HAPPIER TIMES: The couple on their wedding day.
IPOH: "I know it was wrong. I knew it the moment the red mist cleared. I’m sorry."
That is the admission by Calven Chik, the man who is at the centre of the controversy involving a series of videos which depicts him assaulting his wife in their branded goods boutique in Ipoh.
Almost overnight, the 26-year-old has become 'public enemy number one' on Malaysian social media networks, thanks to the availability of the videos, which has garnered him nationwide scorn and even earned him threats from strangers.
The videos, captured via the store’s CCTV cameras, were uploaded by his wife, 19-year-old Amanda Fong, on her Facebook page.
Fong, who is two months pregnant, had also posted up pictures of the injuries she had sustained following the incident.
At last count, the videos have been ‘shared’ almost 25,000 times by Facebook users.
Met at his family home in Ipoh on Tuesday, Chik said he had no excuse for his actions and expressed remorse.
"I know that there is no reason or justification for my actions and I cannot defend myself over this. It was something that I should not have done. I regret it," he told Malaysian Digest.
Chik claimed he and his wife had numerous arguments before, some of which had escalated into violence. He admitted that this wasn’t the first time that he had become physical with her, and vice versa.
"I don’t expect anyone to understand it, and I doubt if anyone ever will," he said.
Bad Romance
..Violence, he stressed, has not always been a feature of their marriage. The couple first met in June last year and tied the knot on Jan 17 this year.
He claimed that the marriage was good in the beginning, but was eventually soured by the presence of his mother-in-law, whom he claimed was a disruptive influence.
He believed that Fong’s mother played a prominent role in influencing her daughter’s behaviour and for driving a wedge between them.
"My wife had a troubled upbringing. Her parents separated when she was young, and she was raised by her mother and grandmother. This was related to me when we first started to know each other," he claimed.
His mother-in-law, he claimed, was warm to him at first but he eventually sensed that she disliked him. He claimed that when he went to her to ask for her blessing to seek Fong’s hand in marriage, his mother-in-law rejected him the first time around.
Chik related several incidences of when the mother-in-law’s behaviour puzzled him, such as when the newlyweds wanted to go to Macau for their honeymoon. He claimed the mother-in-law demanded that she be brought along.
"I thought it was a bizarre request, and my wife thought so too. This was after all, our honeymoon. My mother-in-law only dropped her demand when my wife bought her a ticket to London for a religious event, something which the former had been pestering her for previously," he alleged.
Newfound Wealth, Mysterious Phone Calls
Chik claimed that when he first met Fong, the family was not well-off. Both mother, daughter and grandmother lived in a modest two-room flat in Ipoh.
"Amanda wasn’t working, nor studying, she told me her family couldn’t afford it. But as the relationship progressed, I saw Amanda having quite a bit of money. She then enrolled in a course at a local college, claiming that the fees came from a sponsor from her mother’s company."
Chik said he didn’t want to question where the money came from, but became increasingly intrigued as her spending increased.
"She later began accumulating expensive clothes, handbags and started dining at expensive places. She no longer had to rely on me for money," he claimed.
However, his curiosity reached its peak when she declared that she was interested in buying a brand-new Volkswagen Beetle, which costs almost RM200,000.
Chik, who ran a marketing company, claimed he knew there was no way she could qualify for a loan, even if she used her mother’s name as the mother did not make much.
She eventually told him that the source of her new-found wealth was an "inheritance from her late grandfather", who owned several orchid farms in Malaysia. She told him that she received the money when she turned 18 from the caretaker of the family business.
He was also puzzled by 'mysterious' phone calls she received, and claimed that she was secretive over the nature of the calls. She claimed that the calls were from the caretaker.
He claimed she also declined to let him accompany her when she wanted to go and meet the caretaker. He claimed she met the caretaker on a weekly or fortnightly basis.
"Each time she returned, she would take her mother and I out for either a nice dinner or a shopping trip," he claimed.
Chik claimed Fong eventually bought a brand new Honda Insight, which costs almost RM100,000. She claimed that the caretaker had helped secure the documents for the purchase.
"I tried to avoid thinking about it, but I reassured myself that this was all above board, and there was nothing going on," he claimed.
Infidelity Shock
He claimed that in May, while using his wife’s iPhone to use her web browser, he stumbled upon a series of messages between Amanda and another person. The messages, he claimed, were affectionate and personal in nature.
"I was stunned. I didn’t know how to react to this, so I spoke with her grandmother," he claimed.
He claimed the both of them then confronted Amanda, who tearfully confessed that she had been having an affair. She claimed the other man was an Ipoh-based Datuk, who was then revealed as the source of her wealth.
Chik claimed that the Datuk, who was married, was someone she had known before she met him, but she was unable to break it off.
"She subsequently pledged to have nothing more to do with the man," he claimed.
He alleged that after her admission, Amanda became hysterical and threatened to kill herself, claiming that her life wasn't worth it. He claimed it took sometime before they managed to calm her down and the situation got back to normal.
Depression and Suicide Threats
Chik disclosed that his wife was diagnosed as being clinically depressed, based on their visit to the Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta. He showed Malaysian Digest his wife’s medical diagnosis report, which stared that she suffered from depression.
He also later discovered that he suffered mild depression as well, as is currently taking medication for it.
He claimed that she was prone to fits of rage, and admitted that it was not something that he could usually help her with. He cited several instances of difficulty in dealing with her rage issues.
"There was an incident where an argument broke out between us in her home. She then took out a knife and chased me around the flat, threatening to stab me. She then sat on the bed and gave me a choice, which was to let her stab me, or she would stab herself.
"I was at a loss, and I broke down in tears. Her grandmother then came home and diffused the situation. But this wasn’t before she had slashed both her forearms.
"We knew that if we took her to a government hospital, she could be charged with attempted suicide, so we took her to a private clinic instead for treatment," he claimed.
The CCTV Beating
The incident, he claimed, started from a petty argument within the shop and swiftly escalated into a massive fight.
"I've read the comments on Facebook and on blogs. I know what people are saying. My wife has also accused me of attempting to harm the baby, when it was the opposite."
"This always has me worried, given her pregnancy and her state of mind. There have been times when we were worried sick as she couldn’t be contacted for hours on end," he claimed.
He claimed that he was trying to get her to remain in the store and not storm off. He also claimed that he was trying to defend himself from his wife’s attacks.
Chik, however, admitted that he should not have reacted violently.
"I have no excuse for that. It was something that shouldn’t have happened, it just went out of control," he said.
He said he was fully prepared to face the consequences of his actions. Police are now investigating the case under Section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt.
If charged and found guilty, he faces a maximum one year jail sentence or a maximum fine of RM2,000, or both.
Chik said he was aware of the possibility and was prepared to face them.
"I know what I did was wrong. I’m not running away from it, I’m not hiding. I will accept whatever comes my way."
By NAJMUDDIN NAJIB (najmuddin.najib@malaysiandigest.com)
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