KUALA LUMPUR – Police have yet to come up with fresh leads on the grisly murder of Malaysian-born pensioner Deborah Chong Mee Kuen, as activists insist that the force should not discount her killing as a racially motivated act.
The 67-year-old’s disappearance on June 11 was highlighted by London Metropolitan Police following reports by her friends and support from civil society organisations, including anti-hate crime movements such as #StopAsianHate.
Hau-Yu Tam, who heads the group against hate crime towards East and Southeast Asians, said they were disappointed that the initial reporting on Chong’s disappearance was not widespread.
“We had been fighting to publicise her disappearance, and had set up ‘Help Bring Mee Kuen Home’,” she told DevonLive.
“I was just putting out tweets around my networks because I noticed there was not much attention on Mee Kuen’s disappearance.
“I wish it could have been more, and we could have gotten a different outcome.
“I will be writing to the Brent and Metropolitan Police. It’s very hard to say at this stage, but we definitely think it could have been a racially motivated matter. There is a lot of soft-pedalling around race-based hate crimes.
It’s only in the last year and a half that racism against the East and Southeast Asian community has risen in the public consciousness. If this was racially aggravated, why tiptoe around that fact?"
According to End the Virus of Racism, a United Kingdom-based advocacy group, there has been a 300% increase in cases of violence against people of Asian descent since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in late 2019.
Detective Supt Ben Deer of Devon and Cornwall police said: “The investigation is ongoing at the scene. It’s being treated as unexplained at this time, and we remain open-minded.”
Chong’s headless body was found on June 27 in the seaside holiday town of Salcombe, 350km from her London home. Her remains were discovered in the woodlands behind a hotel following flash floods.
She had been reported missing from her Wembley address on June 11.
Originally from Kuala Lumpur, Chong, who was single, shared a two-storey home with a lodger, reported Daily Mail. She moved to London in 2004.
Devout Christian who was friendly to all
Chong was a member of a congregation at the Emmanuel Centre church in Edgeware, north London, and regularly attended the house of worship at Manor Park Crescent.
“We knew her well, as you would any neighbour. She was a member of a church, very religious,” said a neighbour who wished to remain anonymous.
“She would come around for tea, have a chat. She was regularly in conversation with my wife. We were shocked to find out she was dead,” he said, describing Chong as “eccentric”, but “pleasant”.
He said she had difficulty walking, a factor that police are taking into account in their probe as it is a 4½-hour drive from London to Salcombe in Devon.
“She didn’t go away at all. You wonder how someone who was struggling to walk managed to get down to Devon,” added the neighbour.
Beryl Creary, 87, another neighbour, said: “We just talked and would say ‘hello’. She was a church fanatic. She did singing in her house. She had lived here for quite a while, about 20 years. I have lived here for about 40 years. I don’t know if she had any family or anything.
“She was quite pleasant. She would call you when she was walking by and stop to talk. She wasn’t one of those selfish people.”
Shabina Akram, 42, whose house is opposite Chong’s, said the latter’s death came as “a horrible shock”, while another neighbour, who wished not to be identified, said: “She kept very much to herself. We moved here in 2004, and I think maybe, she (came here at) roughly the same time. She was very welcoming.” – The Vibes, July 2, 2021
