Family suspects foul play in student's death

Source: www.malaysiakini.com (Wong Pheak Zern, 13.06.09 11:15am)

The family of university student Gan Cin Hong, who had supposedly committed suicide two weeks ago, has claimed that he might not have killed himself. According to the Cin Hong's family, the police said that the 25-year-old final year engineering student from Universiti Malaya hanged himself on May 25 in a rented house at Petaling Jaya, where he stayed with three other housemates. When family members were informed about their son's death three days later, they went to the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) to claim his body. The family members said the police had refused to let them view photos from the suicide scene when they were asked to sign several documents to claim the body. Cin Hong was laid to rest at his hometown in Muar, Johor on May 31. Desperate to find out what had really happened to Cin Hong, family members went to the Petaling Jaya house in search of answers. "After looking at the scene, we believe that Cin Hong could not have committed suicide," said the father of the deceased, Gan Wa, at a press conference held by the Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng at the DAP office in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. "If my son had hanged himself to death with a Streamyx (local Internet service provider) wire in his bedroom, there would not be so much blood and body fluids on the floor," said the father.
According to Wa (left in photo), the liquids had seeped through the door's partition to the corridor leading to the toilet and the kitchen. Cin Hong's family members expressed surprise that his three housemates were not aware of Cin Hong's death for three days, until the night of May 28 when his housemate called the police and reported the death. The police took Cin Hong’s mobile phone as identification because they claimed his wallet could not be found in the room, said Wa. "But when we went to the house, we found my son's wallet lying on his table, and if there was cash inside, it was all gone," he added.

'Cheerful, smart and optimistic person'
The family members also said that Cin Hong was a cheerful, smart and optimistic person, and had neither financial difficulties nor personal problems. Although he was a high-scoring student, elder brother Gan Chin Kuan said Cin Hong was not close to his housemates and often stayed in his room after returning from classes at the university. Chin Kuan also argued that it was impossible for his brother to commit suicide because he had often condemned such act when he read about them in the newspapers. The family will have to wait up to three months before the complete postmortem report is released.
DAP legislator Lim has urged Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar to undertake a thorough investigation on Cin Hong's death.