Resign to preserve standing, integrity of legal system

New Straits Times
Roger Tan

Board must take blame

The manner in which the recent problem surrounding the leaks of CLP examination questions was handled is another sad example of how we deal with such a situation - the victims are punished while the decision-makers go scot-free.

In this fiasco, the officers of the Legal Profession Qualifying Board should also accept their responsibility. When a drastic measure such as nullifying the examination results is not followed by any acceptance of responsibility by the board or its officers, the innocent will feel aggrieved.

If the decision had been followed by the resignation or removal of the director of CLP or others directly responsible for the printing and safe custody of examination papers, this may look more palatable. But, alas, this is not the case.

In my opinion, a better decision would have been only for those who have passed to resit the papers they have passed. Those who have failed should be excluded .

I am writing this partly because I commiserate with my chambering student who has returned to her books once again. To have to resit will not save the integrity of the CLP examinations.

Further, it is unfair to maintain such a low passing rate when graduates from local universities are not required to sit the CLP examinations. Perhaps, the time has come for the CLP examinations to be made mandatory for all law graduates just like the Practice Law Course in Singapore.

There must be equality of treatment so that these graduates are not treated differently from the local graduates.

I hope that the board will reconsider and temper justice with mercy. If, by trying to uphold the integrity of the CLP examinations, we demolish a person’s dignity or cause loss of a life or a person’s sanity or a miscarriage for that matter, I think we have committed a greater injustice by our zeal to uphold an already tarnished image.

Roger Tan
Kuala Lumpur

Tan’s kin remain hopeful

The Star

By Mazwin Nik Anis

Quiet CNY for family of missing patriarch

JOHOR BARU: Nothing can be sweeter for the Tan family come Chinese New Year than having their patriarch who has been missing for eight months back home.

Tan Sue Yong, 84, has been missing since May 23.

His family spared no efforts in their extensive search for him, including putting up missing persons advertisements in English, Malays and Chinese newspapers but to no avail.

Tan who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, left his home in Lorong Enam, Yong Peng, for his daily walk on that day but failed to return. This is the second time Tan had gone missing. In 1998, he took off on his old motorcycle and was found two days later in Malacca.

Tan was wearing a straw hat, short-sleeved white shirt with stripes and brown trousers when he left. He also carried his identification papers with him.

His son Roger said his family was still hopeful that their father would return home.

Tan’s 76-year-old wife, Swee Mei, still harboured hopes that he would one day show up at their doorstep.

“This is the first time we are celebrating Chinese New Year without him and it will be a small affair for the family.”

Roger said that since his father went missing, the family had printed 50,000 posters and distributed it nationwide, adding that apart from the police and Rela, village folks, political parties, non-governmental and church associations had helped conduct searches for Tan.

He said with the festivities around the corner, he hoped that caring Malaysians would keep an eye open for his father at bus stations or other public places.

Roger also expressed gratitude for the assistance and kind words from Malaysians and called on those who have information on his father’s whereabouts to contact the nearest police station or visit the web site (www.rtkm.com.my/dad).

Where are you, daddy?

New Straits Times

It has been more than two months since 83-year-old Tan Sue Yong, who is suffering from senile dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, wandered off from home. Where could he be? His family is appealing to the public for help, reports ISA ISMAIL.

FIND HIM... Tan has been missing since May 23.FATHER’S Day this year has come and gone for lawyer Roger Tan without much celebration. He and his family have been spending days and weeks going to various non-governmental organisations, religious institutions and newspapers to seek help. His father is missing. This is not the first time but 83-year-old Tan Sue Yong has never gone missing for more than two months before. Every time the older Tan goes wandering off, someone would pick him up and send his home.

“He would wander off in jungle every day,” says Roger, of his father. “I suppose he thinks it’s his rubber plantation.” When Tan did not come home on May 23, the Yong Peng Police Field Force was mobilised to comb the surrounding jungle. They searched until early next morning but still did not find him.

The older Tan suffers from senile dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. He was last sighted on an express bus in Yong Peng on the evening of June 13. Having learnt to use public transport, Tan is most probably on the move, wandering from town to town.

Notwithstanding dementia, Tan is a healthy and hearty old chap. Once, Tan rode his 20-year-old motorbike to Malacca from his home in Yong Peng. He was brought home by a member of the public who had found him wandering around town.

Since then, Tan has been deprived of his trusty old motorbike and confined to home. But even a locked gate could not keep this restless senior citizen from going out as he would use a ladder to climb over it. When they took away the ladder, Tan would rattle the gates until someone lets him out.

“There are two possibilities,” says Roger of his father’s present state. “He may have collapsed somewhere in which case he would eventually be found due to the decomposition of his body.”

Roger’s other suggestion is more optimistic: “He may be kept by somebody who is ignorant about the publicity and the efforts of his family to look for him.”

“He may be in a hospital or an old folks’ home. So we are asking the relevant authorities to double check their homes and hospitals to see if my father is there.”

Tan’s family had previously put him under medication to keep him calm but eventually decided to let him be. Medication had caused him to develop hallucinations and made him unable to look after himself.

Tan had toiled selflessly until he was 70. At 60, he would often dye his hair so his employers would not dismiss him for being too old to work.

“He had worked hard in his younger days to bring us up,” recounts Roger.

“Due to poverty, six of his children died shortly after birth.”

Tan had worked as a labourer for RM7 a day. After 1960, he took up contracts to clear jungles for plantations.

“Everytime he left for work, we would miss him. We would also worry for his safety as he had often told us about the many close encounters he had had.”

“Once, when I had done badly in my exams, I went to tell my father, who was working in the estate. He did not scold me but as he turned his head to carry on with his work, I saw tears rolling down his cheeks,” said Roger.

Roger obviously studied harder as he eventually went to England to read law.

“His last words before I left for England were, ‘You better study hard because your father is already old’. My father sold an entire plantation to support my studies in Britain.”

Today, Roger is still going around asking the public to help look for his elderly father.

“I appeal to the public to send him to the nearest police station when he is found. It’s no good telling us where he has been sighted because he won’t stay at any place for long.”

Please contact the Yong Peng police station at 07-4671222 if you find Tan Sue Yong or if you have seen him recently. Those interested may know more about the search at this web site: www.rtkm.com.my/dad.

Son's search for missing father continues

New Straits Times

JOHOR BARU, Sun. - Although exhausted and in despair, lawyer Roger Tan remains optimistic that he will find his father who has been missing from home since May.

And MCA vice-chairman Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, touched by the love of this filial son, has agreed to render assistance to find the 83-year-old Tan Sue Yong.

Ong, who met Roger Tan in Kuala Lumpur last Thursday, has called on all MCA branches to be on the lookout for Sue Yong.

Roger Tan said 15,000 colour posters of his father would be distributed to MCA branches through the party's State secretariat.

"I appeal to those who see my father to bring him directly to the nearest police station," he said.

Sue Yong, who is suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's disease, went for a walk on May 23 and has not returned to his Yong Peng home since. He was last seen wearing a short-sleeved greyish white shirt and a brown pair of trousers.

He was reported to have been spotted by an express bus driver in Larkin on June 13. Prior to that, he was said to have been spotted in Lucky Garden in Yong Peng, and in Taman Melor and Taman Johor in Johor Baru.

Roger Tan has again appealed to people to stop making crank calls.

Those with information on Sue Yong can contact the Yong Peng police station at tel: 07-4671222, or the nearest police station.

Tan's website is at www.rtkm.com.my/dad.