Plane crash an international tragedy
JAKARTA (JP): A former Singaporean model and her American boyfriend, an Indonesian journalist, a businesswoman returning to her family, an athlete, and a family traveling home after visiting a convalescing relative, were among those on the fateful SilkAir flight.
The stories of those on board is not just an Indonesian tragedy, but an international one because people from 13 nationalities were on board.
Former top Singaporean model Bonny Hicks, who moved to Jakarta in 1992, was on the plane with her longtime boyfriend Richard Dalrymple, better known as Randy, for a long Christmas vacation which would eventually take them to the United States.
After a successful modeling career, Hicks wrote a candid autobiography in 1990, Excuse Me, Are You A Model?
She was due to celebrate her 30th birthday on Jan. 5.
Friends of Hicks said she set up a creative agency here and was living with Dalrymple, an architect, in Simprug, South Jakarta.
Journalist Elly W. Sundari, 40, was on her way to Japan for a three-month study on fashion.
Her father, Atang Hidayat, admitted that he had ill-feelings which he could not shake off before his daughter's departure.
"I felt uneasy for several days before she left because she was wearing a lot of black dresses. She had also told her mother to donate her clothes to charity," Atang said yesterday at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport before boarding a flight to Palembang.
Elly is survived by her 15-year-old son Jimmy Risyandi.
Disbelief was still in the minds of many who knew her.
"We just ignored it when TVRI first broke the news about the crash. I then ask one of my friends what plane mbak Elly took," said fellow journalist Tambrani, who worked with Elly.
Tambrani said everyone burst into tears when they realized Elly was on board.
She had worked for Bisnis Indonesia for 11 years, starting out as a photographer.
Elly's pictures now hang on the wall of the Bisnis Indonesia editorial office above a mound of flowers.
American Suzan Picariello boarded flight MI-185 on her way home to her husband, Brian McNelis, and 2-year-old son.
Picariello was head of consumer services and area general manager for Asia and Southeast Asia at American Express Bank.
Winny Soendaroe, American Express Bank's public affairs and communication manager, said that Picariello had worked for the company for 25 years.
Winny said Picariello had previously been posted in Hong Kong before her current assignment in Singapore.
"Everyone here at Amex knew her. She came to Jakarta almost every week. She'd arrive Friday morning and return in the afternoon after a meeting with me and Bill Pardos, one of the Amex VPs," Winnie told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
"We keep praying that she wasn't on that flight. We haven't heard any news," Winnie said, but adding that she was booked on flight MI-185.
Ali Simon, a relative of passenger Tjiu Tjong Tjoan, tried to remain composed in his grief as he summoned the courage to inform the 42-year-old's wife about the crash.
Ali said here yesterday he was trying to muster the strength to notify Tjiu's wife in Bandung, West Java. "We are still discussing the best possible way to tell her."
Tjiu was an automotive spare parts dealer in Bandung. He was on a business trip to Singapore.
Singaporean Oey Siok Lian, 47, her husband Koh Peng Yam, 48, and 14-year-old daughter Xu Chue Fern were traveling back to Singapore after visiting Oey's brother, Wijanarko, who had just recovered from an illness.
"Oey and her family usually stay at my house in Tebet for about a month," said Nina, Oey's sister-in-law.
Oey shortened her visit to a week because her daughter had to attend a school Christmas celebration.
With no news of survivors as of yesterday afternoon, retired Singaporean Franky was facing up to the fact that he might have lost his brother, Taiwanese Wang Li Ming.
"He was acting very normal before he left," Franky told the Post before departing for Palembang yesterday afternoon.
Franky said he was joking around with his brother on Friday afternoon.
Franky, who often commutes between Jakarta and Singapore, said Wang came to Jakarta to visit him because they had not met for a quite long time.
Another of those on the flight was national shooting athlete Herman Anggoro.
Herman, 36, was known as the nation's shooter in the top reaction pistol category.
In Singapore, Karim Rahman, 51, waited for word on his Malaysian son-in-law Abdul Shukor Abdul Aziz, 35, who was on the flight for a monthly visit to his wife and four children. Abdul Aziz worked in Jakarta as an assistant manager at an electronics firm, AFP reported from Singapore.
"He was supposed to be back last week but had to cancel due to work commitments. It's so unfortunate because he was to celebrate his ninth wedding anniversary on the 31st of December," he added.
"I had to break the news to my daughter," Karim told Singapore's The New Paper, his body shaking with grief.
"Every month, when he comes home, his wife prepares dinner for him. She did the same thing this time. But she waited and waited ..."
Another relative waiting for news in Singapore was Amy Teo, a 47-year-old finance manager whose brother-in-law Tan Chin Heng, 50, was on the flight for a weekend visit from his job with a computer company in Jakarta, AP reported.
"My sister is very distraught and she is imagining all kinds of scenarios. I am trying to comfort her, that he is still alive, but she is saying the area is very swampy, what if he is attacked by crocodiles?" Teo said.
George Joseph was at a party when his wife called to say that his younger brother Joseph, a father of three, was on the flight. "The news is just devastating," George Joseph said. "I rushed immediately to the airport." (10/icn/jun/emb/mds)