Indonesian seeking relatives of Taiwanese man she has cared for

Jakarta, June 5 (CNA) An Indonesian caregiver is looking for family members of a Taiwanese man she has taken care of for years in Indonesia but now needs to send back to Taiwan, Taiwan's representative office in Jakarta said Monday.

The Taipei Economic and Trade Office told CNA that the Indonesian caregiver, Siti Aisyah, started to take care of a teenage boy surnamed Huang (黃), a severe Down syndrome patient, when she was hired by Huang's father in 2013.

Six years later, when Siti's work permit expired, she and Huang's father reached an agreement for her to take the son to Indonesia and continue to care for him, with the father giving her a lump sum payment as compensation, according to sources.

She returned to Indonesia with the son in July 2019, the sources said.

Because Huang, who is now 24 years old, has since overstayed his visa, Siti planned to send him back to Taiwan, but found that his father has since died, the office said.

Until the office locates his other family members, however, Huang will not be sent back home, the office said, but it did not elaborate on why that was necessary or the legal issues involved.

The office added that it was discussing Huang's visa issue with Indonesian immigration authorities.

The issue gained prominence after a TikTok influencer made a video of an interview with Siti on the situation that went viral and has been watched more than 1.8 million times.

In the video, Siti said that when she told Huang's father she was willing to take his son to Indonesia to continue his care, the father cried, saying he had no other choice since Huang's mother did not want to take care of the son.

Huang's mother wanted to end her son's life or entrust the government to take care of him, according to the video.

Siti said Huang's father worked as a security guard and spent almost everything he earned to pay Siti's salary and financially support his son's education.

In the years since, she has taken care of Huang in Indonesia, and Huang has started to walk on his own, the caregiver said in the video.

CNA, however, has not been able to independently confirm Huang's health status or any of the other details posted.

Tribunnews, an Indonesian news outlet, cited Siti as saying that after Huang's father died, no one paid her for the man's care, but she could not make contact with any other family members because they apparently moved to other places.

The family originally lived in Xizhi in New Taipei.

The Tiktok interview has been cited by several Indonesia news outlets and sparked discussion on the internet, with many Indonesian netizens praising Siti for her compassion over what she has done for Huang.