December 19, 2005
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Read this in the papers Dec 16. This is so, so sad:
PETALING JAYA: For the past three years, 16-year-old Yap Wui Chung’s life revolved around the video games he played on his computer. Sadly, it also led to his death.
Wui Chung would shut out the rest of the world, sit for hours in front of his PC, often missing his meals and sleep. Being the only child and seeing how much his hobby meant to him, his parents indulged his passion for the latest computer gadgetry. They obliged because seeing him spend time at home meant that he was not mingling with wrong company.
But yesterday, all that joy of seeing his smiles and laughter ended when the Sultan Abdul Samad secondary schoolboy was found electrocuted in his room at his Section 4, PJ Old Town, home with power cables coiled around his hand. Beside him was a note which read: “When I die, please give my computer to my friends.”
Wui Chung was found sprawled on the floor by his parents at 3am after they rushed into his room on hearing his screams. The power supply circuit breakers in the house had also tripped, causing a blackout. Wui Chung had brought the cables home a day earlier and told his parents that it was for a school project.
His parents sent him to the University Malaya Medical Centre but the teenager was pronounced dead on arrival. Wui Chung’s family and friends are puzzled by his death. They describe him as quiet and reserved. He was not known to have any personal problems and appeared nor mal when his parents last saw him watching TV an hour before his death.
Deputy OCPD Supt Abdul Rahman Ibrahim said police initially classified the case as sudden death, but are keeping the probe open. When met at the SS1 Kampung Tunku Crematorium, Wui Chung’s father, a businessman aged 57, who did not want to be named said: “I blame myself and the computer for my son’s death.
“My wife and I were lenient with his long hours on the computer which led to his death. We got him the computer after he begged his mother for it. We were afraid that he may mix with wrong company if he went out to play video games, so we bought it for him. Had I been more strict … had I spent more time with him … it’s too late for regrets. It’s over, my only child is gone. His addiction for video games and computers led him to do this,” said Yap who was still in a state of shock.
He said his wife, who was very close to Wui Chung, had to regularly force the boy to leave his computer to have his meals. “Even then, he would take his plate to his room and eat with one hand while operating the computer with the other,” Yap said, adding that Wui Chung had been pestering him to upgrade his computer.
“A technician was supposed to replace it with a new system this evening (Wednesday),” he added. Yap said he agreed to upgrade the system on condition that Wui Chung spent no more than seven hours surfing the Internet and playing computers. “He agreed.”
He described his son as an average student in school but excelled in science and English. “Although he spent his primary years in a Chinese school and spoke Chinese at home, his English was suprisingly very good. Even the note that he left was in English,” he said.
Asked about the note’s contents, Yap said Wui Chung named two friends whom he wanted to bequeath his computer and accessories. Among the Taoist funeral paraphernalia which will be burnt during the cremation at 10am today is a cardboard replica of a computer.
