Six armed forces personnel who attended the opposition-backed Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat (or KL112)last month may be charged with "bringing the service into disrepute".

azlan "They are being investigated under Section 87 of the Armed Forces Act 1972," claimed Asri Buang, president of Pahlawan, the PKR-linked ex-servicemen’s association.

Speaking at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today, he said that Section 87 gave commanding officers of units wide powers to investigate, charge and punish their men who exhibited “conduct to the prejudice of service discipline”.

He said family members of the personnel involved - five from the Royal Malaysian Navy and one from the army - had informed Pahlawan of this.

The six had posted pictures of themselves at the rally on social networking site Facebook , and were subsequently called in by their superiors.

Off-duty and not in uniform

A fact-finding exercise by Pahlawan found that they were non-commissioned officers, one a lance-corporal. They had attended the January rally when off-duty and were not in uniform.

The NGO is providing legal help for the servicemen, hoping that they will not submit to summary punishment at their commanding officer’s pleasure as they may face summary dismissal.

Once charged under Section 87, military personnel can opt to submit to punishment by their superiors or request to fight their case in military court, with many servicemen usually just submitting to their commanding officer’s version of justice instead of challenging their charge.

Pahlawan alleged that the military had people scouring Facebook for armed forces members who attended KL112 and are persecuting them.

“This is abuse of power,” chimed in PKR’s security advisory council chairperson Brig-Gen (ret) Abdul Hadi Khatab.

He described Section 87 as a one-size fits all “general” section used to punish minor offenses “and make it stick” which do not fall under specific other sections, usually for going against battalion or regimental standing orders.

“You can be charged under the Section with not fully buttoning your shirt, for example.”

Abdul Hadi argued that as those men went there on their own and were not members of any political party or NGO, there should be no problem with them attending a rally.

“Of course they cannot join a party or NGO as a serving soldier’s loyalty can only be to king and country,” he reasoned.

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