I was in shock this morning when I opened my email dated Feb 17th. There's a note from my forum group in Penang that Les was attacked by two hoodlums and was admitted to the General Hospital, Penang. He was then in a coma.
I gave Albert a call to check on the current situation. He said, situation was critical as Les has been unconscious for a while and his condition was worse. While I was browsing the forum threads, I saw one word that makes me in disbelief - TRIBUTE..
What do you mean tribute? I just spoke to Albert, he was in a coma what.... I gave Albert a second call and that's when he broke the news. Les has passed around the time I gave him the call earlier, shortly after we hung up, he got another SMS about the news from another friend who was at the hospital.
I didn't know what hit me this morning. It was too sudden and too fast.. I have lost a friend to some hoodlums at a hospital car park.
That's all the story I know at the moment while waiting more feedback from them. I could only imagine that he may have bumped into these two guys' car. They were too emotional with a dent, or a scratch or whatever on the car and whack Les half dead...
Maybe things went haywire and I didn't start this post quite well. I am part of this photog group and some of the pix in this blog were also being shared at fotokrazy.com - a forum based community for photographers where enthusiasts posted their pix online and share them with the rest of the community. We were there since the site was still in its embryo form. Having discussions back and forth, here and there, gathering members with similar interests in all walks of life, sharing knowledge and what not. That's where fotokrazy was born, a spin off to mypdacafe.
Les was one of the key founders who really pushed the envelope to roll out the website, its design and basically all visual parts of the site. He then proceed to assist newcomers to the site helping each other to get familiar with the photography field. He even assisted me on some areas and manage to racun me a bit in getting my feet wet to the Nikon world in numerous teh tarik occassions. Racun or no racun I can't be seduced to any side :)
Photoshop was his prime area of expertise. At least in the beginnings of the group and how to do minor touch ups to their pix. His final achievement was trying to document location views in Penang the panoramic way. I guess he managed to cover most of the common day-by-day views on the island.
UPDATE : It was quite a while to get this post up. On the first day of the news, I can't do much work, just a little entry on this post and I just wait for the facts to come in. After I engaged OT about what actually happened, he mentioned that it was not a car. It was a motorcycle. Other than the evidences on site, not much info can be gathered around as no one dare to step up and become an eyewitness.(up to this point of writing lah)
Actually, Les had his own health to mind. He had a problem with his kidneys and he had been going to numerous dialysis treatment. That fateful Saturday morning, he was suppose to have another dialysis appointment and was early as usual to the hospital. While waiting for his appointment, he decided to have a little snack at a shop opposite the hospital. He parked his car by the roadside, went into the shop and lepak. Once done, he went back to his car and apparently there was this motorcycle parked and blocked his car from steering back to the road.
He may have called out or even honked his car to get attention to the people at the shop, but no one responded. Well, since he does not want to miss the appointment, he hurried up. I believe he may have pushed the bike aside and trying make way for a broader gap to move his car out. I guess, it may have been he's lacking his energy to push this kapchai a bit and may have dropped the bike literally on the roadside.
Imagine who would not be pissed when you hear a crash and you find out it was your motorbike with somebody standing next to it? Again, I'm just speculating (or rather fill in the blanks based on the phone conversation with OT). These two guys appeared on the scene, could have been some arguments involved and one thing lead to another, whacked Les out cold.
From what OT described, his arm was fractured, his skull was badly smashed on his left side (probably with the helmet) and the condition was not a very pleasant sight to see. Long story short, he was in a coma. There were some developments on Sunday like he twitched his fingers when somebody whispered in his ears, but that's about it. The doctors who attended him already advised family members and friends to pay him a visit as his condition was becoming worse.
The news spread fast among the members and not long after that to a few other forum groups, I even got a message from my ex-myDefcon that he wanted to pay his last respect at Les's funeral. I believe those who were close to him had done their best to spread the word out.
I'm out of words when it comes to give parting statements especially when it involves someone whom I will never see again. Suffice to sum it in three words.
Farewell, my friend...
sorry to hear abt the lost...
sad but the truth sometimes lies among the tears.
Some story happened to a college friend of mine a few month back when he was on his way back home from office. Accident happened on NKVE near Bkt Lanjan split to Sg Buloh - KL. His car was rammed by a 4 pax driven seasoned car and was blocked. He was slashed on his abdomen and was coma for few days. Long life for him as he has slowly and strongly recovered. Sometimes, our Half-Baked fellow malaysian can behave like they come from a different time, Canibbals...
Posted by: The BlueTie | 02/21/2008 at 11:05 PM
sorry to hear this.
a person life do not deserve to end just because of this minor incident
part of our society still lives in caves
well written bro
Posted by: jimlucky | 02/22/2008 at 12:26 AM
I"m so so so so sorry to hear this, my condolence to you, and his family. Well, penang is getting more and more gangster these days, yesterday somebody was murdered around the neighbourhood.
Posted by: tsue ahmed | 02/22/2008 at 08:27 AM
Could it be that Penang is revolting due to the coming election? Could
it be the kiasu is still living in the 20th or perhaps 19th century? I know the traffic flow in Pg is a bit worse if being compared to KL. The bikes just swoop by whenever they have the opportunity, the cars will do their zigzag motion recklessly or even so a slow-mo to slow down traffic.
It boils down to the mentality, and I agree with BlueTie... Half-Baked Mentality. Let's cut their brains out and throw it in microwave oven, and baked it.
Posted by: Niterider Sapphire | 02/22/2008 at 12:44 PM
Very sorry to read this post. It is always very hard to loose a friend who share something we value, a common purpose, common interest. And.. pearls are cracked by worthless mudstone. Those pesky no-gooders scum of the earth are real pain in the ass. Kecik-kecik tak nak mam***, besar menyusahkan orang....
Posted by: razali | 02/27/2008 at 05:37 PM
Indeed... it's hard to recover especially when we are back to the places that we used to hang around, lepak teh tarik, etc...
Posted by: Niterider Sapphire | 02/27/2008 at 07:21 PM
Your late friend's sure a lucky person since he have friends that will remember him eventhough he's already not among us..
Posted by: faeeza | 02/29/2008 at 06:23 AM
biggest condolence to u and his family..he shouldnt die that way..but only God knows everything..only the good die young:( so sorry abt the lost..
Posted by: AQisH | 02/29/2008 at 05:51 PM
Thanks @faeeza & @AQish...
Yes.. he was quite a lucky person, in fact we are the lucky ones who manage to get a lot of his tips of pre & post photography wisdom..
I still don't have a direct impact of his loss yet, may be in this Mengundi weekend will meet up with the guys and chat. Hopefully I can control myself then..
Posted by: Niterider Sapphire | 02/29/2008 at 07:26 PM