GEORGE TOWN: After nearly five months of silence, Tan Lee Lie’s son, who vanished after leaving for Thailand, has returned home just in time for Chinese New Year, and that is all that matters to her.
“He is healthy. He didn’t lose any weight. He doesn’t want to talk much about his travels overseas, but I’m okay with that. What matters is that he’s back,” said Tan, 60, in a phone interview yesterday.
Tan’s ordeal began last September when her son, Goh Beng Shong, 21, announced that his boss was taking him on a work trip abroad.
He flew out on Sept 4 and made a phone call to his mother the next day before going off the grid.
Initially, Tan did not think much about it until the family of Goh’s girlfriend, Ng Yin Yin, 23, who had accompanied him on the trip, filed a missing person’s report. Police contacted Tan soon after.
Determined to find him, Tan travelled to Bangkok, and with assistance from the Malaysian embassy, she met officials from Thai Airways and Thailand’s Immigration Bureau.
She discovered that Goh had flown from Bangkok to Frankfurt on Sept 7 and records also showed connecting flight tickets in his name from Frankfurt to Doha on Sept 12 and from Doha to Kuala Lumpur on Sept 13.
Despite these leads, all attempts to contact Goh were futile.
In a shocking twist, local Chinese media reported last Wednesday that Goh and Ng had safely returned to Penang.
George Town acting OCPD Supt Lee Swee Sake confirmed their return, saying that after taking their statements, police concluded the case was unrelated to the spate of human trafficking of Malaysians.
“My son is a quiet person. When I asked him what happened, he only mentioned that he and his girlfriend were arrested by local police while transiting from Thailand to Frankfurt.
“But it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t want to talk about it. They are both home and that’s the most important thing,” Tan said.
In recent years, many young Malaysians, like youths from other countries, have pursued enticing job offers overseas following the reopening of global borders after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately, many fell victim to job scams and became human trafficking victims.
For Tan, however, this Chinese New Year is nothing short of a joyous reunion.
