China wife runs off with child

KUALA LUMPUR: Contractor Neoh Lye Heng was a happy man when he found a wife from China through a matchmaking agency in 2005. But his happiness has now been shattered as the love of his life has suddenly run away from home taking their son.

Neoh, 53, from Ayer Itam in Penang, said that when he returned home on July 9, he could not find 43-year-old Fang Li or their three-year-old son Neoh Jin Hui. He has also been unable to contact her via phone.

“Our relationship has been loving and I did not expect this,” he said at a press conference at the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department on Tuesday.

Neoh, who broke down twice during the press conference, urged Fang to return their son as he is a Malaysian. He also lodged a police report on July 11.

Neoh said he checked with the Immigration Department last Sunday and was told that both his wife and son were still in the country.

MCA Public Services and Complaints Depart­ment head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said he had received reports on 16 cases of foreign wives running away, taking along the children.

“The women are mainly from Vietnam, Indonesia and China and they tend to run off with their children,” he said.

He said that so far, with the assistance of matchmaking agencies, only the children in two cases had been returned. He added that the chances of children being returned was less than 10%.

“I am concerned about the number of runaway foreign wives. There has already been seven cases this year alone,” he added.

He said many men in similar situations had difficulty getting access to their children when they were taken away.

Chong said it was also difficult to get the wives to sign divorce papers and hence the men could not remarry. Moreover, advertising for their return and payment for the flight fare would cost thousands of ringgit.

On the possible reason for foreign wives running away, Chong said most of the men were much older than the women and they possibly had different expectations.

Anyone who has seen Fang and the couple’s son can call the department at 03-2203 3888.