Brother Monty bin Mohamed Passed Away 16 July 2014.

At 3.15 AM on 16 July 2014, I received an SMS from my sister Eliza that my elder brother Monty (age 62 years) had passed away. Monty had been having a disease in his lever for over one year now. It had become more chronic in the last three months. Monty was admitted into the government hospital in Kelang twice. The most recent was in the end of June 2014 until he died. By this time, his liver had stopped functioning. When I visited him two weeks before his death, I noticed his eyes were yellowish, a clear sign of liver disease. I felt sad to see him in a such weak and helpless condition.

So, that 5.15 AM of that 16 July 2014, my other brother Mahathir (with his wife), my elder sister Eliza and I went to the Kelang hospital. We arrived at the hospital mortuary by 6.30 AM and was met by a kind staff, Encik Rosli. Apparently, Encik Rosli was the one who contacted my sister to inform of Monty's death. He informed us to proceed to the service counter to sign a form to claim Monty's remains. We were informed that he and his colleague would begin the washing of Monty's remains at 8.00 AM. We were guided to the waiting room to rest and to wait until then.

All us three siblings began to inform all of Monty's next-of-kin and our other nephews and nieces. We could contact all the others except Monty's three sons. The response we got was either no reply or number out of service. We tried several other telephone numbers that could be found from Monty's mobile phone after which we were able to reach them. Since most of Monty's family are away in Taiping, Bukit Mertajam and Kelantan, they could not come to Kelang that morning in time. Only one of his sons, Najib, who works near Port Kelang was able to reach the mortuary by 8.30 AM.

After the remains was shrouded in clean white cotton cloth, our small congregation of siblings, nephews and nieces performed the final prayers for departed Monty, guided by Encik Mat as imam. At 9.10 AM, we proceed to the burial ground somewhere near Selat Kelang, Sungai Sireh (near Port Kelang). The burial was completed by 10.45 AM.

The feeling of grief lasted for several days. I really felt sad that Monty had died in pain. At least, his death ended his suffering.