Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh paid her final respects today to 16-year-old student Yap Shing Xuen, the victim of the recent shocking school murder case at SMK Bandar Utama Damansara (4).
At the funeral, Yeoh symbolically placed a Malaysian national team jersey on the teenager’s coffin to honour her love for sports and her fighting spirit.
Yeoh attended the farewell ceremony at Nirvana KL this morning, where she later took to Facebook to express her sorrow and solidarity with the grieving family.
Before tragedy struck, Shing Xuen was a cheerful, optimistic and energetic student who loved volleyball. Her life, though short, shone brightly like a light.”
‘A lasting connection to her sporting spirit’
Yeoh said she personally handed the jersey to Shing Xuen’s mother, Wong Lee Ping, explaining that the gesture was meant to represent an everlasting bond between the girl and the sporting spirit she embraced.
“I told her mother, Lee Ping, that I wished to give Shing Xuen a national jersey as an eternal connection to the spirit of sports.
“Lee Ping smiled and said Shing Xuen would have loved it,” she wrote.
The minister also conveyed the nation’s condolences to the parents, praying for strength and healing as they endure the unbearable loss of their only daughter.
Calls for change after tragedy
Yeoh stressed that the horrific school killing reflects deeper societal issues that must be confronted.
She pledged that the Youth and Sports Ministry would do more to promote positive values, healthier mindsets and awareness among youths to curb violent behaviour.
“We must address the rise of toxic attitudes among certain young males, including the growing ‘involuntary celibate’ culture rooted in frustration and hostility towards women.
“Such thinking, if left unchecked, can develop into extreme misogyny and violence.”
Yeoh vowed to push forward preventive measures and education initiatives to ensure such tragedies never happen again.
