‘PRIVATE ADAM RAN AMOK DUE TO STRESS’
It wasn’t because of brother’s death, says sister
THE family of Private Adam Jaafar has apologised to Tunku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim and the Johor royal family for making them the subject of slander and ridicule for the past 30 years.
Adam was the soldier who ran amok in Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur, with an assault rifle on Oct 17, 1987. His rampage was allegedly to avenge the death of his younger brother purportedly at the hands of the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Iskandar Sultan Ismail of Johor.
However, Adam’s sister, Hawa Jaafar, 53, said the family did not know the late sultan, adding that none of her brothers had worked for him as a golf caddy.
She said they did not know how the rumour about her brother being killed by the late sultan came about.
She said it was true that her brother had run amok, but it was due to the stress he experienced in the army camp.
“It had nothing to do with the death of any of our siblings.
“The only one who died was our sister in 1975, at the age of 7, in 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, here.
She said her family tried to tell the truth, but their voices remained unheard, adding that some people had even accused them of covering up the death after being paid RM10,000 to keep quiet.
“People claimed that my brother, Arman, was given a house in Johor. There is no truth to this. If we were paid, we would not have been living such a difficult life.
“We have been living in misery for the past 30 years, but today, we want the truth to be heard.”
She hoped that her explanation would put to rest the slander that had been hurled at the Johor royal family and her own.
She said her family wanted a royal commission of inquiry to be established to determine if their “younger brother” did die after being hit with a golf club by the late sultan.
Asked on Adam’s whereabouts, Hawa said he was serving a fiveyear jail sentence for a drug-related offence.
“His life was ruined after what happened. He was sent to a mental hospital in Tanjung Rambutan. After that, he had problems with drugs, and has been in and out of prison since.”
Adam grew up in poverty and had witnessed his sister’s death at Lebuh Buckingham, which now houses a Mara building.
He enlisted in the army, but ended up running amok in Chow Kit after stealing an M-16 rifle from his camp.
Adam, then 23, travelled from his camp in Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur at a time when political tensions were high.
The next night, he went on a shooting spree in Chow Kit that left one civilian dead and several others wounded. He shot at cars and a petrol station fuel tank, which burst into flames.
He eventually surrendered. In his trial, his lawyer had argued temporary insanity.
Although it has been three decades, the actual reason why he ran amok has been widely debated.