BAYAN LEPAS: The family of Private Adam Jaafar has apologised to the Tunku Mahkota of Johor, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, and the Johor royal family, for making them a subject of slander and ridicule over the past 30 years.
Adam was the soldier who ran amok in Chow Kit while armed with an assault rifle on Oct 17, 1987.
His rampage was allegedly an act of revenge for the death of his younger brother at the hands of the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Iskandar Ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail of Johor.
However, Adam’s sister, Hawa Jaafar, 53, today said the family did not know the late Sultan and none of their brothers had worked with him as a golf caddy.
She also said that they did not know how the rumour (about her brother being killed by the late Sultan) came about.
Hawa said while it was true her brother had ran amok, it was because of the stress he had experienced while in the army camp.
“It had nothing to do with the death of any of our sibling.
“The only sibling of ours who died was our sister in 1975, at the age of seven, due to a house fire. In the name of Allah, there is no truth to claims about our brother being killed by the late Sultan,” she said in between tears at her flat in Sungai Ara.
Hawa said the family had been trying to tell the truth about what happened in the past 30 years but their voice remained unheard.
She said some people even accused the family of covering up their brother’s death after they were paid RM10,000 to keep quiet.
“People also claimed that my brother, Arman, was given a house in Johor.
“There is no truth to it. If we were really paid, we will not be living such a difficult life among the poor here.
“We have been living in misery in the past 30 years but today we want the truth to be out,” she said.
Hawa hoped that her explanation would put to rest slander which had been hurled at the Johor royal family and her own family.
Meanwhile, Hawa said the family also wanted a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to be established to determine if their “younger brother” actually died after being hit with a golf club by the late Sultan.
Hawa said there were nine siblings in her family, including Adam and their dead sister.
Asked on his Adam’s whereabouts now, Hawa said he was currently serving a five year jail sentence for drugs related offence.
“His life was ruined after what happened.
“He was sent to the mental hospital in Tanjung Rambutan...after that he had problems with drugs and has been in and out of prison since.
“I wanted to take him back but he said he had humiliated us enough,” she said.
Adam had grown up in extreme poverty and witnessed his sister’s death due to a fire at Lebuh Buckingham, which now houses the Mars building.
He later enlisted in the army but ended up running amok in CHow Kit after stealing an M16 rifle from his camp.
Adam, who was then 23 years old, travelled from his army camp in Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur at a time when the political tension was high.
The next night, he went on a shooting spree in the Chow Kit area that left a civilian dead and several others wounded.
He also shot at cars and a petrol station fuel tank, which burst into flames.
He eventually surrendered, and in the course of his trial, his lawyer argued temporary insanity.
Although it has been three decades, the actual cause of why he ran amok has been widely debated.
However, in a book titled Amok at Chow Kit by Syahril A. Kadir, Adam recounted that physical and mental torture he underwent at the army camp had led to that fateful night.