UTM cadet death: Mum obtains interim order against minister

The mother of deceased Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) cadet, Syamsul Haris Shamsudin, has obtained an interim order against Defence Minister Khaled Nordin.

The order restrains the minister and the ministry from issuing statements regarding Syamsul’s death investigation.

Lawyer Naran Singh, who appeared for Syamsul’s mother, Ummu Haiman Bee Daulatgun, confirmed the matter to Malaysiakini today.

He added that the order was granted by Shah Alam High Court Judge Adlin Abdul Majid at a case management this morning.

“Today’s case management was in regard to our gag order application against the respondent (Khaled), which we filed on Sept 9.

“The Defence Ministry’s legal advisor had appeared for the respondent today, where she informed the court that they will be providing a letter of undertaking, confirming that they will not issue any statements regarding the ongoing investigation.

“The judge then gave the interim order, effective today until Sept 26, which will be the next case management,” he said.

Naran added that if the Defence Ministry provides the letter within the stipulated time, then Ummu’s counsel will withdraw their gag order application, and vice versa.

He further said that initially, the gag order application was prompted by previous statements issued by Khaled (above) regarding Syamsul’s death.

Suspected foul play

Syamsul, 22, passed away at the Kota Tinggi Hospital in Johor on July 28. He had undergone Reserve Officer Training Unit (Rotu) training before his death.

However, Ummu suspected foul play due to deeply disturbing encounters at the hospital before the body was brought to Semenyih to be buried.

The encounters included seeing bruises on Syamsul’s body and bloodied eyes, which led to her lodging a police report in Kajang.

Johor deputy police chief Abdul Latiff Mehat said on Aug 1 that the police were investigating Syamsul’s death.

The next day, Kota Tinggi district police chief Yusof Othman said there was no criminal element found in the case.

Second post-mortem

However, on Aug 2, Khaled issued a statement that the Defence Ministry had set up a committee to investigate Syamsul’s death.

Ummu then filed an application at the Shah Alam High Court on Aug 14, requesting that Syamsul’s body be exhumed and a second post-mortem as well as an inquest into his death to be conducted.

Judicial Commissioner Bhupindar Singh Gurcharan Singh Preet allowed Ummu’s application on Aug 26 for Syamsul’s body to be exhumed and for a second post-mortem to be held.

Syamsul’s body was then exhumed on Aug 29, where the post-mortem was conducted the next day.

On Aug 30, Naran said the second autopsy uncovered traumatic injuries deemed suspicious and requiring further investigation.

He also said an audio recording and its transcripts of potential witnesses present at the scene of Syamsul’s death, as well as photos taken by Ummu before the first post-mortem, have been handed to the authorities.

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