Of poisons in the air

Death by suicide-cum-murder is the ultimate tragedy.
In a land of RM20milion weddings, and instant creation of millionaires , yet for a section of depressed Malaysians, often caught in a tight financial corner, seemingly Death is becoming a welcome relief to many bespeaks that the Malaysian atmosphere is somewhat "poisoned".

On the one-hand, there are some -- or is it many? Desi's poor at advanced mathematics! -- lucky millionaires who gain several rounds of 15-minute media fame by flaunting their wealth with birthday dos and second weddings. One wonders sometimes if their riches often were not "properly" gotten but channelled via rentals because maybe they possess APs, or they are sons or daughters, or bitches, do I care?, of BIG shots driving a string of imported cars in town as they are privileged citizens. ("Prvileged" here is undefined because I don't wish to insult my ER on a blue Monday that's heralding a festive season's arrival with most of us quite unprepared this year to welcome the new year.) Young upstarts with UMNO- and MCA-connections (did I hear Gerekan and MIC...?) preach to their disciples about the easy path to riches and the air is electrified with high expectatons -- and poisons.

On the other-hand, small businessmen and hawkers become Desperadoes and earn one round of 15-minute media fame/infamy by poisoning their young ones and then turn the daggers on theemselves. Worse off, they survive to re-live the tragedy, again, and again, until the next attempt at suicide to end it all. Yes, the familiar term of Ah Long rings a belle, and excitable politicians and other authorities and concerned welfare officers expressed a new determination to cut the scourge at its source. The record is then stored away for another re-run on the next strike.

Pray that the next strike does not happen to some-one close, like a elative or an immediate neighbour. Perhaps, even the children's "poorer" classmates often absent from school because they did not even have 50sen for bus-fate. While yours could have up to RM50 a day if only they wish to. Even a handphone to go along...

I weep for Malaysia. Ooops, Sabrina reminds we have long wept for NegaraKu -- now the tears have run dry.
I feel it in the air -- many "things" are not right in my country. You can't pin "the things" down to specifics -- mayhaps it's a collission of many forces or bundles of "negative energies". Each individual citizen must ask of himself/herself, to my mind, at the personal level:

AM I CONTRIBUTING TO THIS RISING OF THE DARK FORCES OR NEGATIVE VIBRATIONS?

Or,

WE maintain our sanity and humanity
and do our little morsel of good
and feel for our fellow humankind.

I pray most of my EsteemedReaders belong to the second category of inhabitants in NegaraKu. Then I am lifted on blue Monday.


Let's see if some big wigs shed some "crocodile" tears on cue. (From today, out of respect for the Animal Kingdom dwellers, I shall put the species name within "inverted commas" with APs, not the money-spinning kind. Anyway, these residents of oh George! awe's Well's farm don't deal in that currency.

Some news extracts, (the highlights BOLDED THUS are mine) ~~ please go buy, if not beg, for a copy of the newspaper to read in full:


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From the Malay Mail, Dec 4, 2006~~~

Grandma’s sad, lonely farewell

WONG Yuen Khye, 65, cut a forlorn figure as she arrived at Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Cheras to claim the bodies of her grandsons yesterday.


Through what must have been a heart-breaking experience, the paternal grandmother of the three brothers poisoned to death by their tour guide father, Seah Wong Chong, was alone.

At 11am, she walked into HUKM mortuary, carrying plastic bags filled with the boys’ clothes and toys to be put into the caskets of Siew Cheung, 12, Siew Man, 10, and eight-year-old Siew Tong. Several family members of Seah’s wife, Kau Mei Lin, accompanied her.

All Wong asked from Kau’s family was that they remained at the mortuary until the bodies were claimed, but they refused.

The said they were too ‘shy’ to face the reporters and photographers present. Irritated, Wong chided them.

“All I ask is that you help me out here. This is my last request, I won’t come begging to you for help anymore,” said Wong.

Unaffected by Wong’s pleas, Kau’s family members spent about 10 minutes helping her sort out the boys’ clothing and left soon after.
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From The Star:

Monday December 4, 2006



KUALA LUMPUR: Grieving grandmother Wong Yuen Thye, 65, stood in the cold chamber of the mortuary, sobbing as she identified the bodies of her three young grandsons.

Wong was there to claim the bodies of Seah Siew Tong, eight, Siew Mun, 10, and Siew Cheung, 12, who were found dead at their Desa Sri Puteri flat last Friday after allegedly consuming bleach and inhaling cooking gas.

Wong turned up at the mortuary of Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Cheras here at about 10.45am yesterday.

A friend, who accompanied her and several members of her daughter-in-law’s family left the place upon seeing the media.


At another wing of the hospital, the children’s father Seah Weng Chong, who is Wong’s son, and mother Kau Mei Lin, both 38, have been detained by police over the boys’ deaths.

The couple, who were found with their wrists slashed, are recuperating at the hospital.
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I know not why, but Simon&Garfunkel's lyrics haunt me today.
Maybe the lyrics seem to synch with what's happening around,
and we escape by taking flight.
Would you rather be a sparrow with Desi?




El Condor Pasa

I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail.
Yes I would.
If I could,
I surely would.

I'd rather be a hammer than a nail.
Yes I would.
If I could,
I surely would.

CHORUS
Away, I'd rather sail away
Like a swan that's here and gone
A man grows older every day
It gives the world
Its saddest sound,
Its saddest sound.

I'd rather be a forest than a street.
Yes I would.
If I could,
I surely would.

I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet,
Yes I would.
If I could,
I surely would.

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UPDATEd: From the NST the day before ~~

TRAGEDY BEYOND NORMAL KEN...



His three sons are dead, yet he declares...
I've no regrets
03 Dec 2006


KUALA LUMPUR: Seah Wong Chong does not regret killing his three sons with rat poison on Friday.

Neither is he remorseful over the suicide attempt by him and his wife, Kau Mei Lin, immediately after the children passed out.



The 38-year-old tour bus driver said he and and his wife were forced to take the drastic measure after encountering problems, including those involving finance and debts with Ah Long.

"I gave my children poison until they became unconscious. I was forced to take this action as other family members could not help me resolve my problems," he told a reporter from a Chinese daily at the Hospital University Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM).

Wong Chong claimed he had only borrowed several thousand ringgit from an Ah Long and not RM150,000 as had been reported.

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