Born to Chinese parents, best friends raised by Malay and Indian families are actually sisters
Posted on 29 January 2024 | 1,669 views | 9 comments
Theresa Tan
The Straits Times
January 28, 2024 For years, they played together as young girls in a village in Aljunied. Neighbours then often asked Madam Thangah Koh, 72, and Madam Fatimah Mohidin, 71, if they were sisters. Madam Fatimah, a retired factory worker, said in Malay: “People said we looked alike and asked if we were sisters. I said I’m Malay, while Thangah is Indian. How could we be sisters?” The pair were best of friends, and they played together every day.
It was only in her mid-teens that Madam Thangah discovered she was born to a Chinese couple.
She had been adopted by an Indian couple living in the same village, Lorong Sungkai, as her birth parents.
Madam Fatimah had been adopted by a Malay-Muslim family, who were also neighbours.
To their delight, both of them found out that they are biological sisters.
Madam Thangah, a retired office assistant, said: “Our (adoptive) mothers always told us to play together, but they never said why. We also didn’t ask why.”
Their story was featured in a book about interracial adoptions in pre-independent Singapore, which was published in December 2023.
Little Drops: Cherished Children Of Singapore’s Past was written by Dr Theresa Devasahayam, a part-time sociology lecturer.
The sisters were born to a mechanic and his second wife, with whom he had eight children.
Two of his five children from his first marriage lived with him and his second wife.
With so many children to raise, finances were tight.
Madam Thangah is the second child from their father’s second marriage, while Madam Fatimah is the third.
Named Koh Siew Kiang at birth, Madam Thangah often fell ill as a baby. An astrologer advised her birth parents to give her away to an “outsider”, such as a non-Chinese family, or ill fortune might befall her father.
When she was five months old, she was adopted by a childless Indian couple who ran a canteen stall in a school.
A year later, Madam Fatimah, named Koh Siew Lang at birth, was given up for adoption as a two-month-old baby.
The astrologer had said she might bring ill fortune to her mother, as her big toe was unusually smaller than her other toes.
Madam Thangah’s adoptive parents initially adopted Madam Fatimah too, but they later passed her to a neighbour, a childless Malay couple, as they felt they could not manage with two children.
The Malay couple were also canteen stallholders.
The Straits Times
January 28, 2024 For years, they played together as young girls in a village in Aljunied. Neighbours then often asked Madam Thangah Koh, 72, and Madam Fatimah Mohidin, 71, if they were sisters. Madam Fatimah, a retired factory worker, said in Malay: “People said we looked alike and asked if we were sisters. I said I’m Malay, while Thangah is Indian. How could we be sisters?”
The sisters, Madam Koh (left) and Madam Fatimah, were born to a Chinese couple. Madam Koh was then adopted by an Indian couple, while Madam Fatimah was adopted by a Malay-Muslim family. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
The sisters remain close, and celebrate Chinese New Year with their biological family. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Source:
The Straits Times
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.