Compiled by CHARLES RAMENDRAN, C.ARUNO and R.ARAVINTAN
AFTER two failed marriages, a single mother who was left to fend for herself recounted how she was forced to get involved in the flesh trade to feed her six children.
The woman, referred to as Kamariah (not her real name), 57, told Mingguan Malaysia that she divorced her first husband upon learning he had taken a second wife secretly.
Her second marriage was far more bitter when her new husband introduced her to a pimp in Puduraya and attempted to have her work as a prostitute.
However, the pimp refused to accept Kamariah after learning she was married.
Soon after, a crime led to Kamariah’s second husband’s imprisonment.
Destitution turned her life upside down. And after failing to earn enough from running a burger stall in the Chow Kit area, Kamariah went to work at nightspots and regularly consumed alcoholic drinks.Kamariah said from then on she started prostituting herself, taking on three to four clients a day to raise her children, who are now aged between 14 and 28.
Kamariah said she was not concerned about what other people thought of her because feeding and educating her children were her priorities.She said five of her children completed secondary education, while another is in a tahfiz school in another state.
After more than 20 years, Kamariah still engages in sex work, although not as actively as before.
“Whatever people say, I will close my ears. I told my children, ‘Mama can send you to school if you still want to study’,” she said, vowing to turn her life around in the future.
> A quick-thinking father saved his four-year-old son’s life in a split second decision when he instinctively flung the child out of harm’s way before being tragically crushed to death by a trailer himself.
The incident occurred at KM16.5 of the North-South Expressway near Napoh, Changlun, not far from Alor Setar. Mohd Azrie Faiz Abdullah, 32, was carrying his son and riding pillion on a motorcycle with his wife, Alis Natiesha Mohd Radzif, 31.
Just moments before the trailer ran over him, Mohd Azrie tossed his son Putera Yusuf Matin towards the road shoulder, Kosmo! reported.
His son and wife, who suffered serious injuries, survived.
However, Mohd Azrie was killed at the scene in the 10.50pm incident on Saturday.
Kubang Pasu police chief Supt Rodzi Abu Hassan said the late Mohd Azrie’s wife and son have been sent to Hospital Jitra for treatment.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
