All Tan wants is to see her seven kids (Sad & Emotional Mother)

SEREMBAN: If there is one wish 71-year-old Tan Guet Cheng wants fulfilled, it is to meet her seven children she last saw 35 years ago.

The septuagenarian who lost her husband in a road accident at about the same time has been longing for her children ever since she was chased out of her matrimonial home in Mentakab by her superstitious mother-in-law for apparently “causing” the death of her son.

“I have been living alone most of my life, working in homes and restaurants. I hope my children will still want me although my mother-in-law had told them bad things about me,” she said at the state MCA office here.

Tan was living with her husband Chen Shen Choo, then 36, and their children when he was involved in the accident in Raub.

Chen was running his father’s sundry shop and kopitiam when he was killed while transporting goods.

“My oldest child was 14 while the youngest was only three. My mother-in-law said that since I had brought bad luck to the family, I could no longer see my children and chased me out,” she said.

Tan, whose only relatives were her step-siblings, then left for Kuala Lumpur where she did odd jobs.

However, as fate would have it, a couple from here who were on a holiday in Kuala Lumpur met Tan and brought her back home after hearing her story.

Tan had been looking after her female employer until she died two years ago.

National MCA Wanita central committee member Julia Wong said Tan’s male employer, who only wished to be known as “Uncle Cheng”, was worried about her well-being and asked Wong’s help to look for her children.

“Uncle Cheng is already 74 and is worried about who would look after Tan if anything happens to him,” she said.

Wong said Tan had been keeping tabs on her in-laws and children through friends until several years ago but has since lost touch with them.

“She knows that her in-laws have passed away and her children have all moved from Mentakab.

“She has no clue where they are or what they are doing,” she said.

Tan said she would not be upset if her children didn’t want her back after being influenced by her mother-in-law all these years.

“I only want to see them once. I’ll be the happiest mother if they take me back but if they do not, I will just pray for their happiness.”

Warm Regard, Sara Pandian