Elvin Ng and his mother recently travelled to Indonesia to surprise their former helper, whom they had not met for 12 years.
The reunion was featured in the latest episode of CNA’s On The Red Dot released on Aug 24, which saw the 45-year-old actor and his mum Linda Chew travel to Depok City to meet Jumiyati, Jumi for short, at her home.
In the episode, the 42-year-old shared that she had come to Singapore to earn more money and worked for Elvin’s family for six years, from 2008 to 2014.
Elvin said that he was “close-knit” with Jumi and, compared to the other helpers in his family, she was the closest in age to him and his siblings.
He added that his early years in the entertainment industry was a time of “a lot of output” and a “non-stop” grind.
Jumi, whom he described as a younger sister, was in charge of waking him up as he was not much of a morning person.
“Every day I always had to wake Elvin up. Sometimes, it was very difficult to wake him up. I must always knock (on his door) many times,” she said.
“Jumi was the best alarm clock,” laughed Elvin. “From the outside, it looked like it was all glamorous and nice but I was just really putting in a lot of work.”
He would have 12-hour workdays with filming schedules from 7am to 7pm, and sometimes until midnight. He would then head home to shower, eat, memorise his scripts and then sleep for five hours before returning to work the next day.
Reuniting after 12 years
After six years with the family, Jumi returned to Indonesia in 2014 as she wanted to “go back and get on with her life”, said Elvin.
While she initially remained in contact with Chew, their communication eventually died down.
As a surprise for Jumi, Elvin and his mother had a homemade gift: Pineapple tarts, a snack Jumi had learned to make from Chew.
Elvin shared that he loves pineapple tarts and would always buy a lot before Chinese New Year, prompting his mother to suggest that they make their own instead.
When the production team handed Jumi the gift, she became emotional and began to cry, saying she misses them.
She then burst into tears upon seeing the two of them and gave each a tight hug.
“Ma’am, are you healthy?” Jumi asked while wiping her tears, to which Chew replied yes.
‘Helped the family to tide through’
Elvin and his mother also visited their old neighbourhood at Block 303 Jurong East, where his family lived for over 14 years.
Chew shared that she used to walk with Jumi from the canal in front of their home all the way to Chinese Garden, and that they had started doing so a few months after Elvin’s father died in 2012.
Jumi would be concerned about her and paid close attention to her during that period, Chew recalled, and at times, Jumi would also secretly cry.
Elvin previously opened up about grappling with his father’s death while balancing work in a 2020 episode of Mewatch talk show Hear U Out hosted by Quan Yi Fong.
His father reportedly died aged 57 from a ruptured aortic aneurysm after being hospitalised for heart problems. Elvin, who’s the eldest child and has a sister and a brother, shared that he only really dealt with his emotions four months after his father’s death.
“I felt like I couldn’t do anything for my mum but I’m very lucky I had my siblings and Jumi,” said Elvin. “I didn’t have to worry because Jumi was taking care of the family so that I could go and focus on what I had to do then.
“I think she helped the family to tide through in a very quiet way.”
Besides the fond memories, Jumi also kept a few souvenirs from Singapore, including a wallet gifted by Elvin and local recipes for food such as chicken rice, prawn mee and pineapple tarts.
Seeing Jumi’s keepsakes, Chew said: “With all these, it shows that she really never forgot us.”
“I didn’t know that she held such importance of us in her heart,” said Elvin.
Jumi later cooked prawn mee, a dish Elvin’s late father taught her, in remembrance of him.
“I made prawn mee because I remember my memories with sir. He always taught me how to cook this,” she recalled, while tearing up.
“Luckily, we had you at that time. Otherwise, I don’t know what to do,” said Chew. “Thank you so much.”
Elvin added: “After that, I had to go straight back to work. I also had no time for mum, then you two were together, so I felt much better.”
Elvin had previously shared photos of the trip on Instagram in July, saying he was headed to Jakarta with his mother for a work trip.
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