I told him not to go into the water, he’s not a swimmer, says sister

MELAKA: Every year in April, Lee Ching Ching goes to the Buddhist temple in Bukit Serindit here with a vegetarian cake, where she offers prayers to her brother.

Lee Kwang Hoi had only been 15 when he drowned in the Sungai Malim river in 1995, after a swimming outing with his friends.

“He was the only boy among four siblings in our family and I really pampered him as an elder sister,” said Ching Ching, 48.

“His death is the greatest loss, that too at a tender age.

“My heart aches whenever I think about the incident, although it has been 28 years,” she added.

A day before the incident, she had told her brother to stay away from the river as he was not a swimmer.

“I recall vividly telling him not to go near the river or I would lock him up in the room as punishment,” she said.

He did go into the water, and his body was discovered along the riverbank at Taman Asean, a few days after he drowned.

“He still lives in my dreams,” Ching Ching said, adding that Kwang Hoi was a hardworking lad who had always made the family proud.

“He was a high-achieving student and used to work as a teenager to supplement my family’s income, too,” she said.

Syahirah Izwani, 29, is another sister who misses her younger brother.

Muhammad Afizudin Aidzuhan had been a final year marine engineering student undergoing training onboard a ship, when he fell into the sea in the Straits of Malacca, near Kampung Tanjung Dahan in Kuala Linggi four years ago.

“My brother was just 20 years old and he was a good swimmer. He was very close to me and the fond memories still linger although he is no longer with us.

“He was the fourth out of eight siblings and we had the happiest years of childhood,” said Syahirah, who is from Kota Damansara in Selangor.

She said the heartbreaking incident had left her family devastated and they were still harbouring hope that someone could give them answers on the circumstances of his death.

“He died at a young age and life has changed dramatically.

“In my head, there are far too many unanswered questions about whether my brother had been equipped with safety apparatus during the training,” she said.