By Lian Cheng and Peter Sibon
KUCHING, Apr 20: The passing of ASP Aldrin Gonda, 38, was like a bad dream that his mother Milah Majin could not wake up from.
“I can’t believe it, it is just like a (bad) dream,” said the shocked and heartbroken mother upon receiving the bad news yesterday.
Aldrin’s father Gonda Bong Mim Fui was also not spared from the striking pain when the bad news reached him.
Yesterday, at 1pm, Milah first received a call from Aldrin’s widow, Anastasia Chu, 33, who is a staff nurse at the Forensic Unit at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, Alor Setar, Kedah.
Anastasia could not bring herself to tell Milah, who was then having lunch, the bad news and asked for Gonda.
When Gonda came to take the call, Anastasia only managed to inform Gonda that Aldrin had met an accident and could not continue with the conversation. The daughter-in-law hangs up the phone before she could say that Aldrin had passed away.
Failing to get more information from Anastasia, Milah started to call their second son, Anselm, to ask for further details.
When finally Anselm called back, they were informed that Aldrin had died in the line of duty.
“At that time, I just cried loudly. I just cried and cried and cried… calling out my son’s name. I was crying non-stop at that time,” Milah told DayakDaily when met at their village at Kampung Terbat Leban, some 120km from here.
Today, both Milah and Gonda seemed to be able to deal with the reality that their eldest son has passed on but they still could not control the tears when their son was mentioned.
Gonda, who is a retired teacher, was obviously proud of Aldrin and appreciated that he has become an exemplary model for the younger siblings.
“That boy had wished to be a policeman and he was dedicated to his job. He was also a good role model for his siblings. He was generous, gentle and kind to us and to his brothers. I am proud of my son, he died as a hero,” said Gonda.
The father described Aldrin as “a responsible boy”, as he never failed to join his family during festive seasons.
What seemed to be a premonition to Aldrin’s passing, Gonda received a call from Aldrin last week, who insisted to send some money to his six-year-old son, who was then staying with his maternal grandparents at Kampung Riih Mawang, located along the Tebakang-Serian Road.
“He insisted that he wanted to send the money on April 13 and he also insisted that I withdrew the money the next day. Because of that, I have to go down to Serian to withdraw the money and pass it to my grandson.
“When I passed the money to his son, I called him on the phone and they had a chit-chat for a while. That was the last time we talked to each other and that was the last time he spoke to his son,” said Gonda.
The only hope Gonda has now was that the government will provide financial assistance to Aldrin’s six-year-old son until he is 18. — DayakDaily
