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1. Awakening of memories,
revival of history!
‘The Way Home’
Book Launching
Presented by :
Tan Ean Nee

2. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones

3. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones
Noraeni’s eldest son Abdullah
Naufal, daughter in law
Suhayrah and grandson
Misph’al came along.
They asked Misph'al to call
"Nekyang! Nekyang!“
(great grandmother in
Kelantanese Malay)

4. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones
Naufal, Suhayrah and
Mis’phal have group photo in
front of the headstone.
A graveyard reunion that
transcend religion and race.

5. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones
Name: Noraeni Mohammed
Age: 55
Nationality: Malaysia
- Born in Sg. Buloh and
adopted by the driver of
Sultan of Kelantan
- Was told that her birth
father was a soldier in British
Malaya, he had died before
she was born.

6. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones
The day after Noraeni’s
adoptive mother passed
away, she found her
adoption certificate among
her things.
A friend of hers helped to
get a copy of her original
birth cert from NRD.
She realized that she is a
Chinese and her name
was Cheong Yee Moi.

7. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones
She contacted Michael
Chong from MCA Public
services and complaints
Department, who held a
PC to enlist the help of
the media to search for
her birth parents.
Noraeni placed a notice
in the newspaper
seeking her biological
parents.

8. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones
In Dec 2009,
accompanied by her 2
sons, Noraeni searched
for old records at the
settlement’s Record
Department, she found
records of her parents
and discovered that she
actually has a sister who
is 2 years older than
her.
They were in great
excitement with these
findings.

9. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones
It is the first time
Noraeni and her sons
have ever stepped foot
in a Chinese cemetery.

10. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones
“At Sungai Buloh you were
imprisoned,
A lifetime there you spent,
Never to feel a hug, a touch, a
caress.
What is the meaning of a birth?
What is the meaning of a
family?
Mother! Oh, mother!
I will fight for you.
Even though when we meet,
You are lying peacefully in
your grave.” ----Noraeni.

11. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones
Name: Julie
Age: 52
Nationality: Australian
- Julie was adopted by an
Australian and raised in Perth.
-In October 2006, her foster
mother accompanied her back
to Malaysia in search for her
root.

12. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones
In 2006, Julie’s adoptive mother brought her back to
Sungai Buloh in search of her roots.

13. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones
“I clearly remember the day that I
was to meet my father for the very
first time. I walked into his quarters
and felt a connection instantly,
despite our not speaking a common
language. I also immediately saw a
family resemblance. My father cried
when I presented him with the photo
album. My stepmother was crying
happy tears and I was crying from
the overwhelming happiness that
came from not only finding my
father but with the feeling of love
that surrounded us. My father
offered us some beer. I kept the
empty bottles as a memento of the
beautiful time we had together.”
(Extract from Julie’s story in The
Way Home)

14. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones
In 2007, Julie and her children had a reunion meal
together with her biological father and stepmother.

15. Reconnecting With Their Loved Ones

16. Purpose of this book
1 To eliminate discriminations
and reserve the past history of
leprosy inmates and their
descendants
2 To reconnect the inmates
with their descendants
3 To defend the inmates’ rights
to be reunited with their
descendants

17. Responses from the Public
The book had aroused great
interest among the public and
it was widely reported by the
media.
Because of this book, more
people had the opportunity to
understand the isolated world
of the former leprosy patients
and their descendants.

18. Book Campaign
In the past year, we have
conducted more than 15 big
and small public road shows,
seminar, talks and sharing in
different states.
Besides that, we have also
given free books to local and
international leprosy
organizations/individuals, the
Sungai Buloh Settlement
Council and Malaysian
Secondary Schools libraries.

19. Donation to SB
Community
Cheque presentation to the Sungai Buloh Settlement
Council for their welfare fund.

20. Online Museum Project
Half of the proceeds from
the sale will go towards
supporting the Sungai
Buloh community museum
fund.
This website will use the
online museum idea to
publish the inmates’ oral
history and relics as an
effort to preserve the
collective memory of the
Sungai Buloh community.

21. Online Museum Project
For the past year, we
have interviewed
more than 50
inmates, collected
their old photos and
personal relics. We
digitalized all the
gathered historical
data and material to
make the online
museum project a
success.

22. Malay Or al Histor y Project
Encourage the second and third generation from
Sungai Buloh to write a Malay oral history book, share
their root-searching stories, plight and their hope.

23. Further Efforts to Help the descendants
Helping the descendants trace their official
documents at the Registration Office at Putrajaya.

24. Further Efforts to Help the descendants
Bridging the descendants and the hospital authorities, let
the descendants bring up their struggle to the hospital
authority and appeal for their help.

25. Further Efforts to Help the descendants
Build rapport with the hospital authority, strive for
DNA testing after the documentation trial failed.

26. Perform DNA testing to reconnect the families
affected by leprosy.

27. Doctors and nurses, former leprosy patient, descendant
and their families work together to carry out a DNA blood
sample collection.

28. Our Hope……
Support the Chinese and English editions of “The
Way Home”, so that we can continue to serve this
community and make the SB project a success.

29. Our Ultimate Goal
1. To reconnect the
elderly inmates with
their missing
offspring before they
pass on.
2. To ensure that the
inmates’ stories and
past sacrifices can
live on in the hearts
of the next
generation.

30. Your support will definitely make our community serving
project even more successful! Thank you 

31. What is leprosy?
•Leprosy is a slightly
contagious disease caused
by a tiny rod-like germ
called Mycobacterium
Leprae (M.leprae) .
• It was first discovered by
Dr. G.A. Hansen in 1873.
•

32. Is Leprosy Contagious?
Yes, but leprosy is far less
contagious than other
infectious diseases.
It is only contagious when a
person has untreated
leprosy. Once the disease
has been treated, a person
becomes noninfectious
within a short period of
time. Most specialists agree
that more than 95 percent
of the world's population
has a natural immunity to
the disease.

33. SIGNS OF LEPROSY
Hands and feet -
Leprosy bacteria attack
. the nerves in the hands
and feet and cause
them to become numb.
Eyes - Leprosy bacteria
attack the nerves
around the eyes,
causing the loss of
blinking reflex.
Face - Damage to the
internal lining of the
nose causes scarring
and eventual collapse of
the nose.

34. 眼盲、鼻残、毁容

35. 终生瘫痪

36. 终生残疾

37. 被扭曲的容颜

38. 几乎被掩盖的历史

39. 外人不知道的故事

40. 永远的希望之谷
1 。消除歧视、珍惜麻疯病患
者的经历
2 。 重建社会对麻疯病的认
知，捍卫院民的居住权
3 。新生代继续经历他们的故
事，体验他们的绝望与希望。

41. The Marriage Quarter
Couples would be
allowed to live in
quarter upon
availability after years
of waiting for their
turns

42. Baby’s Home
The Early Settlement
Policy:
• Disallow living with
biological parents
• Prohibition of breast-
feeding to prevent
spreading of disease
• 1 hour visit /month was
permitted for respective
parents within 6 months
grace period

43. Le gal Adoption
• For the sake of the child
and knowing it to be in
his interest, we make this
gesture of our own free
will, fully conscious that
we have renounced all
our claim of this children
now, or any time in the
future.

44. Guardians Arrangement
• Taken care by the
relatives or friends of
respective inmates
• Sent to welfare homes
which managed by
different charity
organizations
• Inmates visited and
contributed monthly
monetary support

45. Welfare Homes
Bukit Nanas Orphanage Home (1930’s)
- managed by Sisters of the Infant Jesus

46. Welfare Homes
Ipoh Salvation Army Home (1940’s)
- managed by the Salvation Army

47. Welfare Homes
Puchong Pure Life Orphanage Home (1950’s)
- managed by The Pure Life Socitey

48. Welfare Homes
Batu Arang Good Shepherd Welfare Center
(1960’s)- managed by Good Shepherd Convent

49. Welfare Homes
Desa Jaya Children Home (1970’s)
- managed by Sisters of the Infant Jesus

50. Welfare Homes
Rumah Care (1970’s)
- managed by Malaysian Care

51. Sending Away….
•Total renouncement
of child claim with
legal agreement
•Adoptions by
foreigners and
different races
• Resulting hardships
in future tracing

52. Story of Lee Ren Ai
- a glance of my daughter
Age: 69
Nationality: Indonesian
-Gave birth her 2nd daughter in Sg.
Buloh
- was given when 4 months old to a
discharged single male patient
from Sg Buloh
-Agreed to have a glance of her
daughter after grown up however
promise was broken by adopted
father

53. Story of Tan Cheng Hoe
- please find anyone of my children
Age: 84
Nationality: Singapore
- fathered 4 daughters and 3 sons
in Pulau Jerejak
- sent directly to Penang Maternity
Hospital; Adoptions arranged by
Social Welfare
- Without legal agreement; only
verbal communication
- Met youngest daughter ; 4th child
passed away; hoping to find the
remaining children