RANTAU PANJANG: A sudden loss of memory 15 years ago left Wee Choo Tai stuck in a Thai mental institution while his family back home had already given up hope of finding him.
However, the Malaysian consulate-general in Songkhla found out about Wee, 65, being in the Suansaranow Psychiatric Hospital after a routine police liaison meeting with Thai counterparts in early January.
The end result was that Wee was finally reunited with his two elder sisters on Tuesday.
The Thai police had brought up a case involving an unidentified man who was languishing in hospital, saying that the man had Chinese or Myanmar features.
Police officials, who felt something amiss, took up the case and asked the consulate-general’s office to find out who the John Doe was.
Wee’s identity was known several months later after his records were obtained from the hospital and his fingerprints matched those with the National Registration Department records in Kota Baru.
Home bound: Wee being escorted by officers from Rantau Panjang police station after arriving from Thailand. He was reunited with his sisters on Tuesday. A death certificate had also been issued on Aug 23, 2005, in Wee’s name when his family applied for it, 10 years after he disappeared.
Wee had been in southern Thailand on a bus tour when he lost his memory and landed in Surat Thani, where he was picked up by Thai police and placed in a mental asylum as he was unable to prove his identity or produce travel documents.
On Tuesday morning, vice consul and chancery head Mohd Hadtamizi Abu Bakar and several officials took on a 680km road trip from Songkhla to the police station here to reunite Wee and his two elder sisters who live in Kampung Cina, Kota Baru.
Mohd Hadtamizi said Wee’s sister Siew Jeong, 79, was unable to pick him up as she did not have the means for the trip.
“That is why we had to make the trip so that they could be reunited,” he said.
Wee said he regained his memory years after admission into the hospital.
“I could not communicate with anyone as I could not speak their language,” he said.
“I spent most of my time helping other patients clean their beds and sometimes mopped the floor. It is hard to remember other details.”
Wee had worked as a bus driver with the Singapore Bus Service before retiring at 50.
Siew Jeong said she was glad to see him as she thought he was dead.
She thanked the consulate-general’s office and the police for bringing her brother back, adding that she would get the Welfare Department’s assistance to help him.
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