Mother, 90, is still looking for son after 40 years

Before she dies, she wants to know if her son is dead or alive.

The last time she saw him was more than 40 years ago and she heard he had married and had children.

Then, nothing.

After several unsuccessful attempts to find him, she is trying one last time so that she can die in peace.

Madam Wang Qin Jiao, 90, who lives in Jieyang City in China's Guangdong province has six children and 11 grandchildren.

She lost contact with her eldest son in Singapore about 40 years ago.

Her son, Mr Ng Mu Sheng, disappeared sometime in the 1970s, when he was in his 20s.

Born in Singapore, Mr Ng left for China with Madam Wang and his father in 1948, when he was just two years old.

He returned to Singapore in 1966 to look for work, staying with his grandmother and aunt for a short while. He later moved to another address.

After moving out, he told his grandmother he was getting married. That was in 1966.

He was not heard from again until five years later, when he posted a letter and a picture of himself, a woman and two children to his mother in Jieyang city.

The letter bore a Singapore postmark.

It was the last time Madam Wang heard from her son, who would be 68 this year.

Madam Wang has enlisted the help of her relatives in Singapore to look for her son.

Her younger sister, Mrs Heng Khim Chuan, 69, told The New Paper over the phone: "She has never given up hope of finding her son.

"Even when distant relatives visit her, she would ask them if they knew of Mu Sheng, but without success."

Mrs Heng remembers Mr Ng as stubborn, recalling one incident in China when he was beaten up by his father.

"He ran away and did not come back until 10 days later," said Mrs Heng.

She is the aunt whom he lived with briefly in 1966.

All Madam Wang has of her son are two pictures: the photograph he sent in the early 1970s and a posed photograph of the family taken when he was about 10.

Madam Wang does not have a copy of Mr Ng's birth certificate and other important documents because she gave them to her son when he came here to work.

She has lost the letter he sent and does not remember its contents, said Mrs Heng, who was given the pictures when she visited her elder sister in 2011.

HELP

Mrs Heng gave the two photos and a note containing Madam Wang's contact information to her son, Mr Peter Heng.

Said the 46-year-old: "What can I do with just two photos and a written note? I can't even make a police report without more details.

"I think the chances of success of finding him after 40 years with faded black and white photos is less than 10 per cent."

He hopes that by publishing these photographs, someone might recognise it and approach him with knowledge of his cousin's whereabouts.

Said Mr Heng: "I just hope that anyone with information will be able to come forward and tell us what happened to Mu Sheng, so that I can tell my aunt if her son is still alive or not."

If you have information about Mr Ng, please contact The New Paper at 1800-733-4455. You can also reach us via SMS or MMS at 9477-8899, via e-mail at tnp@sph.com.sg.

ngjunsen@sph.com.sg

This article was published on April 14 in The New Paper.

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