My Father's Murderer

A lady wrote this letter to Starmag, The Star on 28 September 2003.

My Father's Murderer

ON the night of Dec 19, 1948, my father, the headmaster of the Chinese school in Simpang Dua, Sitiawan, Perak, was resting with his pregnant wife, also a Chinese school teacher, and his seven children at home after dinner. Some people came and called my father, so he wore his shirt and stepped out of the house into the dark. According to my mother, a conversation took place followed by the sound of two gunshots.

The shock was too great for a pregnant woman to bear. Four days later, I was born, prematurely and fatherless.

I used to go for Cheng Beng (All Souls Day) to take flowers to my father’s grave every year. Next to his grave is that of my classmate’s father. He was the headman of Simpang Dua at that time and was also gunned down by Chin Peng’s men on the same fateful night.

When I was studying in ACS, Sitiawan, I used to look at Chin Peng’s son, who was my senior in the same school. He could walk out of the class when Mr Moses Tay taught Malayan history about Chin Peng, but I could only sit there and wish that my father was alive. Perhaps if he had not been a headmaster but just an ordinary teacher, he would not have been murdered and my mother wouldn’t have had to suffer so much, bringing up eight young children single-handedly.

In my birth certificate, in the column for "Father", is written: "Ditembak mati" (shot dead). It should be "Ditembak mati oleh Chin Peng, the villain"!

Impossible to Forgive & Forget,
Klang, Selangor