'Son still alive, whose body is in our house?'

Malaysiakini : A father in Negeri Sembilan had mourned for several days over the death of his son, whom the authorities said died under custody at the Sungai Buloh Prison last Tuesday (March 2).

He went to claim the body from the Sungai Buloh Hospital, prepared for funeral rites at the family home in Tampin and planned to bury the remains of his son yesterday. However, to his family's surprise, they were informed just a few hours before the burial was supposed to take place that their 19-year-old son was still alive.

"We received a call from the prison authority about three or four hours before the burial time - and they informed us that my son was still alive.   "They did a video call (to show). I do not know how to even express my feelings. Our son is still alive, but whose body is at our house now?" the father, who only wanted to be identified as Chantren, was quoted as saying by the Malay daily Sinar Harian.

According to Chantren, 45, the family's ordeal started when he received a call from the prison authority last Wednesday, saying that his son had died in jail. However, he did not know why the youth was held in the prison. Chantren said he was then told to claim his son's remains at the Sungai Buloh Hospital, which he did together with several other family members.

"When we looked (at the remains), we noticed that the face was different after post-mortem because there were suture marks, besides the hair had also been shaved," he reportedly told reporters when met at his house in Taman Desa Permai. According to the father, the prison authority had since gone to his house and collected the body and he has also requested to meet his son in prison.

Travis Bickle : Civil Service. Remember. They all got in based on Merit. Nothing to do with Race. Yes, only the best brains for the Civil Service.

Tongkat Tongkat all these while but still claiming being backward : Ee don’t trust them to look after the alive ones Now we know we should not trust them with dead ones too Scary

IndigoHorse9495 : Indifference and apathetic attitude.What negligence and a family suffers mental anguish because of this.This must be thoroughly investigated

Vijay47 : As though almost weekly custody-deaths were not bad enough, committal agencies seem to have upped the ante with this latest display of total callousness.

Leaving aside for the moment that fact that the remains were returned to the wrong family, what is most disturbing is that the remains were treated like an unwanted commodity to be discarded. No doubt the usual defenders would soon arise to blame the family – It was their fault for accepting the body in the first place.

Even if there were suture and other marks possibly caused by his falling in the bathroom, surely the living family members, if they cared enough for their now dead relative, would have been able to recognize him? Inevitably, we will be given the usual official response – the matter will be firmly investigated.

Yeah, sure. In all the countless instances of similar heart-break, has action ever been taken against anyone? We await with absolute terror what the next act could be – the wrong prisoner is hanged.

More brickbats for the stupid idiots in the meritorious civil service, bah.......