Finally, Rayappan’s body cremated.
This was confirmed by lawyer A. Sivanesan, who had aided the family in their bid to gain custody of his body in a nine-day tussle with the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS).
The body of Anthony Rayappan, 71, was cremated in a traditional pyre in Sentul at about 11.30am today, a day earlier than scheduled because the condition of his body was deteriorating and decomposing rapidly.
The family had claimed the body at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital mortuary at 7.25pm yesterday, shortly after MAIS dropped its bid to give Rayappan a Muslim burial.
Said Sivanesan: “He was a 71-year-old man and unlike a young man, his body’s condition has turned from bad to worse after being kept in the mortuary for so many days.”
Sivanesan said a prayer session in memory of Rayappan would continue to be held at 10am today at the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Setapak.
It the safest thing to do - cremate the body. As you may know Catholics do not normally cremate their dead. If I were them I would do that, just in case there come another “ruling” to exhume the body for reburial! As the bodysnatchers may just do anything.
This case has made me ponder many things too….personally i would prefer to be cremated too. Abt this issue, I hope this will be the end to issues like this again. It is stressful to the family n community relations.