GEORGE TOWN, Feb 22 — She was sleeping next to her mother when she was splashed with acid by her father; her right eye was blinded and her face and parts of her upper torso were scarred badly. This was back in 2009.

Today, Tan Hui Linn is 23 years old and has risen from that incident stronger, more confident and happier.

She lost her mother in the incident while her father has since been jailed.

The college student recently passed all the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) papers and is graduating this April.

Previously convinced that her future was destroyed after the acid attack, she is now looking forward to a bright future in accounting.

In the last three years, Tan has undergone numerous facial reconstruction surgeries in Korea thanks to a sponsorship from JK Medical Group.

She now has a “new” face and will continue to undergo follow-up treatments to soften the transplanted skin on her face along with other minor procedures.

Here, Tan shares how she survived these five years after the incident.

In her own words:

• After the incident, I was and afraid for my future. Then, when I saw all the people surrounding me — my relatives, my brother, friends and teachers — who gave me their full support, I felt I had to stand up again. After that, I tried to recover very fast.
• I had to study Form Five again for another year. After the incident, I received many offers such as scholarships so I feel like it’s a big gift for me. This is not something everyone can get. So, I decided to take one of the offers to study at Sunway College in KL.
• Initially I was very nervous because I was going all alone, no friends and starting all over again, like from zero, in KL. Before I know it, it’s already three years and I feel quite happy with my college life. I’m happy that I can meet friends like a normal girl there. It is just like what any girl have, I can have it too.
• I’ve always wanted to study accounts, normal accounting course, so when I got this scholarship offer for ACCA, I took it. I think ACCA is the faster way, I also know it’s very difficult because at that time I was also worried my English is not so good but studying it, I know I only need to study hard and put in a lot of hard work and I will good results from it. I’m so happy that I maintained my record of good results. Previously I was a straight-As student. With ACCA, I didn’t get straight-As but I got average passes, as long as I pass on the first attempt for all papers, it’s good enough for me.
• I give myself huge pressure to pass, especially for the last two papers. When I received news of my results, I was still in Korea. The first thing I do is to text my brother to tell him that finally I can graduate. Then I’m also thinking of my mum because I want to share this happy news with her. Because last time, when I was young, when taking results for UPSR and PMR, she was always with me. If she’s here with me, she will surely feel proud of me, proud that I can finally graduate.
• JK Medical Group is good, they arranged the surgery schedules to suit my timetable in the last three years. They fix it during school holidays so that I don’t miss classes too much. There is one major surgery that takes three months so that time I had no choice but to defer one semester, about half a year. Actually the surgeries are not painful. The acid attack incident is what you call painful. It was the most painful incident for me. The acid, it is like fire, for me it’s the most the pain I’ve ever felt in my life. Nothing can be as painful so the surgeries were not painful for me.
• When people stare at me, I sometimes don’t see it. I have poor vision, you see, I only have vision in one eye and it’s weak. Sometimes, if I do notice people staring at me, I ignore it. By now, I’m ok with it already. My looks do not stop me from making new friends. New friends in KL, they don’t care about how I look, they don’t ask. The culture in Penang is different, they won’t purposely ask but they will still be friends and slowly find out what happened. But still, they don’t care about how I look. I’m glad my school friends have been with me throughout these many years. I’m here today because of them. They’ve been giving me moral support. Anytime I have any problems, I will share with them. Even though I go to KL to study, we still keep in touch. Now I miss my college friends too after I moved back here in December.
• After the incident, I have re-built my confidence. In the beginning, I was very shy, I dare not go out, I wear a mask and sunglasses all the time. Now I can go out freely like a normal girl during daytime. I’m more free, relaxed and happy. Another thing is I’ve become more cheerful nowadays. I like to joke around with my friends and keep myself happy. I think after the incident, I got a lot of blessings, care and wishes, a lot more than before. I got a lot of support and advice from those around me. So now when I see they (my friends and relatives) are happy, I’m happy.
• I hope everything in my future goes smoothly. I’m actually quite worried about my vision when I start working, I want to maintain and protect my only eye. I’m worried about going into accounting because I’m worried about the amount of work that might strain my remaining eye. It is quite weak now. Maybe I will try accounting first and see how it goes. If my eye really cannot take the strain, maybe I will look for another type of job.
• I’ve not given much thought to romance and love. I’m actually prepared for a future as a single because I don’t think guys will look at me or accept how I look. You know, guys might not like my looks. But if someone is interested, sure, why not.