logo
'If he needs to go, we will let him go': Man who survived acid attack as a baby dies at 26

'If he needs to go, we will let him go': Man who survived acid attack as a baby dies at 26

New Paper02-07-2025
Few had expected Mr Samuel Lim Hong Xiang to survive after his grandmother's domestic helper poured acid down his throat when he was just three months old.
But Mr Lim defied every medical prognosis and lived on.
Despite severe damage to his vocal cords and tongue, Mr Lim graduated with a master's degree in pathology from the University of Melbourne and, earlier in 2025, fulfilled his dream of becoming a speech and language therapist at Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities.
But in June, barely five months into the job, Mr Lim was diagnosed with nose cancer. He died on June 28 at the age of 26.
Mr Lim is survived by his parents, Mr Lim Boon Keong and Madam Tan Poh Ling, both in their early 50s, as well as a 20-year-old sister and a 23-year-old brother.
"We were told he had stage 4 cancer," Mr Lim's father told The Straits Times.
"But in his final week, he looked fine. He said he didn't feel any pain. He wanted to live."
Madam Tan said that despite the diagnosis, Mr Lim remained hopeful. He had received his first chemotherapy treatment three days before his death and had expressed his hope to return to work.
Mr Lim's first interview with the media appeared in The Sunday Times on Oct 21, 2012, when he was 13 and known as the boy who survived a horrific acid attack in June 1999.
Back then, Mr Lim's parents, who were engineers in the family business, had left him in his grandmother's flat.
His parents' helper Latifah was in the kitchen, while Mr Lim, who was then three months old, was asleep in the living room.
The grandmother's helper Sumiyem, then 17, took the opportunity to pour sulphuric acid in Mr Lim's mouth, as she was jealous of Ms Latifah and wanted to get her into trouble. Ms Sumiyem was later jailed for eight years.
The attack caused severe injuries to Mr Lim's mouth, throat and vocal cords. His upper airway was destroyed. He had to be fitted with a tracheostomy tube in his neck to help him breathe and a gastrostomy tube in his stomach for feedings. Throughout his life, he never tasted food and never once asked for it, his parents said previously.
"I don't hate her," Mr Lim told ST in 2012, referring to his attacker.
Mr Lim grew up to love music, and tried everything from swimming and hip-hop dance to badminton and piano.
He went on to attain Grade 9 in guzheng and Grade 8 in piano and music theory.
Mr Samuel Lim loved music and had studied piano and guzheng. PHOTO: ST FILE
Over the years, he had performed in numerous concerts and helped to raise funds for charities. His final piano performance was in April, at a Beautiful Mind Charity concert, said his mother.
Mr Lim's teachers at Yuan Ching Secondary School described him as an inspiring student and a role model, in messages left in a memorial book at his wake.
In 2019, he received the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Scholarship for Persons with Disabilities while pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in linguistics and multilingual studies at the National Technological University (NTU).
Mr Samuel Lim graduated with a master's degree in pathology from the University of Melbourne. PHOTO: COURTESY OF MR SAMUEL LIM'S FAMILY
In December 2024, Mr Lim graduated from his master's programme and the family celebrated the occasion with a road trip in Melbourne. On Jan 10, Mr Lim began his first job - at Thye Hua Kwan as a speech and language therapist.
"He wanted to return to Singapore to contribute to the society," said Madam Tan.
"He told me that he was also hoping to save up and buy an HDB flat one day."
Mr Lim's father added that his son had always wanted to live independently and he was proud to earn his own income.
Mr Samuel Lim and his family celebrated his master's degree graduation with a road trip in Melbourne in December 2024. PHOTO: COURTESY OF MR SAMUEL LIM'S FAMILY
Mr Lim sought medical attention on May 14 for a nose bleed, and a specialist appointment was scheduled for him in July.
But on June 6, Mr Lim felt that something was not right and headed to the accident and emergency department at the National University Hospital.
When he arrived, his nose started bleeding persistently and he was hospitalised.
He also experienced severe headaches and facial pain, said Madam Tan.
Over the following two weeks, he underwent scans and biopsies, ultimately leading to the diagnosis of stage 4 cancer.
Mr Samuel Lim's sister said her brother showed her that "it's not the adversity itself that defines our lives, but how we choose to respond to it". PHOTO: COURTESY OF MR SAMUEL LIM'S FAMILY
Even though his stint at Thye Hua Kwan was short, Madam Tan remembered how Mr Lim was so committed that "he burned the midnight oil to work on their reports".
His sister Yong Zhen, an undergraduate at NTU, said her brother had taught her the most important lesson in her life: "He showed me that it's not the adversity itself that defines our lives, but how we choose to respond to it."
Mr Lim also inspired medical professionals who had walked with him from the time he suffered the attack, such as Associate Professor Daniel Goh.
The senior consultant paediatrician at Khoo Teck Puat-National University Children's Medical Institute at NUH said: "Samuel faced significant adversity in life from a very young age. Despite that, he faced life with boldness, strength and bravery.
"He never let his physical limitations determine him. He lived life to the fullest and surmounted all barriers to achieve what many could not have imagined."
Prof Goh also highlighted the unwavering support from Mr Lim's family at every stage of life, which showed how love and a strong community can play a vital role in a person's well-being and ability to overcome adversity.
Even in his final hours, Mr Lim's strength did not waver.
"He fought till the end," said Madam Tan.
"Just hours before his condition turned, he was walking around the hospital full of life.
"He was determined to live and he refused to let go," she added.
"I told him... if he needs to go, we will let him go. We want him to be able to leave peacefully."
Mr Lim will be cremated at Mandai Crematorium on July 2.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Fine for company director who played role in collecting $112k in kickbacks from migrant workers
Fine for company director who played role in collecting $112k in kickbacks from migrant workers

Straits Times

time4 hours ago

  • Straits Times

Fine for company director who played role in collecting $112k in kickbacks from migrant workers

Find out what's new on ST website and app. Loo Kim Huat has paid a total of $83,050 as restitution to the affected migrant workers. SINGAPORE - A company director has been fined after he admitted to playing a role in collecting $112,400 in kickbacks from migrant workers as a condition for renewing their work passes in December 2020. On July 24, Loo Kim Huat was sentenced to a fine of $90,000 and also ordered to pay a penalty order of $42,000, after he pleaded guilty to six charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act. Another 12 similar charges were taken into consideration sentencing. According to a press release from the Ministry of Manpower, Loo, 68, was the director and group head of conservancy at WIS Holdings, which manages Weishen Industrial Services, a company providing estate cleaning and maintenance services for town councils. He had conspired with four others in the collection of kickbacks from 18 employees of Weishen as a condition for the renewal of their work passes. The illicit payments ranged from $900 to $7,000 for each worker. His four co-conspirators were: Lim Choong Seng, a former site manager at Weishen; conservancy workers Kabir Mohammad Humayun and Robel; and Kamaruzzaman, an employment agent based in Bangladesh. According to court documents, the 18 foreign employees were primarily conservancy workers deployed to perform estate cleaning and maintenance services for town councils. The scheme which had been ongoing four to five years before December 2020 originated from Kamaruzzaman, who was responsible for bringing in Bangladeshi nationals to work in Singapore at Weishen. Kamaruzzaman instructed Lim, Kabir, Robel and Kamaruzzaman's relatives in Singapore to collect the employment kickbacks from foreign employees whose work permits were applied under Weishen. After the employment kickback monies were collected from Kabir and Robel, they would be handed to Lim, and then to Loo. Loo, who was Lim's direct superior, would pay Lim $300 for every employment kickback amount collected from each foreign employee. Loo and Lim would decide which foreign workers' work passes to renew, providing positive feedback to Weishen's HR department for only the foreign employees who had paid the kickbacks. After receiving information on possible contravention of the laws under Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, MOM employment inspectors carried out investigations into Weishen on Dec 8, 2020. MOM said Lim was convicted in August 2024 and was sentenced to a fine of $84,000 while Kabir's case is still pending before the court. According to court documents, Robel remains at large. An MOM prosecutor told the court on July 24 that Kamaruzzaman, who operated from Bangladesh, remained outside of Singapore's jurisdiction the last time the ministry checked. Loo has paid a total of $83,050 as restitution to the affected migrant workers. Nine of the workers have returned home; the other nine are working in Singapore, with three employed at Weishen, MOM said. Those who are found to have collected kickbacks can be jailed for up to two years, fined up to $30,000, or both. Migrant workers who suspect that they are being asked to give kickbacks can seek help by calling MOM at 6438-5122, or the Migrant Workers' Centre at 6536-2692. MOM said members of the public who are aware of suspicious employment activities, or know of persons or employers who contravene the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, should report the matter to the ministry on its website . All information will be kept strictly confidential, it said. An anonymous complaint led to 24 weeks' jail for a former operations manager of a conservancy company, who oversaw estate cleaners in Nee Soon East and Pasir Ris-Punggol. Derrick Ho had collected $396,440 from 57 Bangladeshi workers from 2014 to 2020 for the renewal of their work permits, in one of the largest cases of kickbacks that MOM has investigated to date. He was sentenced in November 2024.

'I was embarrassed': Malaysian security guard in viral knockout by MMA coach 'thankful' he wasn't fired, Malaysia News
'I was embarrassed': Malaysian security guard in viral knockout by MMA coach 'thankful' he wasn't fired, Malaysia News

AsiaOne

time12 hours ago

  • AsiaOne

'I was embarrassed': Malaysian security guard in viral knockout by MMA coach 'thankful' he wasn't fired, Malaysia News

A condominium security guard in Malaysia, who was knocked out during an altercation, is now lamenting about the fight he instigated. The New Straits Times reported that Muhammad Alim Muhamad Adnizam, 24, ended up with stitches after picking up a fight with a resident, who turned out to be a mixed martial arts (MMA) coach. To add insult to injury, the video of his embarrassing knock-out went viral, and he was reassigned to another building. He said he was lucky that he was not fired. In the video of the brawl on July 10, Alim is seen taunting a smaller-built man in a pink singlet, who is later identified as 22-year-old MMA coach Tony Lim. 'Punch me. Are you a boy or a girl? Hit me if you're a man,' said Alim, while striking his own head at one point of the four-minute clip and calling Lim a "transvestite". Despite several passers-by and security personnel attempting to intervene, the pair traded punches. The fight came to an abrupt end when Lim punched Alim in the face, which sent the older man falling backwards while hitting a metal pole. Speaking to the New Straits Times, Alim, who was dubbed by netizens as the 'Touch me bro' security guard, said that the dispute with Lim happened as he was ending his shift. 'I'm not a fighter. I don't even know silat,' he said. 'It happened suddenly and I just reacted.' But Lim had a different story to tell, saying that the conflict was building up over a course of two weeks. The security guard had allegedly attacked an elderly resident, said Lim in an interview with the Rakyat Post, adding that he had filmed the aftermath of the incident. 'He threatened me, wanting me to delete the video,' Lim said, adding that Alim continued harassing him during multiple encounters, including on 'last Thursday night, when I went to the neighbouring mall to buy things'. 'Then this conflict happened,' he said, referring to the now-viral fight. Alim, who ended up with four stitches on his lip, said that he and Lim had agreed to a truce at a police station. 'We shook hands, admitted fault and agreed not to share the video. I thought it was over,' he added. 'But a few days later, I found out the video had gone viral. My relatives started calling, asking what happened. I was embarrassed, especially since I live with my family in a flat with many neighbours." Alim said that he was later reassigned to another residential area in Selangor. 'At first, I felt lost. But I'm thankful I wasn't fired. I still need to work to support my family," he said. He also apologised, reports said. According to the New Straits Times, the police confirmed on July 17 that the incident had been resolved. Chingshijie@

Five teens arrested for threatening boy with knife, 2 charged with causing hurt
Five teens arrested for threatening boy with knife, 2 charged with causing hurt

Straits Times

timea day ago

  • Straits Times

Five teens arrested for threatening boy with knife, 2 charged with causing hurt

Find out what's new on ST website and app. Those found guilty of possessing a scheduled weapon may be jailed for up to five years and could receive at least six strokes of the cane. SINGAPORE - Five t eenaged boys between ages 12 and 15 who were involved in a bullying incident in which one boy had a knife held to his throat were arrested on July 10 for suspected rioting offences. In response to queries from The Straits Times, the police said two of the teens, aged 13 and 15, were charged with causing hurt on July 16. The 15-year-old was also charged with carrying an offensive weapon in a public place. In a video posted on social media platform Xiaohongshu on July 23, a boy seems to be holding a knife to a smaller-sized boy's throat. The incident occurred on July 6, said the police. The knife appears to be a butterfly knife, which is a type of weapon considered more dangerous and therefore, subject to stricter rules. Other weapons that fall under the same category include knuckle dusters, flick knives and the claw-shaped karambit knives. After pressing the knife to the victim's throat, the teen asks him to tell the truth. When the victim assures him that he is not lying, the teen slaps him forcefully on the face. The victim is then offered two choices as punishment, although it is unclear what were the circumstances that led to the situation. The assailant and another boy - who is off-camera - can be heard giving him the option between getting punched in the stomach five times or 'angkat naked'. The victim opts for the second choice and starts taking off his clothes before the video ends. Those found guilty of possessing a scheduled weapon may be jailed for up to five years and could receive at least six strokes of the cane. Police investigations involving the other three teenagers are ongoing.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store