Swee Bok inconsolable as family laid to rest

GEORGE TOWN: The ordeal of having to bury four immediate family members, all in one day, is one that is unenviable.
But this is what Lim Swee Bok, 39, had to go through after a pre-dawn fire on Wednesday gutted his double-storey house, killing his four family members.
The four were sound asleep when the fire broke out at the house in Pintasan Cecil near Cecil Street Ghaut here.
The Penang MCA Tanjong division Youth was inconsolable, as the shock of losing his entire family began to sink in when the four members were cremated at the Batu Gantong crematorium.
Earlier, the last rites to the deceased were administered in a ceremony at the funeral parlour near the Sri Saujana Flats in Macallum Street.
Swee Bok tried to conceal his tears, but the pain was too much for the relatives who were disconsolate.
The four coffins bore the remains of Swee Bok's wife Chen Yen, 35, a China national, his mother Lau Sai Poh, 62, his son Lim Yin Chun, 10, and his daughter Lim Jia Ying, nine.
To add to Swee Bok's misery, his father had just passed away from cancer on Nov 5, days before tragedy struck the family.
It was one of the worst tragedies in Penang this year, especially for Swee Bok, a young talented grassroots leader who was touted as the future face of MCA in Penang.
His MCA comrades, who preferred not to be named, said Swee Bok was of strong character, and they are praying that he would find peace in due time.