Tragic School Holidays
The last night, on the 7th
day after Malcolm’s cousin, Weng Kai, died, there was a sound, of 2 people
talking, and the only person there was his aunty (the cousin’s mother) and.....!
Malcolm See
was an old classmate of mine, when we schooling in the seventies in Penang. He
lives with his uncle and wife and only went back to his parents place in Ipoh
(as both his parents were so busy with their jobs).
During a particular
trip from Ipoh, they decided to go to Seremban in Negeri Sembilan (to visit
their relatives) and then off to Singapore to spend during Christmas. At that
morning before leaving for Singapore, they were informed that one his cousin,
Weng Kai, just drowned in a tragic accident.
It seemed, that his cousin (its’ the school
holidays) and his friends went to an old disused abandoned tin mining pool to
swim. They were so poor that they used to place plastic bags filled with air and used that as floats.
Unfortunately, my Weng Kai’s float had a hole and he got into difficulties. Weng
Kai’s friends tried to help but were unsuccessful and they rushed back to his
cousin’s house whereby they informed the family had happened. They rushed to the
abandoned mining pool, by that time Weng Kai’s body was already missing.
Then they
informed their relatives in Seremban and the police. After rushing to Malcolm’s
uncle and aunty’s house, they waited beside the overgrown bushes at the disused
mining pool but Weng Kai’s body did not show up. By the 2nd day,
they all went to the mining pool and waited for the whole day unsuccessfully as Weng Kai's body was stiill missing. Malcolm’s uncle and the police then suggested
to call the Navy divers who was based in Lumut in Perak.
After the
next morning (the 3rd day) they gathered again at the abandoned
mining pool and waited for the Navy divers. While waiting, a cousin saw Weng
Kai’s body beside edge of the mining pool and they all rushed to inform the
parents. Malcolm’s aunty (the mother of the dead cousin) rushed to the pool but
was forcibly held back by the rest of the aunties. Weng Kai’s distraught father
was also there and when everybody seemed reluctant to retrieve the cousin’s
body, the Weng Kai’s father went down to the mining pool and gathered the body
which was covered with greying weeds. Malcolm was told by some busybody aunties
and elder cousins that it was not right for the father to touch the dead son in
drowning case (as some believe that those
who had died unexpectedly and young as especially with parents who are still alive
would come back as humiliated and restless spirits).
