Death Kopitiam Singapore's tribute to Mdm Leong Yuet Meng, founder of Nam Seng Wanton Noodles

A MESSAGE FROM DEATH KOPITIAM SINGAPORE THIS FESTIVE SEASON

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are that of Death Kopitiam Singapore alone. We are not acting or speaking for any organisations or persons who may be for or against the death penalty. We hope to hear your views on this matter, and may we may find some form of consensus on this matter, however difficult it may be. Thank you.

The Straits Times , 28 January 2024

Tan Kok Peng, 10; Tan Kok Hin, 8; Tan Kok Soon, 6 and Tan Chin Nee, 5.

Jeffery Au 欧大使, 74 (d. 25 December 2023)

A tribute to Jeffery Chia, 75, Founder of Nonya Bong

Sixteen years ago, on this day, we lost a local comedic talent in Jimmy Nah 蓝钦喜. More popularly known as MC King. He had experienced breathing difficulties at home after accompanying his mother to the clinic and had seemed perfectly alright then. He was sent to Tan Tock Seng hospital where he died. It was not known whether he had suffered from any health problems, but the cause of death, according to his death certificate, was attributed to heart and lung failure. Jack Neo, who had worked with Mr Nah on several productions, was understandably shocked when told of his death. He had acted in a couple of local movies, including Neo’s “ Just Follow Law ”, “ I Not Stupid ” and “ Homerun ”, as well as a number of local drama serials.

An 85-year-old man was found dead in a storm drain opposite Clementi Avenue 6 at 10.20 a.m., 31 December 2023. The deceased, according to Shin Min Daily News , was subsequently identified by a middle-aged woman and an elderly woman, both of whom are believed to be the deceased’s family. In the article, dated 1 January 2024, it was reported that the deceased was pronounced dead at the scene. Preliminary investigations did not suggest any foul play, and investigations are ongoing.

A tribute to Kennedy S/O Sivasami Kumbalingam (1964 - 2023) 

𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛. 𝑊𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐸𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜. 𝑌𝑒𝑡, 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑. 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑒-𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒. 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦. 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠. 𝐌𝐫 𝐇𝐮𝐧 𝐘𝐞𝐰 𝐊𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐬 𝐒𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐮𝐢 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 Rest in Peace, Ethan Hun Zhe Kai 

A few weeks were all he had. He has no social connections in life, no friends in school, no colleagues and no children that bears his features. There are no social media pages set up in their name to document the growth of their precious little one. There is only silence, a callous silence. It was as if he had never existed. In the still air, there lingers pain, loneliness and a deep abiding sense of emptiness. Hearts were once full of anticipation and love. Today, there is only hurt. A wife who loses a husband is called a widow. A husband who loses a wife is called a widower. A child who loses his parents is called an orphan. There is no word for a parent who loses a child That’s how awful the loss is. To us, he was a miscarriage and has no name. He is invisible to the larger society. This is grief carried alone, borne solely by the ones who conceived. This is grief so lonely and so difficult to share, no less because of the stigma and the hushed tones around a miscarriage. This is grief so insidious, always present but without a form. This is grief so unspeakably and immeasurably painful - it continues not to be socially sanctioned, openly acknowledged or publicly mourned. There is no name. There is no funeral. There is no obituary and no legacy whatsoever to speak of. Society forgets every single one of them. Their deaths have been delegitimised by society. Their deaths have been disenfranchised. Society, embedded in its norms, rituals and networks, takes the agency of grieving away from the bereaved parents. If death in itself was a societal and cultural taboo, then a miscarriage is a taboo multiplied many times over. The grief from miscarriages is very real and it doesn’t matter which trimester the miscarriage takes place. A pregnancy loss is, in fact, a birthday, the celebration of a life regardless of how fleeting it was. Let’s celebrate and honour this little one. Let he who has no name be given a name and allow their parents to shape the grieving process on their own terms. We should embrace their loss like any other and support them in these trying times. There is nothing right or wrong in a miscarriage. It happens and parents, especially a mother, have to bear the consequences of it for the rest of her waking days. The child will always be a member of their family. No time or distance can and should deter a mother from celebrating the life and death of her own child. This child will be remembered forever. A stillbirth deserves to be accorded with dignity that a life accords. Celebrate the child's life, regardless of how short it was before it was so rudely extinguished. The pain of a child dying inside of you. The pain immeasurable. No words can console you. He who does not have a birth registration number. He who did not survive the protection of a mother’s womb. He who has no name. A miscarriage is as much a personal loss as it is our collective grief. He must be recognised and whose death and his parents’ miscarriage must no longer be stigmatised, disenfranchised and delegitimised. May our society render greater support to grieving parents, in particular to those whose children have no name.

Cheong Ann Watch Maker 昌安鐘錶 , the humble and quaint shopfront that Mr Lim Gee Lam founded in 1947, was where he laid his hands on time; literally and metaphorically. Mr Lim Gee Lam was a self-taught watchmaker. He had a heart bursting with curiosity, and when he was asked by the owner of a watch shop whether he was interested in making watches, he left his job as a coffee boy and never looked back. It was a craft and his family’s livelihood, but it was also his pride and joy. In the face of a rapidly changing and evolving world, Mr Lim chose to persevere, taking the utmost pride in his work. He would spend whole days working on mechanisms which can contain hundreds of tiny components. Each of them has a specific task to perform; each of them ever so intricate, and critical to the functioning of time.New Paragraph

Reproduced from S R Nathan (with Timothy Auger), An Unexpected Journey: Path to the Presidency , Singapore: Editions Didier Millet Pte Ltd, 2011.

[Update] The 70-year-old man who was found unconscious beside his wife, has died in hospital.

Life and How to Survive it

Mistakes I Made in Searching for Happiness

A tribute to anti-drug envoy and a selfless volunteer, Mr David Chong, 59

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A tribute to Harry Tan Kim Song, 76: Second-generation owner of hawker stall HarriAnns Nonya Table

The "Snail Queen": Joyce Leong, 67 An icon of the amateur cycling scene in Singapore and an inspiration to many. A catalyst, who ignited and reignited the passion of cycling and sports in many. To the many who have grown a tad too restless, she lifted them from their comfort zone and inducted them into a sport that she wholeheartedly loved and committed a good part of her life to. Nicknamed the snail queen, Joyce leaves nobody behind. To every cyclist, new or experienced, young or old, locals or expats, fast or slow, every cyclist was her friend, and she’s a guardian to them. She was resolute in her spirit, ceaseless in her optimism and a proud “mama” of her Club and its members.

A 56-year-old male person was found dead yesterday (March 19, 8pm) at one of the seats at the North Bridge Road Market & Food Centre. When found, the deceased's head was resting on the table, and he was seated. Reportedly, the deceased was initially thought to be taking a short rest, but after a full day when the person appears to be motionless, a cleaner informed his supervisor, who subsequently contacted the Singapore Civil Defence Force.

Mr Low Kim Cheong, 36. Ms Tan Lay Ru, 30, who was six months pregnant. On the morning of 16 March 2023, Mr Low and Ms Tan, who have been married since 2018, were involved in an alleged hit-and-run accident on the Bukit Indah Highway in Johor Bahru, 18.4 km from the Tuas checkpoint, They were pronounced dead on the scene. 

Who was the deceased? Abby Choi, 28 She was a Hong Kong socialite and model. She was married to Mr Tam Chuk Kwan in 2016, whose father is the founder of the TamJai Yunnan Mixian eatery chain. The group has 10 outlets in Singapore. Mr Tam and Ms Choi have two children, but the couple never legally registered their marriage. Who were the accused? Alex Kwong Kong-chi, 28 – he is the ex-husband of Ms Choi Kwong Kau, 65 – he is the father of Alex Kwong Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 31 – he is the elder brother of Alex Kwong Jenny Li Sui-heung, 63 – She is mother of Alex Kwong The elder Kwong is reportedly the mastermind of the plot to murder Ms Choi. The latter was dismembered and decapitated by the accused. Kwong and his two sons were charged with murder on Feb 27. Mdm Li was charged with one count of perverting the course of justice on the same day. Ms Choi and Mr Alex Kwong were married in 2013, when they were both 18. They have two children from this marriage, 8 and 10 respectively. After their divorce (year unknown), Ms Choi continued to support her ex-husband and his family financially, and brought a HK 70million Kadoorie Hill property under the name of the elder Kwong.

A 70-year-old male person was found dead on Feb 25, 9am, at the multiple storey carpark of Golden Mile Complex. Eyewitnesses that Shin Min Daily News 新明日报 spoke to said that they saw police vehicles at Golden Mile Complex on the morning of Feb 25, and officers were seen at the complex’s carpark. The area was cordoned off from the public.

“Kind and generous with his help”. This was how the late Goh Chiew Huat (吴秋发) was described by the people who knew him best – stallholders at Block 115 Bukit Merah View Market and Food Centre and his neighbours. “He would never say no in helping us to repair our electronic items”, says Mdm Lee, a stallholder at the market. In fact, before his trip to Batam, he had promised another stallholder that he would help to repair his fridge upon his return. One of his neighbour, Mdm Koh, 80, described him as kind; she said that the late Mr Goh was always willing to help, such as fixing the light bulbs, water hose in his flat.

Remembering Professor Chao Tzee Cheng (b. 22 September 1934, Hong Kong – d. 21 February 2000, New York) “Mortui vivos docent – Let the dead teach the living”  Professor Chao in his book “Murder is My Business”, published in 1998

“Mum, I am very proud of you. Today, your name is [still] there, because you’re the one who made [this chili crab dish] an icon, and her name is Mdm Cher Yam Tian. I am very proud of her.” Roland Lim, son of Mdm Cher and the present owner of Roland Restaurant 

Professor Cynthia Goh (1949 - 2022)