Remembering Lo Hwei Yen: Victim of the Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

Lo Hwei Yen of Singapore

'Angel' killed in Mumbai was Singapore's first terror victim


Agence France Presse December 4, 2008

SINGAPORE



VICIOUS tropical rainstorm beat down from darkened skies Thursday, Dec 4, as mourners held a funeral for Singapore's "angel" murdered by militants in India -- the city-state's first-ever terrorist victim.
The rain continued throughout the 45-minute service, even as Lo Hwei Yen's white coffin left the church.
Lo, 28, was one of at least 188 people, including 22 foreigners, killed in a shooting and grenade rampage by 10 militants who terrorised Mumbai for 60 hours last week.
The Church of Saint Teresa was packed for the private ceremony, and family friends said hundreds of mourners were expected.
Some, like Pearlyn Koh, did not even know the young lawyer.
"I am here to send my prayers and well-wishes to her, her family," said Koh, who attended the funeral on her lunch break.
"I think she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Why her?"
Hundreds more mourners, including cabinet ministers, turned out during the week for her wake.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a letter of condolence that Lo was his country's first victim of terrorism.
Her death has jolted the nation, which prides itself on rigorous security measures, and politicians said Lo's death reinforces the need for vigilance.
"She was there at the wrong time," Devendran Puhaindran, the uncle of Lo's husband, Michael Puhaindran, said before the funeral.
"I remember her as a very bubbly girl, always with a smile."
Funeral mourners were urged to wear "fabulous black", a reflection of Lo's stylishness.
Even the skies obliged, making the early afternoon resemble the dim light of dusk.
Lo's smiling face has been regularly featured in newspaper photographs since the foreign ministry announced her death late last week.
"You look at her smile, you can see that radiance of her soul," her husband said in a 15-minute eulogy.
"She knows how to enjoy life," he said, adding that friends described her as caring and selfless.
They were married just last year on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, local newspapers have reported.
Reports said Lo had gone to Mumbai for only one night to deliver a talk about the global credit crunch.
She was taken hostage, along with others, by the militants who stormed the Oberoi/Trident hotel where she was staying.
Jai Sohan, an official from Singapore's foreign ministry, told reporters earlier that before she died Lo had conveyed a message from the attackers.
"The terrorists demanded that the Indian authorities refrain from storming the Oberoi hotel or else they would harm her," Sohan said.
In interviews with local newspapers published Thursday, Michael Puhaindran, 37, said that his wife calmly told him in a telephone call from the Oberoi that men with machine guns and grenades had taken her hostage.
"She was extremely brave. Her voice didn't waver," the New Paper quoted him as saying. "She didn't want to panic me."
It was the last time he spoke with her, but newspapers said Lo also managed to send emails to three friends using her BlackBerry.
"If I don't make it out of here, I love you all," her message said, according to Puhaindran.
Lo's body was found on the 19th floor of the hotel.
"Yen, my angel, my princess, words cannot express how much I miss you," her husband said, choking on his words during the eulogy.