Hit-and-run tragedy

As a very long-time member of the chess community in the country, I get an excellent chance to observe chess players as they grow up. I've known of so many of our youngsters who have grown up to be fine young men and well settled down into family life.

Last Sunday my wife asked whether I knew a chess player named Lee Kuang Hawe. Of course, I knew him. In the late 1990s while still a teenager, he played a lot of chess in various events in Penang. But for many years our paths had not crossed. I believe the last time we acknowledged one another was at the Penang chess league last December.

I'm bringing up his name because my wife saw a news item on him in The Sunday Star, victim of a hit-and-run accident in Petaling Jaya. He was knocked down from his motorcycle in the middle of the night and his body was not discovered until about 12 hours later. This is a tragedy. According to the newspaper report, he was due to be married to his long-time girl friend. Now, instead of a happily married life together, his life has been snuffed out ... just like that.