Parents of lost student plead for help

Cambridge undergrad not reachable after sabbatical

JOHOR BARU: The whereabouts of fourth

-year Cambridge University medical student Ho Zheng Han (pic) remain shrouded in mystery after he went missing for more than a year without contacting his family.

The Public Service Department (JPA) scholarship holder, who started his studies in September 2013, has another two years to complete his degree but had gone incommunicado since July last year.

His parents – self-employed Ho Seng Yeow and mother Choong Yoke Chun, both 55 – said they tried all avenues to find their eldest son but to no avail.

Ho said they did not have any inkling that their son had taken a year’s sabbatical leave from his studies until they received a letter from JPA.

“The letter stated that our son requested to take leave from studying between September last year until August this year, and we are shocked to learn about this as Zheng Han has never complained about his studies to us,” he said.

Ho said they tried contacting Zheng Han on his mobile phone and e-mail but failed to hear from him.

“This is so unlike him because he always answered our calls,” he told a press conference organised by Johor MCA Bureau of Coordinating Government Affairs chairman Michael Tay on Saturday.

The distraught parents contacted JPA to seek help to locate their son and were shocked to learn that Zheng Han had made a trip to Malaysia in September last year.

Checks with the Immigration Department revealed that Zheng Han’s passport had been used to enter the country from Singapore, through the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex.

Hoping for the best, Ho and his wife sought out their son’s friends but none of them knew his whereabouts.

Ho said Zheng Han had always been an outstanding student who achieved straight A’s and was also a filial son.

Choong said he was also an independent person who never troubled anyone, even when he was a child.

“He always did things on his own without troubling me or my husband.

“I just want him to come back home safely and if he has decided not to continue with his studies there, we can discuss this matter as a family,” she said.

Tay urged people with information about Zheng Han’s whereabouts to contact him at 019-777 8935.

“If Zheng Han is reading this, please return to your family; they are worried about you,” he said.