Family seeks answers to doctor’s mysterious death in Langkawi

The family of Dr Sebastian Joseph wants some answers following his sudden death. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, December 14, 2014.

The mother of a doctor who died under mysterious circumstances in Langkawi four years ago wants his remains exhumed to get answers to the cause of his death.

Santaamal Philip, 55, also wants an inquest to be held following the first post-mortem that gave the cause of death as "unascertained".

She filed an application at the Alor Star High Court last month to exhume the remains of Dr Sebastian Joseph who was found dead in his government quarters in Padang Matsirat on November 17, 2010.

She told The Malaysian Insider that it has been a trying four years for the family, and the ordeal has affected their health, with her and her husband Joseph Anthony, a sports shop owner, frequently falling sick.

In addition, many lawyers were not willing to take up their case in the beginning, until they turned to non-governmental organisation Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) for help.

Suaram put them in touch with lawyer M. Visvanathan, who is acting on their behalf.

The family is eagerly waiting for the hearing on December 29 when they will reveal what they have found out following Dr Sebastian's untimely death.

Santaamal hoped this will eventually answer the question on her family's mind – whether foul play was involved in her son's sudden death, barely four months after he was posted as a medical officer to the Kuah government clinic in Langkawi.

A month before Dr Sebastian's death, Santaamal visited him to help him furnish his five-bedroom quarters, and said he had shared some “troubling” information of what was going on at his workplace.

Declining to elaborate, Santaamal would only say that it had to do with how many of the patients at the health clinic were prescribed Panadol for all sorts of ailments.

The 30-year-old medical officer had also told his mother that various types of medication prescribed by him were not available in the clinic pharmacy, and that he wanted to report the matter to his superior.

"But after he told his boss who promised to look into it, he was sent to various places outside the island for courses and about a week after he got back from the courses, he was found dead," she said.

The body of Dr Sebastian was found in a kneeling position with his hands clenched, which his family and other experts they consulted claimed was an unnatural position in a natural death.

Santaamal’s younger son, Kalliegan Anthony, said he also had information that he would divulge should an inquest be held, as he was studying at a flying school in Langkawi while his brother worked at the clinic on the island.

He was puzzled that although his brother left the clinic during lunch time on November 15 and never went back, no one from the clinic looked for him until he was found dead two days later.

The pilot reported his brother missing after several calls to his handphone went unanswered.

Santaamal said the family also had to bear with gossip on the island about her son's death, with people alleging that he was on drugs while others said he may have been drunk.

"Then they started saying 'santau' (a form of black magic); we did not even know the word until then, and we were puzzled, he was there for only four months, who could have wanted to do that to him," said Santaamal, breaking down.

Unable to accept such rumours, she related how Dr Sebastian had touched many lives during his short time in Langkawi.

"He told me about a father who kept coming back to get Panadol for his daughter and when my son insisted that he bring his daughter in, he found that she had leukaemia.

"But when he told the father that, he said that the main hospital was not taking her in and the clinic had only been giving painkillers.

"My son put her on a drip and oxygen and sent her to the Langkawi Hospital in an ambulance," she said.

Santaamal said no one from the clinic, including his superior, was at the Langkawi Airport to send off her son's remains.

"Many townsfolk came and cried over his coffin, saying he had done so much for them, yet his colleagues from his clinic were missing," she added.

She also said they were told by a person on the island of a veiled threat against the family.

"We were told that if anyone goes to Langkawi looking for answers to Dr Sebastian's death, the person would not get out alive," the mother said.

In her application to the court, Santaamal said the post-mortem on Dr Sebastian was conducted at Langkawi Hospital by Dr Muhamad Arif Mohamad Rasat but the report stated the cause of death as "unascertained".

She said in her affidavit that the doctor who conducted the post-mortem was not a pathologist but only a general practitioner.

She is also seeking an order that the second autopsy be conducted by Australian pathologist Dr Richard Byron Collins at the nearest government hospital after the body is exhumed from a cemetery in Shah Alam.

Santaamal named the Kuala Teriang police station chief (on Pulau Langkawi) and the public prosecutor as respondents.

Joseph told The Malaysian Insider that the family would have accepted it if his son had died of natural causes.

"But there are a lot of things that don't add up, and which we have found out. We will reveal the information in court," he said.

Aware that the court process might take time, Joseph said they only wanted justice for their son and closure for the family.

- TMI