Female tuition teacher, 23, found dead in Sungei Api Api
Photos credit: Khoo Yee Joo's instagram
The lifeless body of Khoo Yee Joo, 23, a Malaysian national from the northern state of Kedah, was found yesterday (Jan 18) evening in the waters of Sungei Api Api. She was pronounced dead on the scene by paramedics.
Initial investigations do not indicate that there was any foul play.
According to Shin Min Daily News,Yee Joo, who came to Singapore about four months ago, has been working as an assistant Chinese teacher at a local tuition centre for the past four months.
She was reported to be missing by her aunt on Monday (Jan 17). It was understood that she had left for work as per her usual schedule on Sunday morning.
On the same evening after work at 10pm, Yee Joo was last seen with her colleagues at the bus stop opposite Chai Chee Industrial Park. According to her two colleagues, she was wearing a black shirt, long beige pants and a black covered sports shoes. She was also carrying a black canvas tote bag.
Shin Min Daily News, 19 January 2022
According to her 46-year-old aunt, Yee Joo had been uncontactable since 7pm on Sunday evening. After their repeated attempts to contact her via messages and phone calls were unsuccessful, they proceeded to search the vicinity around her workplace in Chai Chee but couldn’t locate her. They subsequently filed a police report.
Yee Joo’s mother, Mdm Wong, who was in Kedah, told Lianhe Zaobao, that this was her daughter’s first gainful employment after graduation, and she, naturally, was very pleased that she had received the offer to work in Singapore. Yee Joo had particularly “treasured this [employment] opportunity”, Mdm Wong added.
Lianhe Zaobao, 19 January 2022
A few days before she went missing, Yee Joo had shared with her mother in a phone conversation of some challenges that she was facing at work, but she did not appear to her to be in any form of distress.
Her family in Kedah is presently making travel arrangements to come to Singapore to manage Yee Joo’s funerary matters.
Her elder sister remembered her late sister in a tearful post on Instagram in the early hours of Jan 19.
Photo credit: Khoo
Each time I explain [what had happened], I can’t help but cry.
I am very grateful to all of you who had paid attention to this matter and had worked hard to help forward our appeal [to find my sister] via social media. To every person and every voice and for your concern, I am very grateful.
The local police had confirmed that she was found on 18 January 2022, 11.30pm by the waterside. She was identified from her fingerprints.
Maybe death to her was a form of release. Though she may have experienced the kindness around her, she was unable to ignore the malice in her life. She knew that she shouldn’t have [done what she had done] and she had previously sent out signals of distress. She had tried her very best, but she simply was unable to set them aside. She has chosen to end her pain in her own way. She does not want us to be sad. She is a person who will not cause trouble to others.
I still remember the last call we had, and I was talking about how I had called grandma to help her with the New Year's groceries. Grandma told me that [the duty of looking after] the house will eventually be handed over to you. My daily conversations with you were always full of these dialogues [about our family and your mental state], and it hurts to listen to your uncertainties. I feel so helpless but you were willing to share them with me, and, at least, this was better than you keeping them all to yourself.
I'm sorry that I’ve not been a good sister, but I'll try my very best to live for you. In the next life, I am not going to live out that part of your life for you. Let's be together [again as sisters in our next life], is that okay [with you]?
Photo credit: Khoo
