One of the real prides of living in Singapore (after having lived in Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines) is the low rate of crime here. Most people who have been in a position to compare will say that Singapore is a safe country (check out our crime statistics here). Murders are rare in Singapore -under 30 in 2008, which was relatively high compared to previous years – and so homicides generally raise eyebrows. Chun See takes us back to 1972, where one such homicide in Queenstown really caused a stir when a woman was mysteriously shot dead in broad daylight.

Any shooting incident in this little country of ours which has one of the strictest gun laws in the world is always big news. But what makes the incident that I am about to narrate truly unprecedented and bizarre even is that it happened in broad daylight.

It happened around noon time in Queenstown, 18 September, 1972. A 22-year old seamstress by the name of Cheng Li Zhen (曾丽珍) was walking with her 19-year old sister Li Bao (丽宝) somewhere along Queenstown (I think it was Margaret Drive) when she suddenly gave a scream and collapsed on the ground. Blood was oozing from her chest. It was only after she was sent to the Singapore General Hospital that they discovered she had been shot. She died from her wound without regaining consciousness. She was from a small Malaysian town called Kluang.

The shooting was big news during its time, and to date the case has not been solved. The case was featured in the Sin Ming Daily’s 40th anniversary book – but you can read about Chun See’s recollection of the case here.