Mety Disowned

The Darmali family, scions of Lie In Siong (deceased) and Helena Lie, hereby announce that we have disowned our daughter/sister, Mety Darmali.

In 1985, under pressing personal circumstances, our mother purchased a condominium at The Orange Grove in Stevens Road under the names of 3 of her elder children (the youngest, Susi, was still a minor and could not be included), to be held in trust for her. Mother paid for the apartment with proceeds from Father's estate and it was implicitly understood that we were holding the property on Mother's behalf, as none of us came up with a cent to purchase the property.

Earlier this year, the property was sold under an en bloc sale. In subsequent liasons with the lawyers handling the sale, it came to our attention that title to the apartment at The Orange Grove was in fact a tenancy-in-common, and that proceeds for the sale would be issued in 3 separate cashiers orders (CO), in the name of the 3 legal title owners.

To ensure that the funds would be safe, the lawyers were instructed to issue a single CO in 3 joint names, but this required consent from all 3 legal owners. The problems began when our sister Mety refused to consent to a single cheque being issued. This could only mean that she intended to abscond with the 1/3 portion of the proceeds which would be issued in her name. The family members were shocked but nobody wanted to believe that she would be so cold-hearted as to rob her own mother.

As Mother was in Jakarta at the time, numerous emails, sms-es and phonecalls were made to Mety to determine her intentions. All the emails and sms-es and many of the phonecalls went unanswered. Shockingly, on one of 2 phonecalls her sister Shwu Wei managed to get through to her, she said she intended to keep the 1/3 share of the proceeds for herself, adding that "an old lady [her mother] does not need so much money". In a subsequent phonecall, she said things that made little sense to everyone, including that she had fears that she would be "betrayed" by other members of the family and deprived of 'her share", that she "needed the money", and that she had "a lot of things to do with the money". That was the last time anyone in Jakarta managed to talk to her by phone - all calls went unaswered thereafter. Susi (in S'pore) was informed of the situation and she called Mety - a shouting match ensued, following which her calls also went unanswered.

It has became apparent that Mety has forgotten that her mother is still alive and that she has no "share" of anything per se, that she never came up with a cent to purchase or maintain the property, that she has been holding the property on Mother's behalf, that Mother might have other plans for the sale proceeds, and that in fact it was she herself who was betraying Mother by keeping what was not hers. It seemed she felt she had every right to just take the money for herself, without a thought or care that it was not beneficially hers to take, how it might affect her mother or siblings, and whether she in fact had any moral right to keep the money for herself.

In fact Mother had been unhappy living with Mety in Singapore for the last 2 years, especially since her divorce and remarriage to the German Uwe, who is universally disliked by the entire family (crude, loud, interfering, bullying and impolite). With the proceeds of the en bloc sale, Mother had plans to buy an apartment in S'pore and live by herself, as she could no longer tolerate the living conditions with Mety, and to put aside funds to support herself in her old age.

Since Mother returned to S'pore on 9 May '07 from Jakarta, she has gone with Shwu Wei several times to confront Mety face-to-face; all to no avail. Mety is steadfastly refusing to return the S$1.3mil she has conveniently deposited into her own account since completion of the sale on May 8.

All of Mother's plans & dreams have now been destroyed by Mety. With property prices reaching astronomical heights in S'pore, Mother now needs to think twice if she can afford to live in District 9/10/11 which she prefers. No amount of threats or recriminations seem to move Mety - she has shown herself to be a selfish, cold, calculating, thoughtless, cruel, inconsiderate, unfilial and thieving bitch who can cold-heartedly steal from her mother, a poor, defenseless, 72 year old woman who has seen so much hardship in her life.

So much for the "spunky, romantic, child woman...born for love" Mety fancies and professes herself to be. It is supremely ironic that she refers to the "love between a mother and child" in her website (metydarmali.com), since she obviously has no love at all for her own mother & has chosen to give her a monumental heartache this Mother's Day. Instead of being spoiled and pampered today, Mother is busy looking at apartments in S'pore (many of which she feels she cannot now afford) for somewhere to stay, crying silent tears of sorrow and wondering what she ever did to her daughter to deserve such treatment. The entire family feels for Mother and are trying to help & support her in whatever way we can, but we doubt anything we do can ever erase the pain of Mety's betrayal in Mother's heart.

It is therefore with sadness that the Darmali Family announces that we have disowned Mety Darmali @ Lie Shwu Hui, but her actions have left us with little alternative. By this blog, we would like all family members to be so informed and to be aware of the circumstances that led to this action.