For those of you in the dark about this, I wrote about his case here and here.

Since all the MSM is too busy chasing after Kah Choon and the stupid ministers who were in town recently, I decided to check up on what’s happening with the poor boy.

So, thanks to my very reliable sources, I found out that the boy is now staying with his grandmother temporarily.

Meanwhile, the exco in charge, Phee Boon Poh, is making sure that the Welfare Department is doing its job to settle all the documentations for the boy to be legally adopted by his grandaunt.

This is the process for now:

1. Welfare Department is preparing assessment reports on the grandaunt to make sure she can be the legal guardian for the boy (and not another adult out to make labourers out of children or some other more sinister things..)

2. The reports will be brought to court for a court order to grant the grandaunt the rights to be the boy’s legal guardian and take care of him

3. Court decides and grant the order

4. Boy can legally move in with the grandaunt in Kuantan.

5. Welfare Department here will liaise with Welfare Department there to check on the boy occasionally to ensure that the boy is being well taken care of by the grandaunt – my guess is that normally they won’t be bothered but with Phee Boon Poh breathing down their necks, they probably has to do it!

6. The boy will also be sent for professional counseling as he had suffered quite a lot of emotional trauma (of being left to fend for himself) so that he learns how to cope with all this.

Now, I have read somewhere that the boy is not a ‘good, studious boy who does his homework’ as reported by the MSM. Apparently the boy smokes and sometimes even ponteng school. I strongly feel that it is not the boy’s fault at all. Hey, he is only 10!

He was abandoned when he was 8. So how many 8-year-old do you know who are responsible and know the difference between right and wrong without an adult to keep him in check?

So, criticisms against the boy is totally unwarranted. A child is born innocent and pure until he was corrupted by his environment and surroundings. We, as outsiders, would never know what type of environment or surroundings the boy went through in all his 10 years’ life. We would never know what type of people or influences he was exposed to. We would also never know the psychological effects of being left alone to fend for himself for two years on a young child like him.

If you really want to criticise, the blame should be on the adults, the people who produced him and left him. They may have their reasons but to me, it is unforgivable for a parent to abandon their own child no matter what.

As a parent, I would rather die than leave my child to fend for himself at such a young age. If only every parent, fathers and mothers, can be like the father in the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, (acted by Will Smith and his son), we won’t have anymore abandoned children in this world!

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It seems that Tanjung Bungah assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu was already alerted about the case way before the MSM got a sniff about it. He had visited the boy and referred the case to the Welfare Department.

Just as he was getting things done to help the boy, a Buddhist group heard about it and immediately alerted the MSM and the whole thing came to light. See, if Yee Cheu is one of those crazy publicity politician, he would have called a press conference to point at the rubbish-filled apartment and point at the boy and declare that he is so great to have found out and he is now helping the boy.

But no, instead, he quietly went about helping the boy, probably to preserve the boy’s dignity and identity (which is now all shot to tatters thanks to the MSM) for the boy is surely a child abuse victim. It is too bad that the MSM were given a tip-off before Yee Cheu could get things moving.

So, in the end the huge publicity angered the mother who had refused to give up the boy to his grandaunt who had wanted to adopt him. We will never know what the mother is thinking to leave the poor kid all alone for almost two years and only visiting him once every two to three weeks.

After all that hoo-ha which is widely reported by all the MSM, luckily Welfare exco Phee Boon Poh and Yee Cheu is still able to save the whole situation. It seems that legal action can’t be taken against the mother as this will mean the boy will have to be sent to a boys’ home which is not a good thing. We all know the welfare boys’ home here aren’t all that great either.

So they have talked to the mother and it looks like she has now changed her mind and may have consented to let the grandaunt adopt him after all. Of course, before allowing the grandaunt to take the boy, the welfare department will first contact the one in Kuantan to check out her background and the environment first.

So, if all goes well and the grandaunt legitimately wants to take care of the child (and not to use him as child labour or for something sinister), there is a happy ending for Jia Hui after all.

For now, he is staying with his grandmother and my prayers will go out to him and his five other siblings that they will have a better life.

p/s: I also heard that Jia Hui has a younger half brother staying with his grandmother and the welfare department are also looking into his case.

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Children are like God’s gift to parents and they should be treasured no matter what and regardless of their physical or mental conditions. I have known some parents who literally dump their disabled children at homes and never turn back. I have also seen parents who abused their perfectly able children for no apparent reason except maybe due to the parent’s own mental disability!

So, what is considered abuse and what isn’t? Abuse is when the child is neglected and not cared for and not necessarily mean physical violence. Abuse could be when the child is tortured mentally and left to fend for himself day in day out when he is still so small that he probably should not be allowed to cross the road alone.

Therefore, I am very disgusted when I read about poor ten-year-old Yeap Jia Hui’s plight.

Excerpt from The Star:

Home alone boy gets a family

PENANG: Ten-year-old Yeap Jia Hui, who has been living alone in a smelly rubbish-filled apartment at Ferringhi Mutiara Apartment in Batu Ferringhi for almost two years, now has someone to care for him.

Childless housewife Yeap Choon Lean, 59, will be taking Jia Hui home to live with her and her retired carpenter husband in Kuantan, Pahang.

Choon Lean, who is Jia Hui’s maternal grandaunt, had wanted to adopt him when he was born but his mother decided to hold on to him.

“Even before his mother abandoned him, I visited him every two to three months when I was in Penang.

“I do not have children of my own and I am happy to bring him home to Kuantan,” she said yesterday.

A happy-looking Jia Hui said he was delighted to able to live with his grandaunt.

“My grandmother cannot care for me because she is old,” he explained.

The grandmother, Law Ah Eng, 68, lives in an apartment several floors below but her relationship with Jia Hui’s mother, Yeap Kim Hong, 46, had been strained for almost a decade.

Jia Hui said his mother gave him an ATM card and visited him every two to three weeks.

“But she has not called or visited me for about two weeks and she has not banked in any money, normally RM20 to RM30 a month,” he said.

He said his schoolmates and teachers did not know of his condition and said he walked to school, bought food after school and attended extra classes three days a week.

“I do my homework before going out with friends and would be home by 8.30pm,” he said.

Jia Hui has five other half-brothers. He is Kim Hong’s fifth son.

“Nobody knows who Jia Hui’s father is,” said Ah Eng, who is also raising Kim Hong’s fourth son.

Although it may seem to come to a happy ending and finally someone wanted to take care of the poor neglected boy, I heard that this was not to be after all.

It seemed that the mother had kicked up a fuss at the Welfare Department, accusing them of trying to take away her son without her consent. The government service being the government service, gave in and did not do anything. They apparently allowed the mother to take him back and warned her to take good care of him.

I don’t know anything about the law here, but isn’t it wrong for the mother to have neglected her son for the past two years? Isn’t there a law to stop her from taking back her son due to such abuse? Isn’t leaving an 8-year-old to fend for himself for two years akin to child endangerment? Why isn’t the mother charged with child abuse? Isn’t it child abuse when she neglected the boy and let him fend for himself in a rubbish filled apartment all alone with only RM20 or RM30 per month to buy food?

Such a woman should not be allowed to have children at all! The welfare department should have taken the boy and given him to his grandaunt and take action against the mother! A mother who heartlessly left an 8-year-old boy to fend for himself should lose all her rights as his mother!

And most importantly, where are all the concerned ‘groups’ and ministers who would immediately jump into action to launch a ‘Save Jia Hui Campaign’ like they wanted to do for a full grown non-Malaysian hooker in UK who only happened to have a Malaysian mother?

Update: Welfare exco Phee Boon Poh and Tanjung Bungah assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu visited the boy. The mother refused to give consent for her son to be adopted by the grandaunt and Phee is now looking into using the law to force her to do so.

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What is it with the youngsters nowadays ah?

It is alright la if they blog and surf the internet or play the occasional computer game because it is a technological age now but there is a limit to everything isn’t it????

I really couldn’t stand some youths who fritter away their parents’ hard earned money at cybercafes playing online games! Otak tak betul ke? What, they think it is easy for their parents to earn money for them to waste it on some stupid online game?

If that is not bad enough, they neglect their studies, fail the blardy exams or just managed to pass and then continue on to college, expecting their poor parents to continue financing them. Then while at college, they continue throwing away money to the internet cafes to play online games and failing all their exams.

Then when pocket money habis, they extend their hands out to their parents and expect to be given more. And don’t give me the stupid excuse that they are too young to know any better. Woi, if you are too young to know better, cari girlfriend / boyfriend can lar? Driving your parents’ car to impress a girl can lar?

If you are 2 years old, that is too young to know better. Heck, even if you are 10 years old, you are still too young to know better. But ‘fei si tai chek’ (Cantonese for -literally – fat and big size) at 16 and above, you still too young to know better??? Woi, you think we all stewpid ke? Hey, if you can get a motorcycle license at 16, can have sex legally at 16, what do you mean you are still too young to know better?

Oh, so you not too young to go terrorize other road users and fark around lar but too young to realize you are frittering away your parents’ money and hopes and dreams for you by wasting it on online games and failing your exams?

What’s this obsession with online games anyway??? I really can’t stand to see how a single parent had to suffer heartache when his son became so obsessed with online games, he neglected his studies, failed practically all exams and after SPM somemore ask his father to finance him to study at expensive college.

Then, not enough, he ponteng classes all the time and even ponteng the exams. The latest CGPA is only 1.55! All this time, insisting that he wants to ’study’. WTF!!! If my son, sure already kena punish till kingdom come! He will be so grounded, that he will be having white hair and silver beard before he’s allowed out of his room…

Honestly, some people just don’t appreciate what their parents do for them. I have advised the father a few times to forget about letting his son continue with college. It is a waste of money if the irresponsible boy is not interested in studying at all. What’s the point la if he keeps failing and ponteng class? The poor father just wanted his son to have a full education.

Cehh…I have half a mind to go slap the boy so he realise his erroneous ways!

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Before becoming a parent, I often wondered how parents could let their kids roll around on the floor in public places, screaming and kicking, just because their parents didn’t buy the latest Ultraman toy or something.

Then, horrors of horrors, I find my toddler throwing his very first tantrum of screaming and refusing to budge, not in a very public place since it is in our carpark, but still, no less frustrating. I had to drag him all the way from the carpark to our home and since we stay in an apartment, that means going past fellow residents, staring strangers in the lobby and lift and more staring from neighbours.

If not for his cunning resemblance to me and my hubby, I’m certain those who saw us dragging this screaming, refusing-to-walk toddler must have thought that we had kidnapped someone’s child.

So, what sparked this tantrum? Well, he wanted to go to Queensbay and we wanted to go home to change first but he was impatient. He wanted to go without any stopover. As toddlers go, any explanations that we will go to the mall later went unheard. We might as well be talking to a wall…a noisy, screaming wall at that. Any threats of violence didn’t work either.

Thus, we had to drag him all the way home. Literally.

I was tempted to leave him screaming at the lift lobby but due to its vicinity to the carpark and the staircase, I decided against it. Besides, with so many sickos in this world, it is never safe to leave a small child unattended.

Of course, once we got home, he got the punishment he deserved. He gets to stand in the punishment corner until he stops screaming. And also a very sound scolding. Though we believe in using the rotan as a disciplinary tool, it is largely ineffective because our son is immune to it. It is amazing how time-outs at a corner in front of the altar works better than the rotan!

Anyway, that is the last time he ever tried throwing a tantrum. Perhaps it is a way for him to test our limits, to see if we will give in to his screaming. Now that he knows we will not give in to his screaming, he uses a better way…he begs politely and convincingly.

Now, how do you say ‘No’ to ‘Mummy, please? Pleeeeaaaasssseeeeeeee? Pleeeaaaassssseeeeee? Pleeeeaaaaasssseeeeee?’ combined with the saddest puppy dog expression ever?

Anyway, check out this future politician who knows how to make use of a temper tantrum!

And this is how you prevent a tantrum:

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