I am fighting for dignity ... and for the truth, says son
It would be indecent for Madam Fan Kwei-kam's gravestone not to bear her late husband's name, or even to carry the names of both her late husbands, her son Edward Chiu Chung-leung explained.
Mr Chiu is fighting for his father's surname to be engraved on his mother's gravestone instead of that of her former husband, surnamed Lee, who died in the 1950s. He says a judge's order that 'kind mother' replace the surname would suggest she had no husband and had children outside marriage.
'The gravestone cannot carry both names because it would suggest that she was sleeping with two men at the same time,' he said. 'I am fighting for dignity, for the truth and for my mother's and father's names.'
Mr Chiu said his half-brother, Lee Fu-wai, never accepted his new father and was using his mother's death to make a point that only her marriage to Mr Lee's father, who had two wives, was 'real'.
'The Lee children were very young and of low social status when their father died and my father was kind enough to help them, raise them,' Mr Chiu said. 'My father was a jade businessman and now all the Lees have their own jade shops.'
Mr Chiu said he had tried talking to Mr Lee but the latter suggested putting the Chiu name at the bottom of the grave and covering it, signifying shame. 'When my father died, my mother lived with me and I took care of her until the last minute,' he said. 'I am not fighting for her money - she had no money - but I am proud of the Chiu name and my mother is proud of it.'
