PUBLISHED ONMarch 11, 2024 9:37 AMByBhavya RawatFor the past week, the marital drama between a Singaporean man and his South Korean wife - who are living in Jakarta - has been unfolding in the Indonesia media and on social media.
Allegations are flying fast and furious as the woman accuses her husband of taking away their four children while he claims that she had neglected and hit them.
It all started with a TikTok video that went viral last week.
In the two-minute clip posted on March 5, the wife, who calls herself Amy, is seen charging at her husband and another woman whom she alleges to be his mistress, and screaming "my baby" over and over.
The other woman is holding a baby, Amy's daughter with her husband Aden Wong.
The filmed incident is believed to have taken place at an Indonesian hospital on March 1. The couple's pre-teen daughter, their eldest child, was also present.
It was the latest episode in the couple's acrimonious fight and now, the Indonesian police have also been dragged into the dispute.
According to a Straits Times report, Jakarta police spokesman, Senior Commissioner Ade Ary Syam Indradi, told reporters that a woman identified by her initials BMJ, but known online as Amy, had lodged a report against a man, identified by his initials WMG alias Aden Wong, and a woman believed to be his personal assistant, TE, on March 6, with “allegations of crimes of adultery and the obstruction of exclusive breastfeeding”.
Amy had shared her story on various social media platforms last week, while Wong gave his side of the story in a podcast interview on March 10.
Amy has accused Wong, the former vice-president of global shipping company DP World Asia Pacific, of cheating on her when she was pregnant last year.
She refers to his alleged mistress as TE and claims she is an Indonesian singer. According to Indonesian media, the singer has been involved in multiple controversies since 2021.
Referring to the confrontation at the hospital, Amy said: "That was the first time I saw my baby and my elder daughter since Jan 21."
She claimed she was not allowed to touch or hold the baby while the other woman was carrying it.
She said one of her husband's helpers had told her that he was bringing their baby to the hospital last Friday. She, too, headed there, hoping to speak to him.
"But the moment I saw that woman holding my baby, I snapped," she said.
"My hands... went out to her to get the baby. I thought, that's my baby, I need to get my baby."
She added: "Then there (were) a lot of hands stopping me, and maybe I scared my elder daughter and that's why she was screaming.
Amy said she and her husband met while they were studying at the National University of Singapore, and have been married for 16 years.
They moved to Jakarta with their Singaporean children - they also have two sons - and his parents in 2022 because of his job.
Amy alleged that Wong kicked her out of their family home in November 2023, less than a month after she gave birth, so that the other woman could move in with him.
The initial arrangement between the couple was for the baby to stay with her while the three older kids remained with him. Both were to let the other meet the kids whenever they wished.
On Jan 21, Wong asked to see the baby, saying he would send two of their other children to her too.
According to Amy, her mother-in-law then came to her apartment to pick up the infant, but did not drop the two siblings off.
When Amy asked to have the baby back at around 6pm to feed her, she claimed Wong accused her of conspiring with one of his domestic helpers to perform "black magic" to poison him and his alleged mistress.
On social media, Amy also posted screen shots of WhatsApp messages between her and Wong, where he allegedly accused her of lying and harming their kids. He also allegedly said he would not allow Amy to see their children and told her to "go back to Korea and seek help".
In a TikTok video, Amy pleaded with her husband: "Please let me get back my kids, I will divorce you. Please just do it properly".
She also tearfully requested netizens to help her get her children back and said she had contacted the authorities as well.
On March 10, two days after Amy posted her last video, Wong and his daughter appeared in a podcast by an Indonesian YouTuber to give their side of the story.
"She's saying that my dad is the villian and keeping us... But she's not actually speaking the truth," the girl said.
She also accused Amy of verbally and physically abusing her and her siblings while under the influence of alcohol when they lived in Singapore.
“She would scold us and yell at us and sometimes hit us also," the girl said.
She added that she is now in Malaysia with her father and siblings, and they are moving from hotel to hotel to avoid being found by Amy.
Wong accused Amy of "spreading lies online" and denied having a mistress, insisting that the woman who accompanied him to the hospital was his personal assistant who had been helping him look after the children after Amy left the family home.
Wong, who has since been fired by his company, said he was shocked at the backlash he received and called the whole situation "ridiculous".
"Everybody is attacking my household with my kids in it," he said.
"I lost my job, I lost my reputation, I was the 'punching bag' of Indonesia for more than a month."
He added that he had to leave Indonesia with his kids because the confrontation at the hospital showed him that Amy was unstable and a threat to their children.
Wong claimed that while he was ready to file for divorce, Amy had repeatedly refused to let him do so.
"I told her I want to divorce her so many times last year. Every time I said that, she would go into the toilet and try to cut herself with the scissors and say, 'I'd rather die'."
He added that during the separation, Amy disappeared from the apartment he had given her, which made serving her divorce papers impossible.
"The Singapore court told me I can't file the [divorce] papers because I told them I didn't know where she is," he said.
Addressing Amy directly, Wong added: "You have done a lot of things wrong. You have gone too far, really too far."
"Look, there was a time to settle this privately, but that has passed. Stop before one of your kids gets hurt by you."
bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com