Finding Mariam's children
Mariam yearns for home
(From left) Park Keon Young, Kim Eun Shin and Seo Kyo Won are here looking for Mariam Sahari's children.
JOHOR BARU: The first thing that Mariam Sahari, 86, does on waking up in Seoul is think of the day when she will see Malaysia again.It has been her dream for the past 61 years, ever since she left Malaya with Cho, a Korean, who came here with the Japanese military forces.She yearns to see her three children from her marriage to a man in Plentong, who went missing soon after the birth of her last child, Jamnah, during World War Two.
Jamnah should be 66 years old now while her other two children, Ramlah and Jailani, are either in their late sixties or early seventies.Mariam’s problem lies in the fact that she is stateless, as she cannot prove her Malaysian nationality.Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) television producer Park Keon Young, who is here to find out more about Mariam’s family, told the New Straits Times that after the war, Cho was held in a British camp in Jurong for deportation.
However, he pleaded with the British for permission to take Mariam home with him."Cho asked Mariam to go with him to Hampyong, Jeonnanamdo, and meet his parents and get their blessings. After that, they could return to Malaya," Park said.The couple sailed from Singapore on April 20, 1946, and arrived at the port of Pusan a month later.It took them three years to get married. Cho went off soon after to fight in the Korean war and after he returned home, he married another woman.
Life became difficult for Mariam as she had to live with the second wife, who also had three young children from a previous marriage."Mariam was not only childless but also a foreigner in a small town, which posed problems."Park said the older residents of Hampyong remembered Mariam as a friendly, kind and honest girl.Mariam left for Seoul in 1955 to look for a job, where she became a maid and later a nanny. Stranded in Seoul, she also did not have enough money nor the travel documents to return to Malaya.It became more complicated as South Korea did not have diplomatic relations with Malaya until 1963.Cho, who was unemployed, went to Seoul in 1956 to look for Mariam.
He found her and promised to find a job and buy her a ticket home but that was the last she heard of him.In 1960, she was employed by a woman dying of cancer who had three children, all attached to Mariam."On her death bed, she begged Mariam not to leave the house after she died. Her youngest son, who was then 7, clung to her feet as she was about to leave the house."Mariam became the common law wife to her employer’s husband, known only as Ji. They remained "married" for 30 years until his death in 1992."Throughout the years, she consulted with the Malaysian and Singapore embassy offices on her nationality but neither office could help her as she did not have proof of birth place.""We are doing what we can to track down her children so we can reunite them."Park, who will be here until Wednesday, said those with information on Mariam’s children can contact KBS researcher Seo Kyu Won at 012-3206527, or the New Straits Times Johor Baru office at 07-2383333.
(From left) Park Keon Young, Kim Eun Shin and Seo Kyo Won are here looking for Mariam Sahari's children.JOHOR BARU: The first thing that Mariam Sahari, 86, does on waking up in Seoul is think of the day when she will see Malaysia again.It has been her dream for the past 61 years, ever since she left Malaya with Cho, a Korean, who came here with the Japanese military forces.She yearns to see her three children from her marriage to a man in Plentong, who went missing soon after the birth of her last child, Jamnah, during World War Two.
Jamnah should be 66 years old now while her other two children, Ramlah and Jailani, are either in their late sixties or early seventies.Mariam’s problem lies in the fact that she is stateless, as she cannot prove her Malaysian nationality.Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) television producer Park Keon Young, who is here to find out more about Mariam’s family, told the New Straits Times that after the war, Cho was held in a British camp in Jurong for deportation.
However, he pleaded with the British for permission to take Mariam home with him."Cho asked Mariam to go with him to Hampyong, Jeonnanamdo, and meet his parents and get their blessings. After that, they could return to Malaya," Park said.The couple sailed from Singapore on April 20, 1946, and arrived at the port of Pusan a month later.It took them three years to get married. Cho went off soon after to fight in the Korean war and after he returned home, he married another woman.
Life became difficult for Mariam as she had to live with the second wife, who also had three young children from a previous marriage."Mariam was not only childless but also a foreigner in a small town, which posed problems."Park said the older residents of Hampyong remembered Mariam as a friendly, kind and honest girl.Mariam left for Seoul in 1955 to look for a job, where she became a maid and later a nanny. Stranded in Seoul, she also did not have enough money nor the travel documents to return to Malaya.It became more complicated as South Korea did not have diplomatic relations with Malaya until 1963.Cho, who was unemployed, went to Seoul in 1956 to look for Mariam.
He found her and promised to find a job and buy her a ticket home but that was the last she heard of him.In 1960, she was employed by a woman dying of cancer who had three children, all attached to Mariam."On her death bed, she begged Mariam not to leave the house after she died. Her youngest son, who was then 7, clung to her feet as she was about to leave the house."Mariam became the common law wife to her employer’s husband, known only as Ji. They remained "married" for 30 years until his death in 1992."Throughout the years, she consulted with the Malaysian and Singapore embassy offices on her nationality but neither office could help her as she did not have proof of birth place.""We are doing what we can to track down her children so we can reunite them."Park, who will be here until Wednesday, said those with information on Mariam’s children can contact KBS researcher Seo Kyu Won at 012-3206527, or the New Straits Times Johor Baru office at 07-2383333.
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