IT was a Sunday morning and I was reading the newspapers in my quarters when I received a phone call.
It was second division commander Maj-Gen Datuk Khairuddin Mat Yusof.
For him to call me at 8.15am on a Sunday, I knew there must be a problem.
He told me that a group of men had taken away some weapons -- including thousands of rounds of ammunition -- from one of the army bases in Grik.
Because it was under his division, I told him to immediately get to the camp.
I knew this was a grave crisis, a matter of national security. I remember wondering why it was happening in my last year of service that had spanned 35 years. Just the year before, some weapons were lost in Taiping.
It involved two or three items, and was carried out by soldiers.
When I took over as army field commander, I told them I didn't want any more weapons missing. I said if any went missing, I would submit my resignation.
It suddenly dawned on me then I would probably have to do exactly that.
But before all that, I had to settle the problem. This was my unit, my weapons, my soldiers.
I received another phone call from the chief of Armed Forces, Tan Sri Mohd Zahidi Zainuddin.
He said he would be leaving for Grik. So I joined him and we landed at the base a few hours later.
We went into the camp and were briefed by Khairuddin. The second division is based in Penang and the unit involved was Batallion 304 of the territorial army.
We were told that a group of people dressed as army personnel had masqueraded as officers and men from the intelligence corps carrying out a surprise inspection on the base.
They came at 4.30am wearing proper camouflage uniforms and armed with M16s. Our boys thought they were the real deal.
During the "surprise inspection", the so-called "officers" ordered them to put the weapons outside.
They had Mitsubishi Pajeros which were painted green and looked like army vehicles. This was how they misled the soldiers.
I told Khairuddin that we must start looking for these people.
We started sending our people out. The next day, Khairuddin told me something had come up. Some people had heard that there was shooting in the Sauk area.
I requested for commandos from Sungai Udang camp.
By the night of July 3, the men arrived and started to cordon off the area, guided by two or three villagers. By July 4, the cordon was already in place.
The police then took over. We had a meeting at the police headquarters in Grik.
It was decided that the matter was under police jurisdiction but the military would remain and support them.
It was also decided that the military and the police would plan an assault together, at the right time.
After the meeting, the police set up loudspeakers at a nearby school.
They asked the wives, family members and friends of those in the group to persuade them give up. But they did not.
We planned an attack at 10am on July 6. We would begin by firing tear gas into the area.
But early that morning, two of the group surrendered. Eventually, after much coaxing half of them came down, leaving 14 people still on the hill.
They were the inner circle of Al-Maunah leader Mohamed Amin Mohamed Razali, the former army private who had orchestrated the arms heist.
By 2pm, we decided that we had to go up.
We went up the hill in four Condor armoured personnel carriers after Assistant Superintendent Abdul Razak Mohd Yusoff and his men said Amin was ready to surrender.
I was in the first APC. When we reached the camp, the Al-Maunah members were still milling about near the weapons.
Our boys quickly exited the APCs and secured the weapons.
I spotted Amin.
He still had his weapon slung over his shoulder, and I knew we were going to have trouble.
We approached him and told him this was all wrong, and it should end.
It was my impression that he looked a bit confused. He appeared calm, but we could sense that he was unpredictable. He refused to surrender.
He told us not to be hasty. Lets talk about it first, he said.
I got a bit angry. I told his men: "This is enough. Let's get off this hill."
One of them responded: "Let's hear what 'Tuan Sheikh' (Amin) has to say first."
Negotiations continued.
Then Amin told us to get off the hill and let him be. It was ridiculous.
I told him that was not possible. He got upset and pointed the gun at me. He was just three or four feet away.
It was the first time someone has pointed a loaded M16 at me.
I felt a knot in my stomach and thought: "I think I'm going to get shot now."
I said to him: "What are you trying to do? Is this the way a Muslim behaves? Shooting an unarmed man?"
I turned around and walked away from him.
But as I began to move away, I realised this wouldn't solve anything, so I quickly lunged towards him.
He grabbed me by the collar, and I saw the barrel of the M16 nearing my stomach.
I flicked the barrel away, and heard a loud crack as the weapon went off. From the corner of my eye, I saw one of his men go down.
My men immediately came to my aid. They apprehended Amin and the rest of the group.
I remember the expression on the faces of the people at the foot of Bukit Jenalik when I walked down.
Apparently, one of the men had run down the hill saying I had been shot.
So when I walked down with just a scratch on my hand, I saw the relief on their faces.
Earlier, the group had shot two of our men who were taken hostage -- army commando Trooper Mathew anak Medan and Corporal R. Sanghadevan of the police Special Branch.
We in turn shot one of their men when he tried to escape the cordon.
We had to admit there was an intelligence failure leading to the incident.
Al-Maunah had been training, lecturing and holding ceramah for quite some time, but nobody suspected their intentions.
Because I had given my word, I tendered my resignation. But as fate would have it, they did not accept it.
(Zaini was later awarded the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa medal for his bravery and contribution in ending the siege without further loss of life).
*Taken from NST online, January 10, 2010 here
2006,
I remember on the last day before I finished my PLKN training at Kem Seri Perkasa, Mantin, Negri Sembilan. The camp ask him to come for the 'graduation' day. Damn, I was so lucky to met one of the Malaysian hero. Since then , I never heard any of his news, until today when I became NST online fans on Facebook. What a coincidence!
Al-Fatihah to our soldier who fought and died for the pride of this country...
