KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 ― Malaysian Cheng Chau Yang has finally been reunited with her son who was twice abducted by her ex-husband, but is now fighting a China court's travel ban.
The long ordeal for Cheng began in September 2012 when her Chinese national husband of eight years then took away their Malaysia-born child for a week, her family told Malay Mail Online. (Below is the account of her story as told by the family).
Cheng, a 42-year-old manager of a Fortune 500 multinational firm, was working in Shanghai then and was away for a meeting in Singapore when this abduction in Shanghai took place.
But the husband then returned home with the three-year-old son after the child had a serious eczema flareup due to food poisoning, with Cheng believing him that he would not abduct the child again.
820 days of separation
But that was only the beginning of Cheng's nightmare, as the husband abducted the four-year-old boy again in Shanghai on July 30, 2013 ― the second time in less than a year. She would only see her child again two years later.
Cheng was unable to reach any of the husband's family members through phone calls, and the son was kept hidden away from her.
She lodged a police report on August 3, 2013, but Shanghai police told her they could not help as it was not against the law in China for a father to hide a child from the mother.
She sought help from the Malaysian consulate in Shanghai over the Malaysian child, but was subsequently told that they are unable to help unless she won custody of the child in court.
Although she managed to locate the son and the new school he was attending sometime in the December 2013 to January 2014 period, talks with the husband for the child's return or to permit her to visit were unsuccessful. This led to the husband vanishing again with the child.
Cheng then initiated what was to be years of legal battles, filing for divorce in February 2014 in Shanghai's Changning court and winning custody of the son in court every step of the way.
But despite Cheng's multiple court victories, the ex-husband ignored her and continued hiding the child from her, and instead went to different courts to seek for a change in custody rights and for a rehearing of the custody case he had lost.
The Changning Court's Enforcement Court ― which enforces court orders ― imposed a travel ban on the ex-husband, but this did not affect him as his family and his job as country head of a multinational firm are both based in China, Cheng said.
Finally after years of searching on her own with her own resources and unassisted by either the Malaysian or Chinese government, Cheng found the child on October 11, 2015 in Changchun ― 2,000km away from Shanghai. The boy was kept alone with his father's sister in a rented apartment and was not even living with the father.
“He attended a local school with a fake local identity. He hated the idea of school, and he couldn’t understand English any more. We found out also that he had missed much of his kindergarten education.
“His eczema had flared up ― broken skin all over his body, and dark patches on his forehead. He was weak from lack of exercise, and his self-esteem was rock bottom,” Cheng's elder sister Myra told Malay Mail Online when describing the condition the then six-year-old boy was found in.
Mysterious travel ban, the almost-abduction
Just two days after the reunion, Cheng discovered that there was a travel ban imposed on her and the child.
“We asked for relevant documents, but we were told it was not available. Until today, there is nothing black and white explaining the ban,” Cheng said.
Cheng appealed against the travel ban in December 2015 to the Enforcement Court and had her latest custody win in January 2016.
On January 15, 2016, the Enforcement Court had arranged for a court-supervised visit by the ex-husband of the child, promising to lift the travel ban after the visit and asking Cheng to withdraw her appeal against the travel ban.
But it turned out horribly wrong as it almost became the third abduction, leaving the then seven-year-old child “traumatised”.
“The result was my son was nearly snatched away once again outside the court after the visitation, my parents were beaten, and the court didn’t lift the ban. My son was totally frightened and devastated, wet the bed and had nightmares for a long time,” Cheng said.
Stuck in China
In June 2016, Cheng tried to arrange for another court-supervised visit, but the ex-husband insisted on only visiting the son if he could take the child home unsupervised.
She was also told that both she and the child could only leave China to travel if the ex-husband agrees, and that the travel ban could continue to be extended for up to another 10 years.
“The Enforcement Court told me it is impossible to lift the ban, even if visitations take place, as there is always a next visitation. As long as [the ex-husband] refused to lift the ban, the Enforcement Court will not lift it. [He] can continue to do this till the son turns 18, i.e. for another 10 more years,” Cheng said when commenting on yet another appeal in June 2016 for the travel ban to be lifted.
In September 2016 and again on March 17, 2017, Cheng appealed to the Enforcement Court for the travel ban to be lifted as her grandmother in Malaysia was very ill and also provided medical reports of the critical health conditions to the court.
“Chau Yang was willing to even place a deposit to secure a chance to see her ailing grandma, but it was turned down verbally. We were told that so long as the former husband disagrees to it, the court could not do anything,” Myra said of the 2017 appeal bid.
The grandmother has since recovered but is still frail as she is now aged 94, Myra said.
“Besides this, Chau Yang has to date, written close to 350 letters to a few other government departments requesting them to look into the peculiar handling of this case. Nothing came out of it,” Myra said.
And so now Cheng and her son ― both Malaysian citizens ― are now in China reunited and together, but restricted from freely moving in and out of the country after long court battles.
