Despite coming from a wealthy family, Y worked hard from the bottom to get to where he was in the country’s civil service. In the late 1980s, he had risen up the ranks to take up a high position, first in the Ministry of Health, then in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. Y had it all – a successful career and a family that loved him. All that changed in 1995 when a horrible diving mishap had left him in a coma.

The news about what had befallen Y came as a shock to the public. Diving is not a mainstream hobby in the country, so it took a while for the scenario to sink in. One could only imagine the level of grief that his family was going through. Prayers and words of encouragement were pouring in for his loved ones in the trying time.

As the months passed by, the dust of the shock began to settle, new hot issues took over in occupying the attention of the public, pushing the thoughts about the tragedy and the comatose Y further and further away, then fading out of people’s mind, forgotten.

Came 1996, a significantly eventful year for Brunei. His Majesty turned 50 and there was a royal wedding of His Majesty’s eldest daughter, Princess Rashidah. The public was treated with free concerts by Michael Jackson, then a month later, by Whitney Houston.  Wow! 1997-1998, the country was preoccupied with severe haze, the Asian financial crisis and the Amedeo scandal. In 1999, Brunei hosted the SEA games, then in 2000 it hosted the APEC Leaders’ Summit. 2001 was launched as the visit Brunei year.  Throughout all these, nothing was heard about what ever happened to Y. Was he still in a coma? Had he recovered?

Then on 28 July 2001, Boom! Came a jawdropping revelation that shook the country’s population to the core, sending tremors across the region, and the world even. That day, it was uncovered that Y was no longer in a coma, he had died.

Well, coma patients could lose the battle and die. Nothing jawdropping about that. However, in the case of Y, for what ever reason, those who cared for him did not declare his death when he died and did not arrange for a burial. His dead body was kept in his house and was reduced to just a skeleton when his death was finally discovered. A local newspaper reported that the body was “half-mummified”, while through the grapevine, some have claimed that the body inhibited advanced adipocere formation (wax-like). Regardless of the actual state the body was in, one thing was certain – that he was already dead for some time.

How did it come to this? When did he die? Why was his death not declared? These questions have garnered a lot of public interest who wanted to make sense of the situation. Without a proper and prompt press statement, their imagination went wild. A number of theories emerged, some were plausible, some were downright outrageous, ranging from fraud of financial nature to some kind of hocus-pocus ritual. The authorities were just beginning to piece together information to get an accurate account of what could have led up to the mess and to establish whether there was a crime involved, but the court of public opinion was already in session where fingers were pointed to a certain people in the deceased’s family.

Now, here comes the plot twist. On 30 July 2001, two days after Y’s dead body was discovered, a 44-year-old woman was produced in court facing the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Apparently, from the police investigation, it was established that this woman was somewhat responsible for the fiasco. She is not a family member of the deceased. She is SK, a former midwife, who practiced Chinese medicine.

How did SK come into the picture? As had been divulged at the court proceedings, sometimes after Y was checked out from the hospital to be cared at home by his family, SK’s service was enlisted to provide alternative treatment. From their investigation, the police had found evidence that while giving the so-called treatment, she had removed the breathing tube which had led to Y’s death. She allegedly committed the offence in May 1998. As part of the treatment, she had insisted that no one would enter the room, which the family had obliged to (before they eventually barged into the room on 28 July 2001). With Y lying dead in the room, she continued the charade and continued to receive payments for her service, specifically $400k in total. The police, however, were unable to locate the said $400k, which she claimed that she had given to the less fortunate people.

The public reaction to this scenario was mixed, with some not buying it and insisted that someone in the family was complicit. So, despite SK being held as a sole suspect, the rumor mill surrounding the involvement of another party kept on churning. This obviously upset family members who were already distraught by their loss to the extent that they had reportedly sought legal advice and asked their lawyers to file an injunction against insensitive and sensational reports regarding the case.

The idea of being taken legal action for rumour-mongering actually had worked in muting the chatter about the case. In due time, the public’s attention fizzled as people moved on to discuss about other hot issues, particularly the shocking terrorist attacks on the US that happened in September that year.

Eventually people had stopped following the development and lost track of the charges brought against SK. Today, people who lived through and had memories of the bizarre case could not recall what actually happened to SK, some claimed that she was found guilty and incarcerated, some claimed that the charges against her were dropped and she was released, but nobody is totally sure.