The plot thickens at Cheras Christian cemetery

A RECENT case in the Cheras Christian cemetery illustrates Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) problems in managing its records.

A family, which had bought four other plots next to their father’s grave, was shocked to discover a newly-laid tombstone on Jan 2.

S.M. Tan, a daughter of the deceased, who went to pay her respects to her father, saw a tombstone with an unfamiliar name, Au.

She said her father’s tombstone had been numbered plot 5493 in the original receipt and burial certificate, while the unfamiliar grave was in plot 5495.

Additionally, the plots “5494” and “5496” had small concrete boundaries around them and had been renumbered to “5499” and “5500” respectively, possibly indicating that the two other plots had been resold as well.

Tan said the owner of plot “5495” was her sister S.P. Tan.

“We bought the plots under our names and my mother had intended to be buried next to my father. Now it has been renumbered and I am worried someone else might have bought this plot again,” said S.P. Tan.

Digging out the original receipts for their purchases made in 1999, the sisters first sought redress by lodging a police report regarding S.P. Tan’s occupied plot, as well as the renumbered grave plots.

However, they were informed later that the matter should be referred first to DBKL.

The police were of the opinion that it was an “administrative matter” for DBKL to resolve than a crime.

The undertaker in Cheras said while he had managed the burial details for plot 5493, he had no recollection of receiving money from the Tans for the four other plots.

As evidence, he also produced two receipts for the plots numbered “5499” and “5500” . Both were dated Aug 1, 1999.

“Yes, I did handle Mr Tan’s funeral and burial matters but I don’t recall receiving money for the plots numbered 5494 to 5497,” said the undertaker.

He said he had bought the plot numbered 5499, 5500 and 5501 for his own use. It later emerged that the undertaker had “made a mistake” by using plot 5495/5500, and admitted as such to the DBKL officer in charge of the Cheras Christian cemetery.

The Au family had been contacted by DBKL and the local authority is anxious to resolve the matter between the two families and the undertaker.

However, S.M. Tan said they would leave it to DBKL, the undertaker and the family of the deceased in plot 5495, to resolve the issue.