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Saturday January 1, 2011

Sad new year for single mum

By CHAN LI LEEN
lileen@thestar.com.my

IPOH: There will be no celebration to usher in the New Year for a pasar malam trader and her family here until her runaway daughter returns home.

Lee Sheau Ling, a 34-year-old single mother, first thought that her daughter Choo Poi Hwa, 15, had gone to Kuala Lumpur to look for her Facebook friend.

She contacted the 16-year-old boy, only to be told that he and the girl had “broken up” two months ago.



Where are you?: Kim Thou and Lee (second from right) holding up photos of the missing Poi Hwa as her grandfather Lee Yoon Kim (second from left) looks on. With them are Lee Kon Yin (right) and committee member Lip Chooi Fun.

Her daughter has been missing from their home in Menglembu here since Monday, Lee told reporters at the Perak MCA headquarters here yesterday.

“She left home in a taxi, taking her mobile phone and RM100. She did not take her identity card,” Lee said.

She added that her eight-year-old son Kim Thou also saw his sister taking along a large bag of clothes and make-up.

“Poi Hwa has since turned off her phone and she cannot be reached. Her friends claim they do not know where she is,” said Lee.

Recalling events before her daughter went missing, Lee said she and Poi Hwa had a minor misunderstanding about dinner on Chirstmas Day.

“Kim Thou teased her that we were going out without her and she got mad.

“But then, we went out together, anyway,” she added.

“I want my daughter to come home. Everything else does not matter,” said Lee, adding that Poi Hwa’s paternal grandfather was ill and was asking for her.

Poi Hwa’s 75-year-old maternal grandfather, Lee Yoon Kim, was distraught that the girl has run away, and said he has neither slept nor eaten since she left the house.

Perak MCA public services and complaints bureau chairman Datuk Lee Kon Yin urged the public to notify him at 012-515-1178 or call the Perak MCA at 05-253-6981 should they come across Poi Hwa or know of her whereabouts.