Adding Insult To Injury. The Travail Of A Departed NS Trainee's Family.
From the NST.
Muniswari Sinnan silently stroked her daughter’s forehead, her mind full of 18 years of memories. Prema Elenchelian had come home. Not with a happy smile and hug for her mother, but in a coffin.
"I never expected her to come home in this," said Muniswari, as her daughter was carried into the house.
The 18-year-old was doing her National Service in Pasir Putih, Kelantan, and was found dead in a toilet on Wednesday morning.
Friends and relatives gathered in the family’s Cheras Perdana apartment to bid her farewell. Some of the older women refused to believe she was gone, and gently shook her body telling her to wake up. Garlanding Prema’s body, her grandmother S. Mariayie cried that Prema was too young to die. "It should be my body that is being garlanded, not yours."
"She was like a sister to me. She was a sweet and humble person. I can’t believe she’s no longer with us," mourned R. Rajeswary, a former schoolmate.
Prema’s father R. Elenchelian and other relatives went to Tok Bali, Pasir Putih, on Wednesday, after receiving the news of her death. They arrived home around 2.30am yesterday. Exhausted, emotionally and physically, Elenchelian was not happy with the treatment he received in Kelantan.
"When I got there, I saw her body wrapped only in a white cloth. The officers said they couldn’t provide a coffin as they didn’t have any. So we bought one and brought her home."
Before leaving the camp, Elenchelian said he asked if he could see the toilet where his daughter’s body was found. He was told that it was too late. The guard had locked it and gone back home. "I couldn’t even see the place where my daughter died," the bereft father said.
Prema’s uncle S. Muthamil was more vocal in his criticism.
"Imagine having to drive eight hours to claim your daughter’s body, and another eight hours to bring her back home. It was both emotionally and physically exhausting. The least they could have done was to fly her body home."
Another uncle, who declined to give his name, said that it would have been better if she was dressed in her National Service uniform for her funeral. "It would have been a great honour if the department had done that. Instead, she was wrapped in plain cloth."
Prema’s remains were cremated at the Cheras Crematorium yesterday.
***** It's sad. A young life taken away so swiftly. However why couldn't the NS Department arrange the body to be transported to Kl? Perhaps a poor, dead Indian girl's family doesn't deserve any sympathy or respect from the authorities. Will Lee Lam Thye like to clarify this please?
Muniswari Sinnan silently stroked her daughter’s forehead, her mind full of 18 years of memories. Prema Elenchelian had come home. Not with a happy smile and hug for her mother, but in a coffin.
"I never expected her to come home in this," said Muniswari, as her daughter was carried into the house.
The 18-year-old was doing her National Service in Pasir Putih, Kelantan, and was found dead in a toilet on Wednesday morning.
Friends and relatives gathered in the family’s Cheras Perdana apartment to bid her farewell. Some of the older women refused to believe she was gone, and gently shook her body telling her to wake up. Garlanding Prema’s body, her grandmother S. Mariayie cried that Prema was too young to die. "It should be my body that is being garlanded, not yours."
"She was like a sister to me. She was a sweet and humble person. I can’t believe she’s no longer with us," mourned R. Rajeswary, a former schoolmate.
Prema’s father R. Elenchelian and other relatives went to Tok Bali, Pasir Putih, on Wednesday, after receiving the news of her death. They arrived home around 2.30am yesterday. Exhausted, emotionally and physically, Elenchelian was not happy with the treatment he received in Kelantan.
"When I got there, I saw her body wrapped only in a white cloth. The officers said they couldn’t provide a coffin as they didn’t have any. So we bought one and brought her home."
Before leaving the camp, Elenchelian said he asked if he could see the toilet where his daughter’s body was found. He was told that it was too late. The guard had locked it and gone back home. "I couldn’t even see the place where my daughter died," the bereft father said.
Prema’s uncle S. Muthamil was more vocal in his criticism.
"Imagine having to drive eight hours to claim your daughter’s body, and another eight hours to bring her back home. It was both emotionally and physically exhausting. The least they could have done was to fly her body home."
Another uncle, who declined to give his name, said that it would have been better if she was dressed in her National Service uniform for her funeral. "It would have been a great honour if the department had done that. Instead, she was wrapped in plain cloth."
Prema’s remains were cremated at the Cheras Crematorium yesterday.
***** It's sad. A young life taken away so swiftly. However why couldn't the NS Department arrange the body to be transported to Kl? Perhaps a poor, dead Indian girl's family doesn't deserve any sympathy or respect from the authorities. Will Lee Lam Thye like to clarify this please?
Labels: Bereavement., National Service
posted by The Malaysian. at 3/02/2007 12:11:00 PM
1 Comments:
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