Bring Tina Back

'Please bring Tina back'
A critically ill woman wants to see her daughter who has been missing for two years. The family wrote to Life! following a story on missing persons
By Sandra Leong

THE family of a 74-year-old woman now critically ill in hospital is trying to fulfil her desperate plea: find her missing 32-year-old daughter Sutinah Hussein, once named one of Female magazine's 50 Most Gorgeous People.
Ms Sutinah, or Tina for short, is the youngest and favourite daughter of Madam Merdik Basari, a mother of seven.

However, she last saw her glamorous daughter during Hari Raya Puasa in November two years ago.

The unmarried account executive and occasional model went to her parents' HDB flat in Jurong East to help her mother prepare food for the festivities, and has not been seen since.

All this while, Madam Merdik has pined for her, even staying home on weekends in case her daughter came by. Then, earlier this month, she suddenly told her family: 'Bring Tina back or I won't forgive you.'

The plea took on a new urgency after Madam Merdik fell ill last Saturday night.

She was admitted to Singapore General Hospital after complaining of blurry vision and giddiness.

At 4am on Sunday morning, doctors told her family that she had a life-threatening haemorrhage in her brain.

She is in an intensive care unit, breathing with the help of a machine and has to be monitored by medical staff hourly.

Madam Merdik's fifth daughter, administrative assistant Asmah Hussein, 39, says of her mother's plea: 'She must have known she was going to be sick, that's why she said that.'

Her mother's condition, adds the visibly tired woman, is only '50-50'.

The family posted a Missing Persons report with the police on Monday.

They also wrote to Life! on Tuesday in response to a LifeStyle article two weeks ago about the missing persons' phenomenon in Singapore, which also ran with a call for families of missing persons to share their stories.

Since Madam Merdik was admitted to hospital, about 15 family members, including her husband Hussein Musdi, 84, have kept vigil outside her ward. He was too shaken to be interviewed.

'My mother needs Tina's touch,' says Madam Asmah. 'Maybe with Tina here, she will feel better.'

After that Hari Raya Puasa visit, Ms Sutinah stopped visiting altogether. A few months later, she disconnected her mobile phone number, effectively severing all ties with her family.

Madam Asmah says: 'There was no argument. She just disappeared.'

She may have vanished from her family, but her face was all over Singapore - she appeared in that fateful November's edition of Female, as No. 45 on its 50 Most Gorgeous People list. The strikingly beautiful woman appears clad in a sexy bustier top and figure-hugging jeans.

Asked why she and her siblings did not try to look for their sister through the publication, Madam Asmah says with a sigh: 'She's a grown-up. We thought she wanted a good life and freedom.'

Indeed, Ms Sutinah was no stranger to vanishing acts - before this disappearing act, she had also gone missing before that for about a year, but later said she had been living with friends.

This time around, the situation is different with Madam Merdik critically ill.

On Monday, Madam Asmah's brother Osman Hussein, 52, finally filed a missing person's report with the police, and even approached the Crime Library, a voluntary group that helps search for missing people, for help.

The police confirmed that a report was lodged. A spokesman noted: 'Once family members lodge a missing person's report, we would investigate the case thoroughly, assessing the information and taking into consideration the age, mental and health conditions of the missing person and the situations under which the person has gone missing.

'People will go missing for many reasons, and some may even do so deliberately for their personal motive.'

Checks with the Central Provident Fund board have showed that Ms Sutinah has no record of employment for the past 11/2 years.

She is believed to be in Singapore, however. The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority has also told the family that she last travelled in and out of the country in August this year. Her Friendster account lists her location as 'west and east on this island of Singapore' but is not accessible to strangers.

Madam Asnah is worried that her sister may have mixed with bad company. 'Maybe someone is making use of her,' she says. 'Someone who says 'you must belong to me' and she is scared to leave.'

She describes Ms Sutinah as outgoing, jovial and 'havoc but soft-hearted'. Popular with men, she had many boyfriends but had brought only one home, four years ago - a wealthy, French-Arabian man whom she was then living with. Madam Asmah says the couple talked about marriage but eventually broke up.

At her time of disappearance, she may have been dating a Caucasian man.

Madam Asmah believes that her sister may have left home because she was ashamed of her family background.

'All her friends were high-class types.'

She sadly adds: 'Tina, come back and visit your sick mother. Even if just for five minutes. If after that, you want to go, you may go.'

sandral@sph.com.sg