Malaysian Envoy Reads Verse From Quran At MH17 Memorial Service

By: Neville Dcruz MELBOURNE, Aug 7 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's High Commissioner to Australia, Zainal Abidin Ahmad read verse 34 from the Quran's Chapter 31 luqman at the national memorial service here Thursday to remember the 298 people who perished when the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was believed downed by a missile over eastern Ukraine on July 17. More than 1,800 mourners gathered at St Patrick's Cathedral here to remember the 38 Australian citizens and residents, including several Malaysians, who were killed in the disaster. Mourners including many relatives and friends of the deceased Malaysians who flew in from Kuala Lumpur for the service, shed tears as they placed yellow wattleseed branches on a wreath to remember the dead. Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart welcomed the congregation before the Australian Boys Choir sang the national anthem. Archbishop Hart said the attack was worthy of condemnation. "The why of terror, the incredulity and condemnation of the perpetrators gave way to an avalanche of compassion, love and prayer for those so burdened," he said. "You have not been abandoned and you never will be," Prime Minister Tony Abbott told the gathering, which included Malaysian Consul-General here, Dr Mohd Rameez Yahaya and MAS manager here Terence Swampillai. Abbott said it was a time to rededicate the nation to supporting the bereaved, obtaining justice for the dead and for their families, and to working for a better world. Hundreds of Australian police and defence personnel have been working with their Malaysian and Dutch counterparts in eastern Ukraine to collect human remains and evidence. But their work has been suspended because of increased fighting between Ukrainian military and pro-Russia separatists. Leaders of different faiths addressed the packed cathedral before Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove spoke of the grief, shock, anger, confusion and loss felt across the globe as a result of the disaster. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the nation was united in its grief. "We mourn 38 of our own who laughed, learned and loved beneath the Southern Cross that today flies at half mast around the nation," he said. Melbourne was chosen for memorial service because 16 of the 38 Australian citizens and residents killed lived here. They include Malaysian-born Shaliza Zain Dewa, 45, and her Dutch-born husband Johannes van den Hende who had been on holiday in Amsterdam with their children Piers, Marnix and Margaux, aged 15, 12 and 8. Malaysian Gary Lee Why Keong and his wife Mona Yeoh, of Glen Iris, here had been on a six-week cruise and European holiday before boarding the ill-fated flight. Also killed on the flight were former University of Melbourne student Elaine Teoh and her boyfriend Emiel Mahler. Teoh, originally from Penang and Mahler, a Dutch national, were both 27. They had planned to get married. -- BERNAMA