Note : Thanks, Chee Seng, for the alert. Aminul’s partner in crime lodged a police report of his version of what happened that morning. You can read the same
HERE.
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We were all in Form 4 then.
Honeymoon year.
The rule was to always have a t-shirt or some other shirt stashed in the school bag so that, at a moment’s notice, we’d be ready to sneak out of school and chill out at some place cool.
That particular morning, about 10 of us scaled the gate at the back entrance to school, squeezed into 2 taxis, headed out to Ampang Park Shopping Complex, made our way to the toilet, got out of our uniforms and were ready for a fun-filled day.
Or so we thought.
One of us sauntered into a shop selling cassettes and cartridges. Ten minutes later, he was out, having first stuck a number of cartridges into his school bag without paying for the same.
He had just shoplifted and this became the dare of the day.
“Whoever did not go into a shop and nick something didn’t have b***s”, so the dare went.
We dispersed, heading out to different shops to prove our manhood, agreeing to meet back at the ground floor in 30 minutes to look at who got what and then make our getaway.
Strangely, everyone made a beeline to the numerous shops selling cassettes and cartridges.
30 minutes later, we converged at the agreed meeting point.
Only to find ourselves surrounded by security guards.
We were hauled up to the complex manager’s office.
When the contents of our school bags were emptied on to the manager’s table, he flipped.
About 20 cartridges and cassettes tumbled on to the table, all unpaid for.
What really pissed him off was that we were all from his alma mater.
After putting the fear of God in us by threatening to inform our parents of our thieving ways before sending us off to the police, he finally gave us a choice.
Pay a fine equal to the value of the items we had stolen, or get handed over to the cops.
A little under RM300.
Damn! We didn’t have that kind of money on us!
He allowed us 1 phone call.
I called Z, who would have been with us that morning except that he was down with the flu.
Z begged and borrowed, raised the money, and came over and paid the fine.
Of the ten shoplifters that morning, one is a senior banker today.
All the others have gone on to make something of their lives.
And I’ll confidently say that none of us have forgotten the lesson that morning.
Next year was exam year.
MCE.
Some of us left the studying to the very last.
About 1 month to the exams.
3 of us camped out at Z’s house to do some serious group study.
Man, this was stressful!
And to release all that stress, round about 2 in the morning every other day, when Z’s parents were asleep, we’d push Z’s dad’s Holden Kingswood out on to the main road, then drive all over town, get up to all sorts of mischief and be back before dawn.
All 4 passed the exams.
And one of the 4 is a big time accountant today.
Really big time.
My son is 14 years old this August.
Same age as Aminulrasyid.
I’d like to think that I know my son well enough to know all that he gets up to.
And yet, even as my parents knew me, they did not know all that I got up to.
Aminul’s mum is convinced her dead son was not what the police are now trying to make him out to be.
And maybe, like my parents, she did not know every single activity that Aminul got up to.
In truth, is not every parent in the same position as Aminul’s mum?
What was Aminul and his friend up to that night anyway?
True, like Z, I and two others almost 30 years ago, Aminul had broken the law, being in control of a motorvehicle on the road without being in possession of a valid driving licence.
Were Aminul and his buddy, like Z, I and two others almost 30 years ago, doing no more than being boys, out in town to chill out?
The Selangor CPO would have us believe otherwise.
Just as he would have us believe early last year that Kugan’s death at the Taipan police station was not in any way related to police brutality.
Selangor CPO says a machete was found in the car.
Should we believe him?
Haven’t we seen so many scenes on TV where, after a high speed chase where the vehicle in pursuit, for some reason or another comes to halt, the pursuing police officers would place their vehicle(s) in such a way so as to prevent the first vehicle from resuming its flight?
Haven’t we seen so many times on TV how police officers would shield themselves behind the open car doors of their patrol cars, whilst ordering the occupants of the vehicle pursued to alight with their hands in the air?
If we are to believe the version being presented by the Selangor CPO, none of these scenes depicted on TV happened in the early hours of that fateful morning.
The police personnel in question did not park their vehicle in such a way so as to prevent Aminul from resuming his high speed flight.
There was enough time for Aminul’s companion to open the car door, step out, and flee, according to the Selangor CPO.
The police personnel in question then approached the vehicle from the rear and must have been sufficiently close when Aminul begins to reverse.
The police feared for their safety. They feared they would die.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
One 14 year old, unarmed, bullet in the head, lay dying alone in a vehicle he was not old enough, in law, to drive.
All this, according to the Selangor CPO who would have us believe that Kugan’s death entailed no wrongdoing by any police personnel.
So many questions remain unanswered.
I have two.
Was Aminul’s crime such that he had to die?
Must my teenage son, and yours, pay with their lives, for the silly adolescent mistakes they will surely make?
