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TRADEMARK SMILE: Mr Chee Wei Cheng (top right in blue T-shirt) with college mates from St Andrew?s Junior College on a community involvement programme to build houses in Udon Thani in Thailand. -- ST ANDREW?S JUNIOR COLLEGE
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HE WAS the dragon boater reporters had found out so little about.
But a blog has gone live, fleshing out the person Mr Chee Wei Cheng, 20, was - not by one of his peers, but by a teacher who taught him six years ago.
Mrs Jessica Chak, 31, his Secondary 2 form teacher, set it up yesterday to share fond memories and so his friends would 'have an outlet to express themselves'.
On the blog, she described him as the 'cute, chubby boy' who blossomed into 'a fine-looking gentleman'.
The Straits Times did not get the opportunity to speak to his family after the tragedy in Cambodia, and attempts to find out more about him had drawn a blank.
Mrs Chak, a mathematics teacher from River Valley High School with eight years' teaching experience, said of him: 'He was not the president of any council, not a very prominent office-
bearer in school but he carried himself with simple pride and a ready smile for all.'
In her blog, she recounted that she was surprised when he quit badminton to join the school choir.
She remembered telling him then he would 'look odd in choir as he was quite the rah-rah sort, but he proved me wrong. I remember seeing him perform - always singing with a smile!'
Every year, he and some classmates would buy her a cake for her birthday. And she, in turn, cooked them dinner.
The gentleman that he was, he would always ask if she needed help cleaning up.
She also recalled how just two years ago, she had teased him about the 'muscles' he had developed from dragon boating.
He had replied with his trademark smile that he was using his time in the army to train for a good body.
Another of his form teachers, Madam Ng E-Hong from St Andrew's Junior College (SAJC), also had words of praise for him.
Describing him as a 'very, very nice boy', she said she was surprised to learn he was from a single-parent family.
'You wouldn't know it. He was very positive and very confident,' said Madam Ng, who also taught him Chinese.
Mr Chee's father died several years ago. To help his factory- worker mum, the frugal young man, who has a brother two years younger, gave tuition.
Family responsibilities aside, he was active in SAJC: Besides serving as a class representative, he was also in the Volleyball Club and the Green Club.
He scored straight As in his A levels and won a place at Nanyang Technological University, where he was to read aeronautical engineering after his national service.
He was to have completed his full-time military stint next month, and he had planned to work part time before starting life as an undergraduate, said Mr Ang Teng Jie, his former classmate at SAJC.
His friends paint a picture of an affable lad whose pastimes marked him as a typical young man. He enjoyed monthly group outings, whether for a movie or small talk over a meal.
Mr Tan Ding Hao, 20, his classmate from SAJC, said: 'He was a confident, easy-going person who always bonded people together.'
dboey@sph.com.sg
sandra@sph.com.sg
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