A 67-year-old father from Malaysia has been riding to Singapore at 2am twice every month to visit his son in prison for the last 10 years, and his story was shared by 8world News yesterday (22 April).
67-year-old Cheong Kah Pin, shared that he leaves his home in Malaysia at 2am because he feels it is safer due to there being lesser vehicles around, explaining that he is old and afraid that he will knock into others or get knocked into by others on the road.
He would then arrive at his destination at about 3 am, sits outside a petrol station and waits until 8 am, when the prison’s visitation hours begin.
He has been doing this for the last 10 years, coming over twice a month to see his incarcerated son who is serving a life sentence in prison.
He said that he misses his son and all he wants is to see him in person and that no matter how long he has to sit and wait, he will do so because it means he gets to see his son.
Son serving life sentence in prison
Cheong’s son, Cheong Chun Yin, was previously arrested in Singapore back in 2008 for drug trafficking; he was 24 years old at the time.
His boss had reportedly told him to bring in “gold bars” and Cheong didn’t know that he was carrying drugs for his boss instead.
Following a trial, he was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death, but in 2015, his death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane instead, under the newly enacted laws then.
His death sentence was revoked by the high court after being certified for giving substantive assistance to the authorities to tackle drug trafficking activities.
Son was naive
The elderly Cheong said that he still believes that his son was naive and paid the price for trusting the person who made him traffic the drugs.
He said that whatever his son did, whether it was business or personal matters, he always believed others without any doubts or checking, and is paying the price for it.
Following his son’s arrest back then, Cheong sold three of his houses in order to raise money for the legal fees to save his son, and after his son was sentenced to death, he came to Singapore with his wife and other children to kneel outside the Istana, begging then-president S R Nathan for clemency and passing him a personal letter.
The appeal for clemency was ultimately rejected by President Nathan on the advice of the Cabinet.
Not an easy journey
Cheong revealed that his son had asked him not to come and visit him in prison but the elderly man insisted, and over the years he has seen what changes to the area outside the prison, such as eateries being replaced with apartments and petrol stations closing down to be replaced by shopping malls.
These days, Cheong says that if it rains, he would ride his bike slower, although he has still fallen from his motorcycle a few times.
Header images source: Singapore Prison Services and The Online Citizen