(Above) Madam Chua is hoping to locate her younger brother, his wife and her elder sister in Singapore. All she has are their fading photographs and memories. -- Picture: KUA CHEE SIONGFormer Cambodian refugee comes to S'pore on a personal mission...
August 23, 2007
By Tan Mae Lynn
The Electric New Paper (Singapore)
FAMILIES were being chased out of their homes in Phnom Penh during the war in Cambodia.
Madam Chua Phang Eng and her family fled to the countryside with nothing but clothes on their back.
In the chaos, Madam Chua, now 65, lost contact with the rest of her siblings.
That was in 1975.
The native Cambodian Chinese moved to France in the early 1980s with her daughter and son after they received political asylum. Her husband and youngest child died during the war.
She worked in a factory in France, but through the years she kept thinking of her siblings and continued to try to find them. And her search brought her to Singapore last week.
Madam Chua (alias Mrs Lim Phang Eng) revisited her homeland earlier this month but she failed to track down her elder sister and younger brother.
Then, enroute back to France, she stopped over in Singapore to try her luck in finding her sister. She remembers her brother-in-law had relatives here.
Also, her daughter, Mrs Hue You Hour, 37, had moved here about 16 months ago.
Speaking to The New Paper in Mandarin, Madam Chua recalled those days in Phnom Penh: 'When the soldiers came into the area and chased us all out, everyone fled in different directions. So I don't know who went where, where my brother's family or my sister's family went.'
Madam Chua, who was a Chinese teacher in Cambodia, said her elder sister's name is Chua Sai Siang and she would be 69 now.
She married Teo Meng Chuan (Zhang Meng Quan @ Zhengyi) who would be 77 now. They had 11 children - 10 girls and a boy.
Her younger brother, Chua Peng Yen, would be 63 now and his wife's name is Khoo Swee Lan. They have two sons.
Madam Chua said three of her five siblings had died.
She said: 'My sister may have come to Singapore because her in-laws lived in Singapore. Her husband, who was a trader, had business dealings in Singapore.'
It is not known whether the husband is Singaporean. He was living in Cambodia when he married Madam Chua's sister.
'There are so many of them, it can't be that all of them have died,' Madam Chua said of her relatives.
TRACING THE PAST
Madam Chua, who's retired now, said: 'My wish is to find them and be reunited. We are one family, I want to see them again. If they've died, I want to know how they died.'
Madam Chua also remembered that her elder sister's husband had business dealings with a man who had a shop at 46, Hong Kong Street.
But she found out that this businessman had died sometime ago. Still, she and her daughter visited the shop in hope of getting some leads. But they were not successful.
The shop was tenanted and they were told that the landlord's surname was different from the businessman's.
Mrs Hue then took Madam Chua to the Teochew Association here, but again they hit a dead end.
Mrs Hue, a housewife, said: 'I happened to be talking to my neighbour and was telling her the story. She suggested that we get in touch with Crime Library.'
She added: 'We hope and we will do our best to find the missing people... the least we can do is to try our best.'
Madam Chua added: 'Every day I think of finding them. My cousins and relatives in Cambodia have been helping to look for them too.
'I've read in newspapers about people finding their lost relatives after 40 or 50 years, so I hope... my only wish is to be reunited with them.
She returned to France on Monday night.
August 23, 2007
By Tan Mae Lynn
The Electric New Paper (Singapore)
FAMILIES were being chased out of their homes in Phnom Penh during the war in Cambodia.
Madam Chua Phang Eng and her family fled to the countryside with nothing but clothes on their back.
In the chaos, Madam Chua, now 65, lost contact with the rest of her siblings.
That was in 1975.
The native Cambodian Chinese moved to France in the early 1980s with her daughter and son after they received political asylum. Her husband and youngest child died during the war.
She worked in a factory in France, but through the years she kept thinking of her siblings and continued to try to find them. And her search brought her to Singapore last week.
Madam Chua (alias Mrs Lim Phang Eng) revisited her homeland earlier this month but she failed to track down her elder sister and younger brother.
Then, enroute back to France, she stopped over in Singapore to try her luck in finding her sister. She remembers her brother-in-law had relatives here.
Also, her daughter, Mrs Hue You Hour, 37, had moved here about 16 months ago.
Speaking to The New Paper in Mandarin, Madam Chua recalled those days in Phnom Penh: 'When the soldiers came into the area and chased us all out, everyone fled in different directions. So I don't know who went where, where my brother's family or my sister's family went.'
Madam Chua, who was a Chinese teacher in Cambodia, said her elder sister's name is Chua Sai Siang and she would be 69 now.
She married Teo Meng Chuan (Zhang Meng Quan @ Zhengyi) who would be 77 now. They had 11 children - 10 girls and a boy.
Her younger brother, Chua Peng Yen, would be 63 now and his wife's name is Khoo Swee Lan. They have two sons.
Madam Chua said three of her five siblings had died.
She said: 'My sister may have come to Singapore because her in-laws lived in Singapore. Her husband, who was a trader, had business dealings in Singapore.'
It is not known whether the husband is Singaporean. He was living in Cambodia when he married Madam Chua's sister.
'There are so many of them, it can't be that all of them have died,' Madam Chua said of her relatives.
TRACING THE PAST
Madam Chua, who's retired now, said: 'My wish is to find them and be reunited. We are one family, I want to see them again. If they've died, I want to know how they died.'
Madam Chua also remembered that her elder sister's husband had business dealings with a man who had a shop at 46, Hong Kong Street.
But she found out that this businessman had died sometime ago. Still, she and her daughter visited the shop in hope of getting some leads. But they were not successful.
The shop was tenanted and they were told that the landlord's surname was different from the businessman's.
Mrs Hue then took Madam Chua to the Teochew Association here, but again they hit a dead end.
Mrs Hue, a housewife, said: 'I happened to be talking to my neighbour and was telling her the story. She suggested that we get in touch with Crime Library.'
She added: 'We hope and we will do our best to find the missing people... the least we can do is to try our best.'
Madam Chua added: 'Every day I think of finding them. My cousins and relatives in Cambodia have been helping to look for them too.
'I've read in newspapers about people finding their lost relatives after 40 or 50 years, so I hope... my only wish is to be reunited with them.
She returned to France on Monday night.
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