Indian urges Malaysia not to wrench him away from mother

KUALA LUMPUR - An Indian facing deportation from Malaysia has urged the authorities to cancel the order so he can take care of his sick mother.

“Please don’t separate us a second time,” pleaded Prabakaran Rajendran, 32, on being served a deportation letter to return to India by next Wednesday.

He was separated from his Malaysia-born mother Lachemy Periasamy, now 59, when he was just two months old. The woman returned to Malaysia after her husband and in-laws began to abuse her.

They were reunited 10 years ago when Prabakaran, then 21, came to Malaysia in search of Lachemy after his father died of an illness in Lalgudi in Tamil Nadu, India.

Lachemy, who works as a cleaner, has become dependent on Prabakaran, her only son, as she suffers from diabetes and depression, the New Straits Times said Tuesday.

But Prabakaran, who carries a social visit pass, cannot work here and must leave.

“I have used up most of my mother’s money because she has to sponsor me and I can’t even work to lighten her burden.”

“Now I am told that I have to leave the country. I want to celebrate Diwali with her,” he said.

“I don’t want to come back and see her only when something unfortunate has happened to her,” he added.

Lachemy hopes the government will consider her son’s plight.

“I don’t think I can take another painful separation. We only have each other,” said Lachemy, who was born in Kuala Selangor.

Helping the mother-son duo is Malaysian Public Services Society president Andrew Raju. “I sincerely hope the home minister will make an exception to allow an extension and cancel the deportation order on humanitarian grounds. Prabakaran has never been late in renewing his visa or abused it.”

Malaysia is home to 2.1 million ethnic Indians, a bulk of them Tamils, who settled here during the British era.