The mother of 22-year-old cadet Syamsul Haris Shamsudin suspects foul play in her son’s death, despite the official version which said that there were no criminal elements involved.

Syamsul died on July 28 during Palapes training at the Army Combat Training Center (Pulada) in Ulu Tiram, Johor.

Palapes is the Reserve Officer Training Unit. He was a cadet at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

His training started on July 27 and was scheduled to end on August 3. He was buried on July 29 at the Kampung Riching Ulu Muslim cemetery in Selangor.

Ummul Haiman Bee Daulatgun was dissatisfied with what the officials told her, and on August 19, she filed an application for a second postmortem and an inquest into her son’s death.

She claimed that when she asked her son’s peers about the circumstances during training that subsequently led to her son’s death, the cadets pleaded ignorance and all responded with the same reply which was, “I don’t know, I didn’t see.”

Defense Minister Khaled Nordin told reporters that his committee’s findings, which comprised officials from the defense ministry, home ministry, health ministry and higher education ministry, had also found no evidence of abuse.

Khaled said, “Testimonies from more than 30 witnesses, including trainees and instructors, confirmed that the training followed the prescribed procedures, and no abuse was reported.”

It is rather naive of the defense minister to imagine that anyone who is guilty of abuse, would dare to admit it.

The Ministry of Defense has a terrible past with several cases of bullying in its universities which resulted in death.

After an investigation, the officials will always claim that they will revamp the anti-bullying guidelines, and take several steps to curb the abuse, but it is doubtful if these measures are enforced, if at all.

We are aware that when physical abuse leads to serious injury or death, all those involved, will close ranks. They protect one another and the system. Everyone clams up and only a detailed and thorough investigation will get at the truth

In its report of August 1, the police confirmed that no criminal element had been found in Syamsul’s death.

Kota Tinggi district police chief Yusof Othman said that the autopsy revealed no injuries of criminal nature on Syamsul’s body and the PDRM were awaiting laboratory results to determine cause of death.

Yusof said, “The victim was taken to Kota Tinggi Hospital by army medical officers, but was pronounced dead while being treated at the emergency area.

“The case is classified as sudden death and is being investigated by Kota Tinggi police station chief, Abd Rahim Idris.”

However, Ummul disputes the findings. She believes that her son was allegedly murdered and so she lodged a police report at Kajang police station.

She said that at 4.30pm on 28 July, a lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in Skudai, contacted her to say that Syamsul had died during training in Ulu Tiram.

At a press conference, she alleged that she was given the run-around with “all sorts of reasons” given to her many questions, and that his condition was “rather bad.”

She claimed that what she was told was inconsistent with the information given.

She said that when she went to see her son’s body, there were several injuries, with swelling and wounds on the body and his shoulder.

Her son’s nose was also oozing blood, as if he had suffered a head trauma from impact.

She added that that was a lot of blood stains, and wounds that looked like punched holes or gunshots.

Her son had been bandaged thickly, but a lot of blood was still oozing from the hole, and the blood soaked the neck and mattress lining.

She added that her son’s eyes were bleeding continuously.

Whilst she had been informed that Syamsul had died after suffering from a seizure following a shooting training, her relative was told that her son was killed in a fight.

As she strongly suspects that her son may have been murdered, Ummul has urged the authorities to launch a full investigation.

She also expressed her frustration at being closely guarded by several officers and was only allowed to view a part of his body.

Despite being told not to photograph her son’s body, she ignored their request and photographed the injuries found.

Syamsul is not the only death that was suspicious. Last November, another Rotu trainee from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam, Selangor, died during training.

His death was reportedly from a heat stroke, but the father, like Ummul, did not believe in the official version. He too, lodged a police report.

There are many reasons for a second postmortem.

First, is the lack of trust in the system. Officials may lie to protect their peers and their corrupt system, or lie to protect themselves, because they failed to do their jobs and be responsible for discipline and fail to follow standard operating procedures.

Secondly is because the first postmortem was incompetently done and was botched.

Thirdly, the doctor or the hospital of the first autopsy has repeatedly performed botched postmortems.

Throughout her journey to discover what happened to her son, Ummul faced several obstacles and inconsistencies. This led her to demand a second autopsy and an inquest into her son’s alleged murder.

(Mariam Mokhtar is a Freelance Writer.)