MH370: ‘Show us the bodies of our loved ones’

Kuala Lumpur, PAB-Online
A flaperon washed ashore on a remote island has led to the conclusion that Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 is in the waters of the southern Indian Ocean but the fathers of two victims are finding it hard to accept it – until they see the bodies of their loved ones.

The father of engineer Guan Hua Jin was one of those who refused to accept the conclusion.

“Tell me, as a father, can you accept that your daughter is gone just like that?” asked retiree Guan Kak Heng, 70,

“In Chinese custom, we believe that we need to see the body first if we say someone is dead,” said Kak Heng outside his house in Bukit Gedung here yesterday.

A part-time watch repairer, Kak Heng said he only knew that a flaperon found on Reunion Island was from flight MH370 when newsmen approached him.

“I believe my son-in-law (Hua Jin’s husband) would know the latest updates but he has yet to call me.

“I’ll just let him handle everything as he’s staying in Kuala Lumpur.

“It is our wish that the government and the authorities find out what actually happened and give us an answer. It’s more than a year already,” Kak Heng said.

Hua Jin, was 34 when MH370 went missing. She was an engineer based in Klang Valley, and was headed to Beijing for a three-week course.

Jee Teik Min is also clinging on to hope that the body of his son Jing Hang will be found.

Until then, the 76-year-old said there would be no closure for him.

“I have one more hope – to wait until I see my son’s body. Continue searching. Search until even one per cent is left,” he said at his home at Taman Rasa Sayang here.

His son, then 41, was among four Kedahans on the flight which disappeared while en route to Beijing last year.

Teik Min said although he welcomed the announcement by Najib Razak that the flaperon found on Reunion island was from MH370, he still wondered about the whereabouts of the missing passengers.

“I want to wait until the bodies are found.

“I am not in good health anymore, but I’ll see how long I can hold on and if I see my son again,” he added.

The other three Kedahans missing are bank worker Chew Kar Moi, 31, from Kerpan in Kubang Pasu, International Trade and Industry Ministry officer Mohamad Sofuan Ibrahim, 33, from Jalan Seberang Perak in Alor Setar, and engineer Ch’ng Mei Ling, 33, from Sungai Petani.

Chew’s sister Chew Kar Hui, 34, pleaded with the media to give the family some privacy.

In Ipoh, the family of air stewardess Goh Sock Lay, 45, have long accepted that she is not around anymore.

Her mother-in-law Phong Say Moi, 74 said they had accepted the tragedy as fate.

Phong said they had to go on with their lives but they would never be able to forget.

“My son (Choi Loong Choo) informed me about the news on Wednesday.

“We also informed Goh’s daughter, Wei Leng, 15 about the news, and she was really sad,” she told reporters in Kampung Tawas.

Wei Leng stays with grandparents here while her father works in Kuala Lumpur.

The victim’s sister-in-law Choi Chew Heong said it was fated but the family had yet to receive any calls from the authorities.

Chew Heong said in Goh’s memory the family would erect an ancestral tablet to be placed at the family altar.

The family of Freescale Semiconductor employee Ng May Li, 37, and her mother Lee Sew Choo, 55, feel lost. May Li’s sister, who only wanted to be known as Ng said the family was still confused. “We are just letting things be. We have not decided what to do for now,” she said.(JP/IP)