Murder Of Sibu Student Lessons From Taiwan

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On the evening of Oct 28, student Irene Chung was on her way home, taking a familiar route along a railway underpass near her university in Tainan City, Taiwan.
Tragically, that Wednesday at 8pm, was to be her final walk along her usual path as it was the last time Irene was seen alive.
According to the police, the perpetrator has been arrested. He also confessed to strangling the 24-year-old student and dumping her body in the mountains of Kaohsiung, a neighbouring city.
Irene, the eldest child of a Sibu Hakka family, started her studies in Taiwan in 2014 when she was 18. She has two younger brothers.
Having been in Taiwan for six years, she should be familiar with her surroundings and environment. In a known safe haven as Taiwan, it must be a cruel twist of fate that Irene had fallen victim to a sick pervert.

It was a sombre mood at Sibu Airport on Nov 4 among the Chung’s family members, relatives and friends when Irene’s parents brought her ashes home.
The family’s lawyer, Yap Hoi Liong, urged the Taiwan prosecution team and leaders of the island country to conduct a thorough investigation into her death in a transparent manner without compromising justice.
“So far, the governments of both countries have been very helpful to the family. The Immigration Department and the Foreign Affairs Office of both countries facilitated the travel arrangement for the parents to go to Taiwan,” he added.
In facing such a traumatic time with the loss of a daughter to such a senseless crime, it must be somewhat consoling to the parents that the governments of Taiwan and Malaysia have been helpful with the necessary arrangements, particularly for travel and cremation.
This has been acknowledged by the Chung family.


What is noteworthy (and which came as a surprise to many, for me certainly) is the apology from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen (above) to the Chung family and the people of Malaysia.


"The president expressed her deepest apologies to the family of the student and the people of Malaysia," according to Presidential Office spokesperson Xavier Chang.
The incident seriously tarnished Taiwan's image as a safe and friendly nation, and exposed problems in Taiwan's society that must be thoroughly reviewed to ensure that such a tragedy does not occur again, Tsai said during a high-level national security meeting in Taipei.
I’m not sure I’ve heard the president of a foreign nation issuing an apology to the family of a Malaysian killed on their soil in the past.
Many Malaysian students have died under various circumstances abroad but I don’t think I’ve heard of the chief executive of the government, be it the president or prime minister, apologising for their deaths.
Perhaps, Irene's murder was a high-profile case in Taiwan.
But in Irene’s home country, Malaysia, it certainly was not. As far as I’m aware, I’ve only read about her murder in the online publications of Sarawak.
If there were stories about the heinous crime in our national dailies, it could possibly be a lonely single column report.
The Chung family of Sibu are ordinary folks and we only know too well that in this country, the media pays attention to the who’s who in such cases.
It’s also possible that we have too many murders and serious crimes here that we consider it “bad luck” if someone is murdered. Irene is just a statistic in her home country.
I’m also not sure if I have heard of our prime minister apologising to the family of a foreigner murdered in Malaysia. Perhaps we did via Wisma Putra.
Foreign students have died on Malaysian soil too, as did many foreign workers, particularly Indonesians and Bangladeshis. Wisma Putra must be kept very busy with issuing apologies if they have been at it.
If we check with the Labour Department on the number of foreign workers killed in Malaysia in the course of their work, I believe the figures must be staggering.
A life is considered somewhat cheap in Malaysia, isn’t it?
But not so in Taiwan. Apparently, the Taiwanese government takes a murder case very seriously.

The suspect in Irene Chung's murder case after he was arrested by police. 
As President Tsai had voiced out: “The incident seriously tarnished Taiwan's image as a safe and friendly nation, and exposed problems in Taiwan's society that must be thoroughly reviewed”.
This is possibly why Taiwan has been ranked as the second-safest country in the world, according to a 2020 mid-year crime index released by global database Numbeo.
In the recent report published by the site, a total of 133 countries were included in this year's ranking, with Qatar, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates being listed as the top three.
As for Malaysia, where did I read somewhere that we are now notoriously famous as the second most corrupt nation in the world?
When will we ever learn anything? Our so-called leaders are fond of shouting aloud about progress but we keep regressing.
We do not even know how precious a life is, or so it seems.
Sigh.

FRANCIS PAUL SIAH heads the Movement for Change, Sarawak (MoCS) and can be reached at [email protected]. -Mkini
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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