Saturday March 23, 2013
Single dad doesn’t want children to be home alone after wife runs away
Father in distress: Law wiping his tears away during a press conference at the Gerakan Public Services and Complaints Bureau in Kuala Lumpur.
KUALA LUMPUR: A 30-year-old chef says he has to put his children up for adoption as that is the only alternative to leaving them home alone and locked in.
The three children – aged two, four and seven – have been left unattended after his wife ran away with another man in November last year, Law Kong Hoong claimed.
He added that the two-year-old was sent to live with his mother in Raub, Pahang.
“But my mother is already 72, she cannot take care of so many children, so I had no choice but to keep the two elder daughters with me,” he told a press conference at Gera*kan Public Services and Complaints Bureau here yesterday.
Law said that although the two girls were left unattended at their home in Kepong here, neighbours would check on them to make sure they were fine.
“I do not want to let them go but I have no choice. My eldest girl has skipped school for two weeks now because there is nobody to send her there,” he said, adding that he could not take care of the children due to his long working hours.
Law also said he could not afford to hire someone as he only earned RM2,500 a month.
When asked why he didn’t switch to a more flexible job so that he could spend more time with his children, Law said he had only worked as a chef and wouldn’t know what else to do.
Law married his wife eight years ago when she was only 16.
He alleged that his wife’s behaviour had changed after she met the other man in July last year.
“After she left, she didn’t answer my calls or return home to visit the children,” he claimed.
Law’s wife told bureau chief Wilson Lau Hoi Keong that she did not want the children to be given away.
“If he cannot take care of them, I will raise them myself,” she claimed.
Law, however, said his wife couldn’t even take care of herself.
“She is immature and financially unstable.”
Lau said he had arranged for the couple to meet with the Welfare Department to discuss the children’s future but the wife withdrew at the last minute.
