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Victim's body back in S'pore
©The
Sunday Times, Singapore (Used by permission)
by Ravi Velloor and P. Jayaram
• Lawyer was live wire who touched lives
Lo Hwei Yen, Singapore's first victim of terror, was shot in
the head and abdomen
MUMBAI - FOR Ms Lo Hwei Yen, the journey home to Singapore began from a funeral
parlour in Mumbai's Clare Street.
Yesterday, John Pinto International Services placed the body in a metal-lined
coffin in preparation for the Singapore Airlines flight at midnight.
According to Mr Pinto, family members had instructed him to make sure she looked
'as normal as possible' in death.
There was, of course, nothing normal about the final hours of life of this
28-year-old lawyer, who became Singapore's first terrorism fatality.
Before arriving at the funeral parlour, Ms Lo's body had rested overnight in the
mortuary of Mumbai's JJ Hospital in Byculla, where more than 80 of the nearly
200 dead in last week's terror attack on the city were taken to.
With so many dead, the inside of the mortuary was like a scene from a nightmare.
Bodies were strewn about. Some were washed down with water to keep them from
deteriorating too rapidly.
The smell of formaldehyde was everywhere.
Victims were reduced to being a number.
In Ms Lo's case that statistic was 791/125, according to the mortuary's record,
which listed her as 'belonging' to the Marine Drive Police Station.
Before we enter the cold room, a policeman helpfully gives us surgical masks and
inquires: 'Are you sure you will be able to withstand what you are about to
see?'
We enter, but do not stay long. We see the body of a huge man on the floor, his
face soot-black from the explosion that probably killed him. He was one of the
Israelis who got trapped in Nariman House.
Other bodies are nearby, a few still oozing blood. Some have faces smashed
beyond recognition.
We are pointed to a slender, lifeless form in a corner of the room - Ms Lo.
Without exchanging a word, we decide not to go further.
As we head back towards the door, there comes another shock.
The same cold room is also where police have brought the bodies of four of the
terrorists. All of them look like they are in their early 20s.
Outside, we walk across to the duty doctors' room. The senior among them asks
what our business is.
We ask to see the medical report on the Singaporean.
There is some rummaging of papers and instructions to an underling. The official
runs a pencil down a list of names written in Hindi. It is there.
Cause of death: 'Fracture of skull with abdominal injury. Firearm injury.'
There is no way of confirming the exact cause of death. But a trip across town
to The Oberoi Trident, where Ms Lo died, yields a plausible story.
Entering the hotel after talking our way through two rings of security set up by
police and hotel guards, we sit in the lobby watching the scene of destruction,
now rapidly disappearing as repairmen hasten to set the place right.
There are bullet holes in the glass panels along the stairs that lead up to the
Kandahar Restaurant. There, Ms Lo was said to have been dining with friends when
two gunmen burst into the lobby below and shot their way up.
A senior hotel executive gives us this version of events. When the terrorists
blasted in, he says, many ran for cover, scurrying through kitchens and using a
narrow staircase to make their way to the rooftop. From there, some guests came
down a few floors.
Ms Lo was captured. Initially, the terrorists said they did not intend to harm
women. This was the reason she was allowed, or managed, to make some contact
with her family.
But later, the hotel executive says, they changed their mind, probably when
security forces entered the building. They executed every hostage they could
get.
'We found her in the corridor on the 17th floor and there were two other dead
women on the same level,' the executive says.
Could she have died from friendly fire?
'No chance,' he says.
'She was shot through the head.'
Lawyer was live wire who touched lives
By Teh Joo Lin , Carolyn Quek and Nur Dianah Suhaimi
Sister, friends paint picture of determined but selfless
woman
Ms Lo Hwei Yen loved a party and her husband, Mr Michael Puhaindran, loved
organising one.
 For the couple, who met in 2006 through a mutual friend in the legal circle,
parties were a big part of their happy life together.
They hit it off from the start as they both enjoyed good food, wine and, yes, a
good time. He was also known to be a 'master party planner', according to a
university newsletter.
'She was really happy to settle down and find someone she could really enjoy
life with,' her youngest sister, Hwei Rong, 23, said yesterday.
A friend described their wedding in Bali last year as 'exceptional'.
Just a year after the celebrations, Mr Puhaindran, 37, who worked as a legal
counsel, returns from Mumbai this morning, the body of his 28-year-old wife in a
coffin.
But her loved ones will remember her as the girl who was not only the sparkle of
any occasion but also someone who had an incredible zest for life.
'She liked to try out new things and even auditioned for a role in a movie,
Singapore Dreaming,' said actress Serene Chen, who has known the lawyer since
2002.
While Ms Lo did not get the part, she did direct a play written by Ms Chen's
husband, Mr Bryan Tan, when they were law students at the National University of
Singapore (NUS).
Ms Lo also had refined tastes and enjoyed collecting watches.
'She was a very avid shopper...she enjoyed life, good clothes, good food and
wine,' said Hwei Rong.
On her page in Friendster - a social networking site - Ms Lo listed fun-loving,
feisty and affectionate among 22 personal attributes.
She also had a 'trademark giggle' and was easily the most extroverted of the
three siblings, said her sisters.
'She's quite cheeky and could find funny moments in a lot of things. My sister,
as a kid, was not very different from her as an adult,' Hwei Rong told The
Sunday Times from the family's condominium in Lower Delta yesterday.
A bubbly personality aside, Ms Lo had varied interests. She was a prefect and
school netball player in Methodist Girls' School.
She later went to Victoria Junior College (VJC) where the sociable girl made
life-long friends, including Ms Nathalyn Fong, who was to be her bridesmaid.
Speaking to The Sunday Times from Siem Reap, Ms Fong recalled how she joined the
college three months into the year, when 'most of the class already knew each
other'.
But Ms Lo noticed the new face and made an effort to say hi.
The arts students were part of the 'UnMath Gang' - a group of students who did
not take Mathematics as an A-level subject. Ms Lo studied Literature, Geography
and Economics.
According to Ms Fong, a communications executive, Ms Lo was already aiming for
law school while preparing for her A levels. She did well enough to get in.
Said Hwei Rong: 'The things she wanted in life, she went about achieving them
with gusto. Once she has set her sights, she'd eventually get there.'
After graduating from NUS in 2003, she joined Drew and Napier, practising
shipping and international trade.
The firm's director, Mr Ian Koh, credited his former pupil for bringing 'a
softer touch to the workplace'.
While everyone else was buried in work, 'she would be the one asking everyone if
they needed any food before going out to buy a meal. She kept us going'.
Ms Lo described herself as a 'part-time lawyer' and a 'full-time shopaholic' on
Friendster. While those who knew her agreed that she loved her bags and shoes,
they said she was committed to her work too.
Senior Counsel Steven Chong, managing partner of Rajah and Tann, which Ms Lo
later joined, said: 'What we really liked was how she was very responsible. Even
after she resigned, she ensured her work was finished before she left the firm.'
Ms Lo's last employer, offshore firm Stephenson Harwood, sent a statement last
night describing her as an 'outstanding lawyer' with a 'kind and generous
personality'.
In a testimonial her husband put up on her Friendster page before they got
married, he described her as 'a really gorgeous babe' who was 'an extremely
selfless and giving person'.
'She always puts others ahead of herself, often at the expense of her own
happiness. I feel blessed to be given the opportunity to know her and I hope I
can make her happy.'
Before Ms Lo's fateful Mumbai work trip, the couple had travelled to Melbourne
for a vacation.
According to her sisters, they had planned for kids in the future too.
While marriage and work took up much of her time, she still made the effort to
stay in touch with family and friends, through e-mail messages, SMSes and meals.
Earlier this month, she took her sisters to watch the musical Avenue Q at the
Esplanade Theatre.
Her good friend, Ms Fong, will remember her as her 'cheerleader'.
'She would send cards of encouragement and 'perk-me-up' flowers whenever I was
down,' she said.
Ms Fong last met her friend two weeks ago before she travelled to Siem Reap for
a mission trip, to borrow a guide book on Cambodia.
The two friends had made plans to catch up.
'Now I guess that's not happening...I texted her on Thursday to ask if she was
all right. She didn't reply. I guess I never will see 'Hwei Yen' beep on my
phone ever again.'
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