Undergrad killed in Clementi crash had imagined own funeral
Father of NUS undergrad who died in collision shares her reflections on death
Miss Kathy Ong had thought of death and written of how she imagined her funeral would be.
The National University of Singapore undergraduate had pictured a water hyacinth-woven coffin in front of a whitewall and flowers bringing a soft hue to the place.
On Monday, her father, Keith, shared two photos on Facebook from her wake at the Church of St Teresa in Kampong Bahru, including one of a poster printed with her reflections.
Miss Ong, 19, was a rear-seat passenger in a taxi with three friends when it was involved in a collision with a car at the intersection of Clementi Road and Commonwealth Avenue West last Thursday.
Both drivers and the four students were taken to the National University Hospital, where Miss Ong, an only child, died.
In Mr Ong's Facebook post, he said he had initially felt it was "weird and inauspicious" when he learnt that his daughter had written about her own death.
"Now, looking at you... I am thankful you wrote it.
"It's the closest I can get to hearing you because I never had the chance to have a last word with you," he wrote.
He said the last time he saw his daughter was last Tuesday evening when he brought her fruits and they hugged.
In Miss Ong's piece, she talked about her parents standing close by at her wake, and said they were her "biggest sorrow".
She said: "Time is merciless, they think, not at all fair, let alone too fair the way their daughter had lamented, because how could enough be given to them yet so little to their child, such that they lived to watch her die?"
There was an outpouring of condolences on Mr Ong's Facebook post, which has received more than 15,000 likes and 7,800 shares.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, President Halimah Yacob said she met Miss Ong and her friends a fortnight ago at a Tembusu College dinner.
She said: "The group was so full of hopes and aspirations. It is so unfortunate that an accident took that away from them."
Miss Ong was cremated on Monday.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
