Wanita MCA helps single mother Loh to start afresh

KUALA LUMPUR: Loh Siew Hong, the single mother who recently won custody of her three children, will receive the assistance from Wanita MCA to start afresh.

Wanita MCA national chairperson Datuk Heng Seai Kie said the assistance will not only be limited to a donation drive but will also help Loh resettle in life through the Women Emancipation & Empowerment Agenda (2Es) programme, which is meant to help women who survived domestic abuse get back on their feet.

Loh will also be provided a food stall at Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) to run a food business.

Loh, 35, recently tendered her resignation as an assistant chef at a hotel in Genting Highlands in hopes of being closer to her 14-year-old twin daughters and 10-year-old son, as well as starting a food business.

Besides that, her children’s education will also be taken care of with TAR UC providing them a scholarship.

Heng added that psychological and counselling services, accommodation, low interest business loan under Kojadi and other help related to her business, will be provided by Wanita MCA and volunteers.

“We hope all this will be able to help her to move forward by leaving her sad past behind and start a new family life with her newly reunited kids,” said the former deputy minister in the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development on Thursday (March 3) at Wisma MCA here.

Additionally, Wanita MCA will also be conducting a donation drive to raise funds for Loh, which will begin today and end on March 10.

Donors can channel their contributions to the Loh Siew Hong and Family’s Resettlement Fund through CIMB Bank Account 8007009056.

The target for the fundraiser is RM80,000 which is the amount needed to cover Loh’s future needs.

Heng also thanked NGOs and all parties who came forward to help Loh through various initiatives including fundraising.

Loh who was also present at the press conference thanked everyone who came forward to help her during trying times.

“(It is) because of all of you, my children and I are a family again,” she said while choking up.

On Feb 21, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed Loh’s habeas corpus application and ordered her children to be released to her from the Social Welfare Department’s care.

She was granted sole custody of the children by the High Court, post her divorce in 2019.

However, Loh, an alleged domestic violence victim, lost contact with her children for three years.

He ex-husband, an Indian-Muslim convert, took the children to Perlis and arranged for them to be converted to Islam.

He has since been arrested for a drug offence and is now in prison in Kelantan.