http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/top/story/0,4136,55852,00.html?
Navy woman lost at sea: Grieving father get letter offering
daughter chance to get degree. But he's waiting for
another
By Alvin Chiang
All i want is her death certificate
A letter offering his daughter a chance to go to university is just
a waste of paper to Mr Chua Chun. The only certificate Mr Chua
wants is his daughter's death certificate.
Second Sergeant Chua Bee Lin was lost at sea after the RSS
Courageous collided with the container carrier ANL Indonesia off
Pedra Branca in January last year. But to date, there is nothing to
certify her death. With her death cert, Mr Chua, 52, will be able
to unlock his daughter's savings.
And life will be easier for him and his family.
Meanwhile, a letter from the Singapore Institute of Management
(SIM) was sent to Mr Chua's house last September. SIM sent the
letter to inform Second Sgt Chua that she could make an application
to study at the university.
But the lost chance for a degree in the family is the last thing on
Mr Chua's mind.
For more than a year, he has been waiting for her death
certificate.
MAY HAVE TO WAIT 7
YEARS
But he might have to wait for as long as seven years before he sees
it.
This is because his daughter's body could not be found.
As such, Second Sgt Chua is technically not dead yet, but
missing.
With no document to certify her death, Mr Chua cannot receive
compensation for his daughter's accident for up to seven years, the
time required for the law to recognise a missing person as
dead.
Without the death certificate, Mr Chua cannot have access to his
daughter's savings, which had been frozen since last year. Most
importantly, receiving the document would give his family a sense
of closure to a tragic chapter in their lives, more than the court
verdict yesterday.
Mr Chua said in Mandarin: 'If she's alive, she would be back home
already. It's been more than a year.
'The verdict has no impact on me since my daughter is already
gone.
'It won't bring my daughter back.'
Before the incident, Second Sgt Chua played an important role in
her family of four.
She was the main breadwinner in her family.
Second Sgt Chua earned more than $2,500 a month, her father
said.
Mr Chua used to help out at a vegetable stall at a market near
their Boon Lay flat.
He earned about $1,000 a month.
But in January this year, Mr Chua lost his job.
Madam Sow Kum Chot, 47, used to be a housewife when she lost her
daughter, but now she does odd jobs to support the family and earns
about $500 a month.
Mr Chua Wei Ming, Second Sgt Chua's younger brother, is a dispatch
rider.
The elder Mr Chua said his 24-year-old son earns 'enough to support
himself' without revealing exactly how much.
It has not been easy on the Chuas since the incident.
Second Sgt Chua was 24 years old at that time.
Mr Chua said: 'Our lives had not been good since then.
'Why? One person is gone from our family of four.
'It's not the same any more.
'We depended on her earnings to support the family.
'But now she's gone.'
The Chuas bought their four-room Boon Lay flat about three years
ago.
For the next 28 years, they have to pay between $300 and $400 a
month to complete repayment for the flat.
Mr Chua said his daughter was a quiet girl.
'She loved to read and study,' he said.
She seldom went out and preferred to stay at home.
Second Sgt Chua was a Singapore Polytechnic graduate.
She signed on with the Navy to get a tuition grant to support her
studies, Mr Chua said.
He said his daughter dreamt of going to the university to further
her studies.
He misses his daughter.
'How can I not think of her?
'She's my daughter and I raised her.'
Second Sgt Chua had registered her marriage to Mr Ng Chin Leong,
29, in 2001.
But they had not gone through the traditional Chinese
wedding.
So Second Sgt Chua was still living at her parents' flat before the
incident.
FAMILY
TENSION
Now there appears to be some tension in the family.
Mr Chua was not happy that some had said Second Sgt Chua's funeral
need not be elaborate.
Also, Mr Chua said he had been criticised by others for being slow
in settling the problem of his daughter's death certificate.
As she was legally wed, there is also a dispute about how the
compensation for her death should be shared.
Most of Second Sgt Chua's personal belongings were donated to
charity, Mr Chua said.
'She loved dolls.
'But we decided to give them away to poor children in Thailand and
Myanmar.'
The Chuas had also locked up Second Sgt Chua's room.
Perhaps it was their way of locking away memories of her.
Now, only a few personal items remain.
