Ex-convict turned hawker, 52, haven't seen his children for 20 years, hopes to cook for them one day

Dominic Neo, 52, founder of char kway teow stall Liang Ji Legendary Char Kway Teow, has appealed to reconnect with his two estranged children, saying he hopes they will one day visit his stall so he can cook for them.

Speaking to Mothership, Neo said recent health concerns had left him worried that he might not get another chance to see them.

The last time he interacted with his children was when his son, now 30, was seven years old and his daughter, now 25, was still a baby.

As of his response to Mothership, neither had responded to his latest appeal.

Neo's "last wish"

In his Facebook appeal, Neo shared an old photograph of his two children and said he misses them and wants their forgiveness.

He told Mothership the photograph is the only one he has of his children and he keeps it in his wallet.

"If one day I pass away, [this] photo will burn together with me," he said.

Neo's appeal was prompted by his deteriorating health.

His lung issues recently worsened while worries about his business and other matters have affected his mental well-being.

Seeing his children again, he said, is his “last wish”. He hopes that, through his appeal, his children might come to understand and forgive him.

Family holidays are particularly painful for Neo

Neo divorced his wife in 2003. At that time, his son was seven and his daughter was just a baby.

He acknowledged that he was an absent father. “I had never been there for them,” he said.

After he came out from prison, he did not seek out his children because he did not want to disrupt their lives or studies.

Neo told Mothership that he understands the pain of growing up in such circumstances because he himself was a child of divorced parents and was raised by his mother.

Seeing other people spend time with their children, particularly during Chinese New Year and other festivals, has been painful for him too over the years.

Despite all this, Neo is willing to take responsibility for his part in what had happened and hopes that his children can forgive him.

"I had never been there for them, [from] their small to big. Hope they will forgive me. But my love to them had never been forgotten."

Credits change to his mother who passed when he was in jail

Neo also spoke about losing his mother while he was in jail, describing the pain of being unable to bid her a final farewell.

“The [saddest] part is [that I] didn’t send her on her last journey.”

Adding to that pain, he said, was his children’s absence from their grandmother’s wake.

It was for his mother's sake that Neo had promised to change himself.

Hopes to cook for his children at his stall

When asked what reconnecting would mean to him, Neo said he hoped his children would one day turn up at his stall.

“I could fry my dishes for them,” he said.

Neo described himself as having been a “mummy's boy” when he was younger. He said he had not cooked then and had regarded cooking as a woman’s job.

His outlook has since changed and he has been working hard to build the Liang Ji name. He hopes his children will have a chance to taste their father’s cooking one day:

“To [both my] kids, [you] may hate me but remember no matter what daddy really misses and [loves you] both.”

Neo does not know when a reunion might happen but he hopes to see his son and daughter before he dies. Even so, he does not wish to force them into doing something they don't want to do.

"Should you both still can't forgive me till I die, you both also can choose not to turn up," he said.