Tong Chee Kong, who lost his wife Lai Lee Boon, 44, and son Tong Kai En, 9, admits to having to put up a tough front and forge ahead on his own.

“I was happy with my wife and son, but now only memories are left. I have to remain strong to live by myself.

“When there were three of us, our home was a happy place, but now there is only me,” Tong said when met by reporters at his home in Taman Dato Senu in Sentul today.

Tong was visited by Sabah and Sarawak affairs minister Armizan Ali, who presented him with RM20,000 in cash aid from the government.

Tong, who works as a traditional medicine seller, said he and his wife were avid campers and had gone to Kuala Selangor for a trip before the incident.

“That was the last time we went on a holiday together,” he said.

Tong said he was unable to join his wife and son at Father’s Organic Farm in Batang Kali as he could not take off.

The bodies of his wife and son were found on the first day and he was called to identify their remains at Sungai Buloh Hospital.

The landslide which occurred at 2.30am on Dec 16 involved 92 individuals. Thirty-one perished while 61 survived. Among the dead, 18 were adults while 13 were children.

Mother says could sense her daughter ‘calling’

Meanwhile, Siti Esah Hassan, 53, who lost her daughter Nurul Azwani Kamaruzaman, 31, said she could sense her daughter calling her name before the incident.

Siti Esah said she and her daughter had a close relationship, to the extent that Nurul Azwani put off getting married to look after her.

“I could feel her calling my name when the landslide happened. While I was not there (at Batang Kali), I could feel it,” she said.

Siti Esah still finds it hard to accept her daughter’s death. “It’s even hard to look at her clothes or go into her bedroom.”

Nurul Azwani worked at SJKC Mun Choong and had gone on the camping trip to help prepare food for the teachers and students.