Scarred and wounded, Jakarta bomb blast survivor found love … with schoolmate who had a crush on her 30 years earlier
By
Gemma Koh
, 3 July 2023
What good could possibly come out of a horrific bombing that killed 13 people and injured 150? When Pang Seng Hock reached out to former Pre-U schoolmate Carol Chia who was injured in the 2003 blast at a luxury hotel in Jakarta, he never expected to marry her (right). Photos courtesy of the Pangs.
In the lead up to the 20th anniversary of the August 5, 2003 hotel bombing in Jakarta, our thoughts and prayers are with all who were affected by the tragic event.
Teenage boy likes girl. They go on a few dates but their relationship doesn’t take off. They lose touch with each other.
Thirty years later, he comes across her photo in the newspapers. Her face and hands are covered with burns in an explosion that rocked a luxury hotel in Jakarta, killing 13 people and injuring 150, many seriously.
The boy himself had survived a near-death experience.
Concerned, he reaches out to her. This time, they click. Seven months later, they marry.
True love story: Carol and Seng Hock will celebrate their 19th wedding anniversary in November 2023.
This isn’t a movie from Hollywood, but the true love story of Singaporeans Pang Seng Hock and Carol Chia, who are 65 this year.
“We clicked – three decades later”
School counsellor Pang Seng Hock saw a news article in The Straits Times about a suicide bomber detonating a bomb at the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta on August 5, 2003.
He felt “burdened” when he realised that a victim was a pre-university schoolmate he had a crush on 30 years earlier.
News clipping from The Straits Times reporting on the painful skin graft surgeries Carol (pictured), her three colleagues and other survivors went through after the blast.
Seng Hock last met Carol Chia in the late 1970s, when he had just finished National Service.
“The fruit ripened many years after we met in a way we could not imagine.”
Through a mutual friend, he reached out to Carol.
They met for dinner on a Friday night in April 2004 – eight months after the blast.
“We clicked,” Seng Hock told Stories of Hope. “We talked till 4am.”
They were both single and in their mid-40s.
“The fruit ripened many years after we met in a way we could not imagine,” said Seng Hock.
Dating extras
Carol doesn’t remember much about Seng Hock from their days as Pre-U students at Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) Barker Road.
“The anaesthetics from the operations after the blast messed with my memory,” she told Stories of Hope.
“I had a big crush on her,” admitted Seng Hock of Carol, pictured during their Pre-U days.
She only recalled that they went on double dates, but their relationship didn’t take off: “His good friend was dating my good friend, so Seng Hock was an extra, and I was an extra.”
Seng Hock admitted: “I had a big crush on Carol.
“Over the decades, I had dreamt of Carol from time to time.”
“I didn’t tell her how I felt because I was busy with other pursuits – like the Boys’ Brigade.
“When I looked through the journal I kept over the decades, I realised that I had dreamt of Carol from time to time.
“It was always a nice dream,” he said.
“It gave me insights into why I remained single all this while.”
Bearing her wounds
Re-meeting Carol 30 years after their school days – eight months after the bomb blast – Seng Hock was struck by one difference.
“I remember she was a lot darker in Pre-U because she was on the swimming team.
“I told her: ‘Wow, you look like when you were in Pre-U.'”
“Seng Hock could see through my physical and emotional injuries and love me in spite of them,” said Carol. The scars (pictured) on her hands have since lightened considerably.
Like her family, Seng Hock looked beyond her horrific injuries.
He said: “I was very inspired by the way she bore her wounds and went through the healing process.
“She’s a very strong lady.”
Perfect timing
The reunited schoolmates found that they had much in common.
“My mum Lily Chia had passed away – and God brought Carol Chia into my life a week later.”
They quickly became each other’s net of support and “safety valve”.
It was not just Carol’s time of need, but also Seng Hock’s. He was going through a time of grief.
“My mum Lily Chia had passed away – and God brought Carol Chia into my life a week later,” he said.
“God’s timing was so good.”
Carol, still recovering from her injuries at that time, said: “I was fascinated that here was someone I could talk openly about what I had been going through.
“I felt responsible for the big trauma my family was going through after the blast. I tended to disguise my real pain with them as I didn’t want to worry them.
“I was fascinated that he was someone I could talk openly about what I had been going through.”
“Seng Hock provided comfort and perspective to what I was going through.”
She was also “captivated” by how much Seng Hock loved God.
“He shared how the Lord works, and explained Bible verses I didn’t really understand.”
Near-death by water and fire
Would they have gotten together if not for the bomb blast that irrevocably softened her heart? (Read this story here.)
“Emphatically no!” said Carol, who had “no time for people” in her 25 years of work as a commercial kitchen consultant before the blast.
He had survived a near-drowning while she had survived a bomb blast.
When praying over their decision to marry, the couple came across several Bible verses that indicated that they were on the right track.
One was Isaiah 43:2 in which God says: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you cross rivers, you will not drown. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flames hurt you.”
It spoke personally to Seng Hock: He had survived a near-drowning (water) in Tasmania, Australia, when he was 16, while Carol had survived a bomb blast (fire).
Seng Hock at a beach in Tasmania in 2020 – 46 years after he nearly drowned during a Boys’ Brigade (BB) camp. He couldn’t remember the exact beach where it happened, but took a photo at one which had an anchor and a cross (features in the BB emblem).
“A rip tide pulled me and a friend into the open sea,” he recalled.
Seng Hock broke free from his friend’s “death-grip” and “tried various life-saving tows”.
“That experience always stuck in my mind. It was very traumatic. But God spared my life.”
“But it was no good. The sea was too choppy.
“I cried, ‘God, I’m too young to die!’.
“Then I recalled the basic life-saving drill – the hip-tow. It saved us that day.
“That experience always stuck in my mind. It was very traumatic. But God spared my life.”
Married at 46
Seven months after they reconnected, 15 months after Carol survived the bomb blast, 30 years after Seng Hock first had a crush on her, the two tied the knot in November 2004. They were 46 years old.
Exchanging rings. The bride, still healing from her wounds from the blast, wore compression garments, like this glove, to prevent keloids from forming.
Saying “I do” – three decades after Seng Hock’s crush on Carol.
The officiating pastor was a former schoolmate from their year at ACS.
Worries about the health of Carol’s father hastened the wedding.
“Carol wanted to get married quickly in case he didn’t live long enough,” said Seng Hock.
Showing their respect to Carol’s parents during the Chinese tea ceremony at their wedding.
“But Dad’s health improved, and God gave him more than another 10 years with us.”
Said Seng Hock: “My only regret was that my late parents never got to meet Carol.
“But we will meet in heaven at the end.”
Beauty from ashes
When considering whether to marry, the couple also prayed if their union would enhance their faith-related work.
“God provided me with a helpmate in my own life, and in service to the Lord,” said Seng Hock, who was a school counsellor at ACS for 15 years.
The way we were: Seng Hock put together this collage of him and the girl he had a crush on during their Pre-U days (top photo), and attending a school reunion with her as his wife.
Carol came alongside as a supporter.
Seng Hock has since retired.
“I never expected to get married. It was something that just came out of the blue.”
As a couple, Seng Hock and Carol also facilitated a module on communication and conflict management at a premarital course at church. They too learnt from it and it bettered their relationship immensely.
Said Seng Hock: “I always reckoned if I was to be single all my life, I would maximise my singlehood to serve God.
“I never expected to get married. It was something that just came out of the blue.
“It was a gift from the Lord that we both could not refuse.”
Seng Hock encourages people who are anxious about their marital status: “Marriage is not for everyone. Singlehood is not for everyone, either.
“Everything happens in God’s time.”
“The most important thing is to follow closely to the Lord and accept the gifts that He brings to us.
“Everything happens in God’s time,” he said.
“When the fruit ripens, it will drop. If it is not ripe, it won’t drop.”
As he and Carol have seen, “God can take a terrible situation and turn it into something beautiful”.
Read of how Carol heard a voice that led her out of the black smoke and rubble of the 2003 Jakarta hotel bomb blast:
