KUALA LUMPUR: The grandparents of a five-year-old girl are seeking the return of her mother, who has been missing since 2011.
Lee Kok Hoe, 58, and his wife Loi Lee Ping, 60, said their daughter Poh Chu and her husband left together and have not been heard from since.
The Lees, who sought the help of MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong to trace their daughter, said that three years after Poh Chu left, a woman who claimed to be her mother-in-law visited them with a five-month-old girl.
“The woman told us that she was Poh Chu’s mother-in-law and that the baby girl, named Low Xin Er, was our granddaughter,” Lee said.
“She told us that Poh Chu had left the baby in her care and ran away, but she could no longer take care of the child because she and her husband were in financial difficulties,” he added.
Since then, the Lees have taken care of Xin Er.
However, they are now concerned about the legal repercussions of not having been legally appointed as her guardians.
“We can’t even get her an insurance or savings plan without legal guardianship or her parents’ presence,” Lee said. “How are we going to apply for a passport for her in the future?”
Chong said he would help the couple get advice and help from the Welfare Department.
“However, the child will still need at least one parent to be present,” he said. “We urge the mother to do the right thing and come forward to claim her daughter.”
Anyone with information on Poh Chu can call the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department hotline at 03-22033888
