Yearning for little Zack
The repatriation of a four-year-old boy from Singapore to Malaysia has sparked off a debate on whether the move that was carried out according to the law was in the best interests of the child.
MESSAGES from all over the world are still pouring into the Facebook account set up to reunite Zack and his foster family.
The messages contain words of encouragement, advice and comfort for the family of Asmah Hassan, 54, who had taken care of the boy for three-and-a-half years in their Singapore flat.
Zack was nine months old when he was handed over to Asmah on the same day his Malaysian mother was sent to jail.
“It was six days before Hari Raya in 2008 when the welfare department called me to collect the child. My daughter persuaded me to take him as she pitied him because it was very near to Hari Raya and nobody would want the extra work of taking in a foster child,” Asmah, who has three grown-up children, recalled.
At the welfare office, Zack cried incessantly but as soon as he was handed over to Asmah, he fell asleep in her arms. Today, the HDB flat is painfully silent without his constant chattering.
Asmah and her family have not seen or heard about Zack since he was whisked away and repatriated across the Causeway with his Malaysian mother in June last year.
We met Asmah on the eve of Zack’s fourth birthday on Nov 12 and she made an open appeal for a chance to see him one more time, if only just to assure him that he was not being abandoned.
Zack’s repatriation was unexpected as Asmah was given the impression in November 2009 that she could adopt the child since his biological mother did not want him.
Her hopes shattered a year later when the welfare officer from the Singapore Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) turned up at her doorstep to say the boy had to be repatriated as his mother had finished serving her prison term.
As the boy was stateless, they were told by MCYS that it would take a week to a month to repatriate him but it finally took six months to get his Malaysian citizenship and travel documents ready.
“Why didn’t they prepare Zack earlier instead of pulling him and putting him into the van? They had six months to prepare him to be familiar with his mother and to tell him that he has to go,” Asmah’s daughter Sa’adiyah, 25, complained.
The family attempted to delay or stop the repatriation by appealing to various authorities including Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, former Minister George Yeo and former Senior Minister of State Zainul Abidin Rasheed.
They also started a Facebook page to ask for help and support, collecting 1,792 signatures from all over the world in an online petition asking for Zack to be returned to them.
Some of the posts cited the constitution of the Republic of Singapore and asked why the child had to be sent over to Malaysia when he was born in Singapore.
MCYS subsequently clarified in a statement that Zack’s mother is a Malaysian and the child, born out of wedlock, is not a Singapore citizen by birth. His citizenship status follows that of his mother’s.
Zack, meanwhile, was beginning to feel the stress and even got into the act of appealing to stay with his foster family. As if knowing that he was fighting a losing battle, he asked Sa’adiyah to record a video with her phone.
In the video, Zack made a heart-rending plea: “Officers please, you cannot take me away, I love my papa and my mama.”
On June 30, the MCYS asked to see Zack without informing the family about the repatriation. After much tussle at the building of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority where the child was to be handed over, the welfare officers managed to take him away from the family and bundled him into the van with his biological mother before being whisked across the Causeway.
“There was no point talking to the MCYS officers anymore because Zack has already crossed the border. It is up to Malaysia to help us, to symphatise with us,” Sa’adiyah said.
All the family wants now is to see Zack and tell him that they did not abandon him.
Soon after they crossed the border, Zack’s mother left and went her own way while the boy was sent to a welfare home in Johor Baru. A month later, the Malaysian Welfare Department made an appeal through the press asking for the whereabouts of the mother but to no avail.
Zack has since been sent to another foster home.
Child developmentalist Ruth Liew said one had to look above the legality of things to consider the best interests of the child which is to be with the family who had looked after him these past years.
“A child has the right to a family and the right to the kind of identity he has been learning to identify with. Child development reports state that by the time a child turns four years old, he starts to have awareness of self-identity.
“In this case, Zack has identified himself with that family. And once removed from them, he’ll probably not only feel traumatised from the separation but also about who he really is and that can cause more problems later on,’’ said Liew.
In such a scenario, Zack’s rights are defined under the Convention on the rights of the child:
> Article 1 (Definition of the child) – The Convention defines a “child” as a person below the age of 18, unless the laws of a particular country set the legal age for adulthood younger;
> Article 3 (Best interests of the child) – The best interests of children must be the primary concern in making decisions that may affect them. All adults should do what is best for children. When adults make decisions, they should think about how their decisions will affect children;
> Article 7 (Registration, name, nationality, care) – All children have the right to a legally registered name, officially recognised by the government. Children have the right to a nationality (to belong to a country). Children also have the right to know and, as far as possible, to be cared for by their parents;
> Article 8 (Preservation of identity) – Children have the right to an identity – an official record of who they are. Governments should respect children’s right to a name, a nationality and family ties; and
> Article 9 (Separation from parents) – Children have the right to live with their parent(s), unless it is bad for them. Children whose parents do not live together have the right to stay in contact with both parents, unless this might hurt the child.
(Zack’s name has been changed to protect his real identity.) > Login to Switchup.tv (link) to watch the documentary of Zack’s plight.