RIP, Optimus!

I read about the suicide of a man by the name of Kueh Shu Tsung in the Star on November 10. The man from Perak left a suicide note asking for help to take care of his 70 dogs.

It was later that I found out in klse.i3investor.com that Kueh was the person behind the i3investor ID optimus.  I had read his comments in the forum and he seemed to have clashed with other i3investor users on many occasions.  His clash with a very prominent investor in Malaysia led to the latter publicly revealing his real name and putting his IC for all to see. It was a public humiliation that the prominent investor should NOT have resorted to.

At 2.34 pm on November 9, Kueh sent a message to a well-known remisier who has a large number of paid subscribers to his investment newsletters. In his short message, he said he was very stupid and an idiot and asked the well-known remisier to accept his sincere apology. I quote the remisier ‘s reply verbatim:  “Your apology is accepted sincerely. Thank you and forget about the past. I wish you good luck and make a lot of money from KLSE.”

About four and a half hours later at 7.10pm, Kueh was found hanging in his bedroom by his girlfriend.

Optimus has his share of enemies in i3investors. I am often shocked at the insults that i3investor users throw at each other to the extent that some even indulge in curses and profanities. The forum is for investors to exchange ideas and views but some users do not accept other users’ views and that is when obscenities and foul languages start to fly. A full-fledged profanity war then explodes.

We are adults. It is childish to engage in such immature behaviour just to try to win an argument.

I do not know the reason for Kueh’s suicide though there are speculations that it has to do with his huge losses in the stock market.

But I do know one thing. A man who kept 70 dogs and who apologised before his suicide to someone he had offended can’t be that bad a person.

I hope i3investors can learn a lesson from Kueh’s suicide. And as for the prominent investor,  I think it was highly improper for you to disclose the identity of optimus for all to see. I am not saying that you caused Kueh to turn to suicide but your action was a public humiliation for Kueh. Do you think your action is justified? I truly respect you for being a philanthropist . You may be generous with your money but don’t be generous with unkind words and actions that can crush a person who is already in financial distress. I hope you will reflect on your action and may your conscience be pricked by what you did!

RIP, optimus!