Grandparents can't tell six-year-old his father died in blast
WHEN six-year-old Lee Jian Han saw an image of his father in the evening news, he kept asking his grandparents why his dad was on television.
His grandparents did not answer him. Instead, his grandmother Tan Soo Nyim, 58, burst into tears, while his grandfather Lee Tiang Heng remained stony-faced.
Nobody could bring themselves to tell Jian Han that his father Lee Tze Siang, 35, had been killed in a bomb attack in Bangkok together with his four-year-old sister, Jing Xuan, and three other family members – his maternal grandmother Lim Saw Gaik, 49, and his uncle Neoh Jai Jun, 20.
His mother Neoh Ee Ling, 33, who is five months pregnant, and her father Hock Guan, 55, survived the blast. His great-aunt Lim Su See, 52, is presumed dead.
The family from Butterworth, in Malaysia’s Penang state, had been on holiday in Bangkok when the bombing occurred.
Tiang Heng said all they could tell his grandson was that his mother was okay and coming home. “It was hard to accept when I got the news, but a fact is a fact. We will keep the news of my son’s and granddaughter’s deaths a secret. We don’t know how to tell my grandson,” the distraught 51-year-old farmer said.
Tiang Heng said his son had asked him to take care of Jian Han while he was away in Bangkok to perform prayers and buy goods for his clothing business.
“He had told me that his son could not go with them to Bangkok as he had to attend kindergarten,” he said.
Earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican, who visited the family, said Malaysia condemned the bombing.
“This is a signal that issues pertaining to national safety are very important,” he said.
The explosion at the Erawan Shrine, a popular tourist attraction in central Bangkok, on Monday evening killed 22 people and injured more than a hundred.
At the Neoh family home, the eldest son asked the press to respect their privacy.
Although there is no official confirmation that Su See has been killed, a close family friend, Visen Lim Gim Seong, said authorities believed they had found her body.
The remains of Tze Siang, Jing Xuan, Saw Gaik and Jai Jun arrived at Penang International Airport last night, while that of Su See is expected to arrive today.
