BUKIT MERTAJAM, July 11 — For Sanjid Singh Sandhu’s parents, their son who was killed in the Flight MH17 tragedy, lives on in their grandson.

While Sanjid’s father Jijar Singh Sandhu, 71, and his wife Jagjit Kaur, 74, are still trying to move on, Jijar wants the culprits who shot down MH17 to be brought to justice.

“I want them to be brought before the law.The governments involved should not let them loose.

“I want justice to be served for my son and all who perished in the incident,” said the 71-year-old, whose son was a crew member of MH17.

On coping with his loss, Jijar looked to Sanjid’s son Hans Singh Sandhu, 11, who has his father’s traits.

“I am happy that my son instilled moral values in my grandson as he is disciplined, concerned about cleanliness, punctuality and has respect for elders. He has his father’s mannerism while walking, talking and in many other traits,” Jijar said.

He said his grandson was also interested in buying books like Sanjid and never watched cartoons.

Instead he would watch the Discovery, History and National Geographic channels. 

“He has a thirst for knowledge. He likes to read books. He also has a good knowledge of historical events,” he added.

Sanjid’s parents broke down several times during the interview, refusing to say much but requested that Malay Mail use a particular photograph of her son as he looked handsome in it.

Jijar added that they still felt Sanjid’s energy in their home.

“He is with us and guiding us in our daily lives. We feel very sad. We expected him to be with us in our old age,” he said.

He said his wife, would offer prayers every morning for their son’s soul and place a glass of water in front of his photograph at the altar while Jijar would offer prayers in the evening.

Sanjid, 41, his wife Tan Bee Jeok, 43, and their son Hans had planned to have lunch at their family home in Taman Selamat on July 18, but it was not meant to be.

Sanjid had swapped flights to fly on MH17.

His wife, also a stewardess with MAS, had swapped out of Flight MH370 which vanished enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 last year.

“Our only prayer to God is for a longer life to see our grandson grow up and start his working life,” said Jijar.

“We are eager to see him grow up to be a man.”

The retired Tenaga Nasional Berhad technician spends his time in the garden at their single-storey corner house while Jagjit cleans the house and cooks for the both of them.

Jijar said they planned to have a family prayer at the Gurdwara Sikh Temple in Butterworth today.

He said Tan would attend a memorial event organised by the Netherlands on

July 17. 

Jagjit said she and her husband were waiting for Hans to come visit them during the school holidays.

“I love to cook for my grandson and my daughter-in-law. We are waiting for the school holidays as we value his presence here,” he said.