One M’sian hostage confirmed dead in Algeria
Posted on 23 January 2013 – 02:22pm
Last updated on 23 January 2013 – 03:54pm
PUTRAJAYA (Jan 23, 2013): One of two Malaysians reported missing during a hostage incident in Algeria has been confirmed dead while the fate of the other is still unknown, according to Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.
He said the family of Chong Chung Ngen had been informed of his death, and the Malaysian embassy in Algiers was making arrangements to bring the body to Malaysia.
“The Malaysian government offers its condolences to the family of the late Chong Chung Ngen,” he said in a statement today.
According to the statement, the remains of most of the foreign hostages who were killed in the incident had been taken to Algiers.
On the missing Malaysian, Tan Ping Wee, Anifah said the ministry had sent a senior diplomat to help the embassy there and ensure smooth coordination with the Algerian authorities to speed up the search.
He said the ministry and the embassy worked with the countries which had their nationals involved in the incident to get the latest information and share intelligence. Anifah also said that three Malaysians who were confirmed safe were now in Algiers.
Preparations had been made for Ravi Kappusamy and Lau Seek Chiang to return to Malaysia while Patrick Purait Awang had volunteered to stay back in Algiers to help identify his colleague, he said.
In the incident last week, five Malaysians were among 130 workers from various nations at the Ain Amenas Oil and Gas Production Complex in eastern Algeria who were taken hostage by a militant group.
The incident is believed to have been retaliation for the move by the Algerian government to allow its air space to be used by French fighter aircraft to attack Muslim rebels in Mali. – Bernama
Source: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/595994
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People are getting greedier nowadays, they rob, they steal, they kill to get whatever they want, they will just get rid of the things that are blocking their way. I don’t see what they get in the end, things that belong to you, belong to you; things that do not belong to you, do not belong to you, why waste so much time and plan to do things that would hurt others? There’s so many ways of earning money, why not take the right path?
It is so sad to read news like this.. It is even more sad when religion is brought into the picture. All religions teaches its followers to do good and be good. Some people might take it a tad far. But it is always the extremists that taints the religion’s good name..
OM Mani Padme Hum. May Chong Chung Ngen have a good and swift rebirth. And may he be reborn as a human and at a place where he can practise Dharma..
Thank you for sharing, Rinpcohe.
Using force to subdue another force is never a long term solution to violence on living beings. Using force to defend and protect oneself is okay but using force to exterminate lives are totally way out of line. Of course it easier said than done when you’re living in constant fear every day that people might attack you. People are attacking each to survive so to speak. For us who are the onlookers from far away we could only pray that may violence be reduced and replaced by fair governance.
Millions of innocent people have died at the expense of some egoistic and cruel leaders. Its sad to hear such news and tragedy can strike anyone at any moment. Its more sad when one goes abroad away from the family to earn a living and ends up killed. May Chong Chung Ngen have a good rebirth and more peace in this world.
My condolences to the family of Chong Chung Ngen. Life is so unpredictable. It can happen to anyone. It is so sad that Chong went abroad to work and ended up in such tragic incident. May he take a good rebirth.
Life and everything else is always unpredictable and short! The Malaysians were there to work and yet they ended up as hostages for something they were not involved in. All for personal and selfish gains. I agree with what Jean Ai has said, true Muslims do not kill because their religion did no teach them to! Its always about selfishness, power and greed. My condolences to Chong Chung Ngen’s family.
Once again… news of sudden death… unpredictability of life. And this is only one of hundreds, if not thousands of lives lost on a weekly basis. This fact, the fact of the fragility of life should be enough to shock us into our practice but alas this is not so… how deluded we are, how attached we are that we have our fate staring in our face and yet we turn away, hoping to avert it!
In doing so, we merely just plunge directly into the abyss with our eyes close… nothing more, nothing less…
I find it fascinating how the human mind which is capable of such defiance and delusion to a point of self destruction, is the very mind that CAN bring us to enlightenment. This is just beyond words really!
This is very sad news. This person left his country to work in a foreign land because of economic reasons. Usually when we go to a place that is considered ‘dangerous’ because of civil unrest, the pay is higher in compensation. However, what is the point of getting a higher pay when there is a chance that you won’t spend it. Chong Chung Ngen probably had no interest in the politics of the area or the religious issues involved but because of his karma, he was at that particular place at that particular time. I wish him a swift and good rebirth and condolences to his family.
In this life, it is just so easy to lose everything and die. There’s just so many possibilities that can happen and before we know it, we are dead. It doesn’t matter what age we are and what family or even if we have a clean bill of health or not. When death comes knocking, we have no choice but to let him in. Understanding the uncertain nature of life, we should seize it and practice the Dharma. You never know if you will ever get the chance to practice again because how sure are you that your virtues are strong enough to take you to a better rebirth? We cannot be certain and so it is imperative that we practice as much as we can and accumulate as much merit as we can and along the way, purify as much negative karma as we can.
Just to add, most people feel depressed when they read of casualties and death. Very few people seldom think of it as a good time to contemplate on how fortunate we are. We live in a safe country and we don’t think about how fortunate we are, we have enough money to live and be content and we have all the leisures to practice the Dharma. You see, such news remind us of how fortunate we are. It does tell us of how dangerous the world can be but realistically, aren’t we lucky we are. When we read the news and come across such tragic news, such thought seldom occur to us.
Life is so unpredictable… it can be snuffed out in just a moment without any expecting anything. Who would have thought that going abroad to provide for one’s family would end up in such a tragic incident.
I truly hope that everyone will learn to live in peace and harmony and not see the differences in each other, but learn to respect others… then there will not be so much hate to result in such terrible act towards others.
My deepest condolences to the family for their loss.
Sigh, what else is new. People killing people in the name of their greed. A true Muslim would never murder others in the name of his religion…so I don’t believe that we should use the words “Muslim” and “rebel” next to one another. The only rebelling that kind of Muslim is doing is against the compassion that his faith teaches. It definitely is the Kaliyuga time when something spiritual like faith can be twisted to justify our greed for money, power and sex.