At 78, Haji O is not your typical senior citizen. A retired military officer, he is more fit than any young person you know. People know him as an athlete, winning a lot of medals in the veterans category, both in local and international events. He has truly become an inspiration to everyone, young and old people alike.

When it comes to his passion for running, Hj O takes the bull by the horns and didn’t let old age slow him down. Rain or shine, pavement, sand or dirt, he would still don his running shoes and make the miles. People have come to recognise him. He is already used to people asking to take pictures with him, happily smiling for the camera.

Behind his seemingly content exterior, however, there hidden grief, a big, gaping wound left in his heart, that never stops bleeding.

20 years ago, Hj O got a phone call that no father should ever receive. His son was found dead in his flat, hanging from a fan on a wire. The police who responded to the scene quickly established that it was a suicide. Or was it?

This is the local police we are talking about, not the Hawaii five-0 or the CSI Las Vegas. So, the lack of imagination was not unexpected. Also not unexpected was the lack of due care in protecting the integrity of the crime scene, with a number of other tenants of the flat sneaking a peek of the dead body, tainting any potential evidence along the way.

Three days later, much to the shock and dismay of family members, the local newspaper carried the headline “Navy engineer hangs himself”. It was a double whammy for Hj O as not only he lost his beloved son, then he would have to deal with the stigma of his son taking his own life.

From the beginning, Hj O had refused to accept the assumption that his son’s death was due to suicide and rightfully demanded for an investigation. As catchy as it might sound, the headline was misleading, irresponsible and insensitive, to say the least. Perhaps due to the backlash from family members or the police, the next day after the headline came out, the newspaper stated “Police investigate engineer’s death”, saying that the case was still under investigation pending a postmortem report by the pathologist.

Nothing was heard about the autopsy result after that. But, even if the pathologist confirmed that the cause of death was hanging, that is by no way a solid confirmation that it was a suicide. Some detective work would still be required to totally rule out the possibility of foul play. Was there a suicide note? Was he suffering from depression? Did he just go through a bad breakup?

The deceased was married when he died and they were living in married quarters inside a military camp. The other tenants of the flat where they were staying are his fellow military personnel, everyone knew everybody, they bumped into each other on a daily basis, at the stairwell, at the parking area. It is hard to imagine that no one around him knew or noticed any tell tale signs of his impending death, be it suicide or murder.

The big question mark is Where was his wife when it happened?? Well, sources have claimed that during the time leading up to his death, they were having marital problems and the wife was staying with her parents. Right about the same time, a lady, alleged to be his girlfriend, was seen with him, frequenting his place. According to the sources, the relationship seemed to be exclusive as there was no attempt to be discreet. Now, the big question mark shifted to Where was the girlfriend when it happened?? I would definitely zoom in on the girlfriend to unravel the mystery.  She knew something.

If there was really ever any investigation done by the police, there was never any update on it to the public, and now that two decades have passed, I don’t think there ever will. For the tenants of the flat, some of which have now retired from service, the case still haunts them to this day. For me, three things from the accounts of the tenants still resonate in my sleuth mind. Firstly, on the following day after the alleged suicide, the girlfriend with an older lady (believed to be her mom), were seen entering the crime scene and leaving with loot including an air conditioning unit. (She later claimed that those are her things that she had left there during their relationship). Secondly, an unfamiliar man was seen in the vicinity in an around the time of the alleged suicide. And thirdly, the feet were touching the floor. My my my..