the centre, Mr Alvin
Chua, added that abandonment usu- thorities would need to have clear
rules as to what constitutes abandon-
ally involves the elderly person’s child
getting his parent to sell the house, ment.
after which they would take away all “At the end of the day, society
assets and check him or her into a needs to go back to the roots of what
nursing home or hospital before dis- the family and filial piety is.”
as helpless as a child. He has had General and ex-Nominated Member
the benefit of a lifetime to ensure of Parliament Walter Woon, who
some extent of autonomy in his old tabled the Bill in 1994, the MPA
age. He could also have been an was designed to cure a specific ill –
irresponsible parent. children who can afford to maintain
But is abandonment ever reason- needy parents but refuse to do so.
able? “We deliberately did not try to
Act, which would apply to those
Abandonment aside, there are
other possible legal loopholes.
legislate filial piety, contrary to
popular misconception.
with dementia.
Both offences can fetch up to
While personal protection orders
can combat physical abuse, such
“The Maintenance of Parents Act
has nothing to do with filial piety,
seven years’ jail.
Whether abandonment in other
orders do not fight neglect, said Mr
Alvin Chua of Trans Safe Centre, a
any more than the Women’s Charter
or the CYPA enforce parental love
situations gives rise to an offence
depends on the material facts and
voluntary welfare organisation that
handles elder abuse.
for their children,” he said.
Nearly 10 years on, though,
circumstances, an Attorney-Gener- Also, while financial abuse perhaps it’s time for us to assess if
al’s Chambers spokesman said. – when a child takes money or laws pertaining to the elderly need
Yet must we, like India (where
the law came into effect in 2007),
property from the parent without
his consent– can be prosecuted
to be more comprehensive.
It may not even be a question of
wait for more cases before com- under the Penal Code, there is no financial support.
ing down harder on errant adult legal provision for the parent-child It’s whether an adult child is
children? relationship. treating his parent like a human
Granted, the elderly person is not According to ex-Attorney- being.
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