Although he’s quite used to working with the dead. Low Choo Choon, a hearse driver for a funeral home, was nonetheless shocked to find out he had been classifed as a dead person himself.
The 77-year-old found out he was listed as a “deceased” in official records when he recently tried to lodge a police report.
According to Free Malaysia Today, police told the man from Johor that he had already “died” when he attempted to file a complaint after misplacing the deed to a graveyard plot that was in his name.
Low claimed that roughly 20 years ago, he and his wife bought the two-person burial plot. He then wanted to give the deed to a family member but, due to cost, he decided on a cremation package instead.
He discovered that he had misplaced the deed in January, which compelled him to file a police report. However, because he was classified as “dead,” he was unable to submit the complaint.
According to Low, he then filed a complaint with the national registration agency (JPN) after receiving guidance from the police. The department said it would handle the change in his status within two weeks.
However, his son-in-law has repeatedly contacted JPN over the matter but has yet to receive a response.
Low said he also could not get his road tax renewed when he went to the road transport department twice, though he managed to renew it for half a year after making multiple requests.
“I have been working at a funeral home for so many years but I never thought that I would be listed as ‘dead’.
“If my (status) does not get updated, I worry that my bank account and assets will get frozen,” he said at a press conference with Senai assemblyman Wong Bor Yang.
Late last month, Low asked Wong for help regarding the situation.
They were both supposed to meet the investigating team from the Johor national registration department today, but that meeting was canceled after its director was placed under quarantine.
To expedite the procedure, the investigative team’s director gave Low’s application materials to the department with Wong’s assistance.
Since Low was declared “dead,” he was also unable to vote in the Johor state elections in March, which left him feeling guilty about not carrying out his duty as a Malaysian.
He was reported as having “no records” when his daughter attempted to check his voter status online, despite the fact that he had no problems voting in the 14th general election in May 2018.
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