Siow Ling, The Lucky One

Part I

When 14-year-old Siow Ling was caught trafficking 19.7kg of opium in 1991, she made legal history as the youngest person to be charged with a capital offence. Had it not been for her age, she would have been sent to the gallows. Detained under the President’s Pleasure, she has been in Changi Women’s Prison for 15 years now.

As a child, Siow Ling lived with her “uncle” whom she later learnt was her real father. Her mother stayed with this “uncle” too because she could not see eye to eye with her legal husband, whom Siow Ling ironically addressed as “father”. Siow Ling’s brother and sister, both adopted, were twenty years her senior.

An aunt took care of her when she was young and those were happy times because she loved playing with her aunt’s children. Everything was taken care of and life was a breeze. But all that came to end when Siow Ling’s mother quarrelled with her aunt’s family and shortly after that, brought her home.

Back home, her mother spent her days at a Hokkien association where she worked as a cook and caretaker. The place was in fact her real home. Even during her days off, she would return to the association to play mahjong. Perhaps out of guilt for her long absences, her mother lavished her with money and gifts. As a child, Siow Ling was never short of toys and she went to school by taxi. To her friends, she was the lucky one.

But there was a price to pay. Siow Ling had to suffer her mother’s vulgarities whenever the older woman went into one of her dark and terrible rages. Quite often, the verbal abuse would be followed by the violent smashing of anything she could lay her hands on. Yet Siow Ling always felt an affinity for her. Perhaps it was a child’s instinctive affection for her mother. So even when Siow Ling disapproved of her behaviour, she never spoke to her about it.

As a child, Siow Ling did not like school. She attended nursery but could not even remember the nursery rhymes. Her dislike for studies continued into primary school. She hated the stern look on her teacher’s face and the boring lessons. She did not understand what was taught at school and since no one at home could help her in her homework, most of it was left undone. Thinking that she was lazy, her teacher would cane her in front of the class. The humiliating experience only added to her sense of frustration and hatred for schools.

At the age of 9, Siow Ling started playing truant. It began innocuously when she fell asleep in the bus on her way to school. Realising that it was too late to go back, she decided to skip school that day. That was the start of a long string of absences which eventually caught the attention of the principal who insisted on her reporting to him everyday from then on. At about the same time, Siow Ling failed her Primary Four streaming examination and was sent to the monolingual stream. When she turned 13, she decided that enough was enough and simply refused to go to school anymore.

For Siow Ling, the point of no return came when she was about 11 and feeling desperately unhappy. That year, her real father died and her mother also fell in love with a younger man. She often brought Siow Ling along to wait for him outside his house, and for the first time, Siow Ling began to question her mother’s behaviour. She wanted to know why she could not spend time with her, why she was lavishing money and gifts on her when she did not need either. But once again she bit her tongue and kept her feelings to herself.

Around this time, they moved into a flat in Tiong Bahru and life became more miserable for Siow Ling. One of the bedrooms was converted into a mahjong room for her mother’s Hokkien association friends-cum- gambling “kakis”. As strangers came and went, even home did not feel like a secure haven anymore.

After quitting school, Siow Ling helped out at her mother’s stall in a coffeeshop. It was then that she got to know Teck Meng through an ex-school mate who lived in the neighbourhood where she worked. The ex-school mate was the girlfriend of Teck Meng’s brother. In many ways, the two were emotional opposites. While Teck Meng was active and loved hanging out with friends at billiard halls, she was quiet and preferred to spend time together as a couple. Despite the differences, they persisted with their relationship.

When Siow Ling’s mother learnt about their relationship, she objected strongly to it because she did not think that Teck Meng was good enough for her daughter. Both mother and daughter had furious rows and Siow Ling left home several times. Siow Ling could not understand why her mother who had never taken an active interest in her when she was a child was suddenly showing such intrusive concern over her love life. Many quarrels later, her mother finally realised that accepting Teck Meng was the only way to reconcile with her daughter. She eventually did and even got him to work for her at her food stall.

But before the dust could settle, Siow Ling was hit by a bombshell. She discovered that she was six-months pregnant.

Part II

1 Tontine is an illegal group of members who contribute to a pool of funds on a monthly basis. Any member in need of money could bid for the funds and pay back the rest of the members with interest the subsequent months. The head of the Tontine would collect and distribute the money to the members accordingly.

Tell us what you think about The Untold Stories. Click here to send a feedback