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[Piyopico]

Dead cabby leaves wife with debt of $68K

 

Indonesian woman in the dark over family finances is now only left with $80 and 3 young kids to cope with. -TNP

 

Fri, May 21, 2010

The New Paper

 

By Arul John

 

THE plate of fried noodles she had cooked for her children lay untouched hours later.

Tragedy had struck the family with the sudden death of its only breadwinner.

Taxi driver Sun Leong Hock, 49, collapsed and died in the toilet of his three-room flat on Ubi Avenue 1 on

Monday.

His widow, Madam Darsinah, a 30-year-old Indonesian, is now left to cope with their three young kids and heavy debt.

Mr Sun handled the household expenses, giving his wife $10 a day to buy food for herself and the kids.

This was the only money she ever handled, Madam Darsinah said, and now she must contend with overdue bills.

She showed The New Paper reminder letters asking for payment of $2,109.50 arrears on their flat's mortgage and

$113.70 in utility bills.

Madam Darsinah said she had no savings and did not know if her husband had any.

 

>> Next: Bankrupt

 

Bankrupt

 

It seems unlikely as checks showed that Mr Sun filed for bankruptcy in January over a debt of about $68,000.

It is not known what the debt was for and Madam Darsinah said she knew nothing about it.

A search through her late husband's belongings turned up only about $80.

She said she found $39 and a US$5 (S$7) note in his wallet and his coin purse had about $40.

Madam Darsinah, who has only primary school education, often sobbed into Mr Sun's black jacket while telling her story.

"What am I going to do now? My husband paid all the bills and handled most of the household expenses," she said.

"I never thought his illness would be so serious."

Mr Sun came down with a fever on Friday but put off seeing a doctor because he wanted to save money.

"He had been sick before but it was mostly coughs and colds and feeling 'heaty'," said Madam Darsinah.

He remained feverish during the weekend and finally saw a doctor at a clinic near their home on Sunday.

But his condition worsened.

At 5.30am on Monday, he woke up to go to the toilet in their bedroom and asked his wife to fry some kway teow for their children, aged eight, six and five.

Madam Darsinah said: "He said he had diarrhoea. I fried the noodles and then went to use the toilet in the kitchen.

"When I returned to the bedroom, I saw my husband sitting on the toilet seat and propping himself up with his arms on a pail in front of the toilet bowl. He was breathing heavily.

"I became frightened and cried and woke the children, and told my eldest child to help his father."

Madam Darsinah then went to their neighbour's flat to call for an ambulance.

She said: "The neighbour went to my flat and saw my husband in the toilet. I noticed his eyes and skin were yellow.

"The neighbour asked me to put medicated oil on his nostrils. When I did that, I felt his body and it was cold."

She said the paramedics pronounced her husband dead at about 6.30am. The death certificate indicated

the cause of death as "cardiopulmonary failure pending further investigations".

 

When The New Paper visited the family later that day, the plate of fried noodles was still untouched and Mr Sun's blue Comfort taxi was parked below the block.

There was a television set in the living room, and two blue sofas, but no sign of any family photographs.

The couple and the children all slept on two mattresses in one bedroom.

The kitchen had a refrigerator, a stove and a washing machine.

The children have hardly any toys but they have a pet dog called Appu.

Madam Darsinah, the second of eight daughters born to Java farmers, said she met MrSun in 2000 when he visited the coffee shop in west Java where she was working.

 

Previous << >> Next: Came to Singapore

 

Came to Singapore

 

He used to visit her once every fortnight and their first two children, a son and daughter, were born in Indonesia in 2002 and 2004.

Madam Darsinah said: "After the children were born, he used to give me $50 or $60 whenever he visited me. That was just enough to get by but he did not have much more money to give us."

In 2004, Mr Sun brought them to Singapore and they registered their marriage on June 25 that year.

Their second son was born the following year.

Madam Darsinah said: "Since moving to Singapore, I have not contacted my parents or visited them because my husband had no money. He was also not in contact with his family members."

Madam Darsinah said she was worried about how she would pay her eldest son's school fees and her younger children's kindergarten fees.

She showed us a letter from the Chinese Development Assistance Council that indicated they received a $150 cheque as financial help in February.

Madam Darsinah said Mr Sun was a bus driver for 13 years, then a lorry driver for a few years.

She said: "He began driving his taxi in January this year. He would start at 7.30am and return home for a

rest at about 2pm.

"Then he would drive his taxi from 5pm until about 8pm.He worked from Monday to Saturday."

Madam Darsinah said they seldom went out on Sundays, save for occasional trips to Giant hypermarket

at Tampines.

 

She said she used to go to the market once every fortnight but had not done so for nearly a month.

She said: "We usually bought the cheapest vegetables, small fish, some rice and noodles. I would cook simple meals with whatever was in the refrigerator or wewould eat out."

Undertaker Roland Tay,who learnt of Madam Darsinah's plight from some residents in her block, said he would handle Mr Sun's funeral arrangements for free.

He said he had paid $200 to the owner of a food stall below their block so that Madam Darsinah and her children could have free meals there.

Mr Tay said a wake was held at Casket Fairprice parlour at Block 37, Sin Ming Drive, yesterday.

Mr Sun's body will be cremated at Mandai Crematorium today and his ashes stored in a Buddhist temple.

 

Previous << >> Next: Help on the way for troubled family

 

Help on the way for troubled family

 

THE Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC) said Mr Sun was referred to it for financial help by his Member of Parliament last year.

A spokesman said his family received help from last November till last month.

The case was due for review this month.

After learning of Mr Sun's death from The New Paper, the spokesman said CDAC will give his family the necessary

support and may visit them today.

 

Ms Tammy Tan, ComfortDelGro's group corporate communications officer, said they would get in touch with Madam Darsinah to offer assistance.

She could not disclose more details as the case was under police investigation.

She said: "We will assist the police in their investigations."

 

The principal of the school which the eldest child attends said they would do whatever they could to help him.

She said: "The boy's well-being is our top priority. When he first joined the school, he could not speak English but

now he can speak English quite well and did well in the recent exams."

An SP Services spokesman said that it would try to help customers like Madam Darsinah by offering instalment plans or deferring payment on a case-by-case basis.

 

This article was first published in The New Paper.

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Hi MCForummers

 

Need 10 kind souls' commitment to donate S$10 a month for the next 6 months. If you are willing please put your name down. Just 10 pax will do. I will gather the money for the first month and the next person do it for the second month onwards and so on so forth.

 

Commitment entails helping to collect $10 from the 10 guys. Each one do it once. I believe it is important to visit and offer encouragment to the family so please do not just offer money alone. Meanwhile I will have to get the contact details of the family. If anyone knows please drop me a PM. Alternatively I may have to call CDAC etc and this takes time.

 

If you are willing to make the commitment please pen your nick below and drop me a PM.

 

Thank you and have a good day. Mods, pls bear with me. Thank you.

 

1. Piyopico

Edited May 21, 2010 by Piyopico

[Csnewbie]

Dear,trying to gather donations this way sometime is treated as cheater,

not having much effects.Try to bring people there to see the real situations.

Then can think of monetary helps.

But at this moment it might be wiser to get her a job near Ubi ,soon.Lots of

coffeeshops there.Maybe could ask CDAC for help.