[PHOTOS] Farewell, teacher: school closes landslide tragedy with memorial

KUALA LUMPUR – As children should never have to bury their parents, neither should young pupils have to face the deaths of their teachers who perished in the Batang Kali landslide.

The SJK(C) Mun Choong community – teachers, staff, their families, and students – said their final farewells yesterday to those from the school who died in the December 16 tragedy.

Where laughter and the smiles of children should have filled the assembly hall at the Chinese primary school, silence and grief was palpable instead at the memorial held yesterday to commemorate the six teachers, canteen operator, canteen worker, and two children who died.

They were among the group of 26 people affiliated with SJK(C) Mun Choong comprising teachers, students, canteen operators, and their friends and family who went on a private camping trip at Father’s Organic Farm located along the Batang Kali-Genting road.

The landslide, which struck in the predawn hours of December 16, killed 31 people out of 92 affected. 

Of the 31 dead, 13 were children.

The search for victims buried under the mud took nine days, hampered by rainy weather, before the remains of all 31 people were recovered, with the last body retrieved on Christmas Eve.

Around 500 people turned up at the memorial yesterday, with many openly shedding tears as they paid tribute to the victims.

Many pinned messages to a board to express not only their grief, but also their gratitude for the impact those who died had left on them.

Balloons were released to the sky as the final act of farewell, but as written in many of the tributes, the deceased will never be forgotten. – The Vibes, December 31, 2022