Any parent will feel its their duty to help when their children are in dire straits. When they need money, if they need help jump-starting their careers, even when they fall into trouble with the law.
But sometimes, when a child refuses to learn his lesson, a father must put his foot down and say "Enough is enough!"
That is what happened at a Sessions Court in Ipoh on Wednesday when a father refused to post bail for his troubled son who stands accused of committing gang robbery in Buntong.
M. Herry Dass, 26, cried and screamed from the dock “Appa, appa ...please, please, please,” even going down on his knees as his father V Maria Dass, 55, stood to explain to the court the reasons why he refused to post the bail which had previously been set at RM3,000.
Judge S Indra Nehru postponed the proceedings temporarily to give both father and son time to resolve their problems but the father stuck with his decision, informing the judge again that he would not be posting bail.
The younger Mr Dass, who is unemployed, was handcuffed and dragged out of the courtroom, still wailing.
Mr Dass Senior told reporters that this was not his eldest son's first offense.
“He refuses to work and instead gets into trouble time and time again. This is his third or fourth run-in with the law in the last 10 years, and I’ve had to borrow as much as RM20,000 to pay his fines.
“He doesn’t listen. He never learns and I’m fed up,” said the 55-year-old labourer who works at the Kuala Pari wholesale market.
This case brings to mind a similar situation earlier this year, where a father in Kuala Lumpur gave hell money to his son who refused to give up his gambling habit.
The father, Lee was fed up after bailing out his son twice from loan sharks, once for RM150,000 and again for RM40,000, and still enduring years of harassment, public shaming and vandalism by loan sharks.
When approached yet again by his son Ken, this time for an amount of RM110,000, Lee gave him hell money, sending a clear message to his son: "You are dead to me."
“For eight years I did my duty as a parent. Any parent has to help his son. But after eight years you have to cut off. I want to tell the Ah Long, don’t disturb us anymore. I am sick and I have to take care of myself. Don’t disturb us anymore,” he said.
Mr Lee even gave his son the opportunity to pursue a degree in Australia but Ken refuses to change his ways, disappearing every time the situation became dire and leaving his family to bear the brunt of the harassment.
News like these are certainly difficult to read as a parent and serve as a reminder that it is not always easy to raise children in our modern world.
