Teo Ma Leong always knew that he and his wife had brought the
wrong baby home. But, 29 years ago, the hospital authorities had
insisted that there was no mistake.
Then in 1998, one of his daughters spotted a younger version of him
working in a shopping centre.
After watching from afar for a while, the Teos finally picked up
the courage to speak to the young man.
His name was Zulhaidi Omar.
DNA tests confirmed he was Teos son. Four months after the DNA
tests, Zulhaidi decided to move in with the Teos.
As it turned out, Zulhaidi had always known he was adopted, and
that he was not Malay by birth.
"I looked different from my family members and my classmates," he
said.
"When they found me, I was shocked because I never thought I would
find my real parents."
Now 29, Zulhaidi wants to renounce Islam and take a Chinese
name.
He had led a tough life, and fended for himself since he was
13.
He had left his Kampung Low Piak home in Batu Pahat, after his
mother divorced his drug addict father and remarried several
times.
Working in restaurants, washing cars and taking odd jobs, he made
barely RM100 a month, but it was enough to support himself through
secondary school.
He shared a room with friends, and even saved enough over the years
to sign up for a part-time diploma course.
When he met the Teos, he had worked his way up to supervisor. And
they realised for the past 20 years, they had been living just
miles apart in Batu Pahat.
The family spoke out for the first time yesterday, at a Press
conference called by the MCA Tampoi Baru division here.
Teo, 67, said the family was contemplating a suit against the Batu
Pahat Hospital, for the mix-up which had split and traumatised his
family.
He and his wife Lim Sai Hak initially were not perturbed by the
dark-complexioned baby they brought home from the Batu Pahat
hospital in 1978.
"At the time, I did not see anything amiss. We just took him home,"
said Teo, a retired mechanic living in Taman Bukit Perdana.
They named him Tian Fa. It was not until a month later, that
relatives pointed out that the baby did not resemble his
parents.
"We went back to the hospital to check if there had been a
mistake.
"But the hospital insisted that he was our child," he said.
But the doubts never went away. "I never stopped looking for my
biological son. Somehow, I knew he was alive and well."
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Saturday/National/20070203093210/Article/index_html
