My dad terrorised by law enforcement at sea
My dad’s kinda in the news yesterday! But not for the best of reasons.
He and his friends were terrorised by the APMM (Maritime Enforcement Agency – the people recently made responsible for security beyond 12 nautical miles of Malaysian shores) on the high seas.
The boat (the Kaleebso) crew: my dad, Kevin, boat owner/operators Khay Lee and Mary, and 3 boathands. The trip was supposed to be a scuba diving and fishing holiday.
Location: near Pulau Jarak, off the coast of Perak, near Lumut.
On Tuesday morning, an APMM gunboat paid the Kaleebso a visit – routine check-up apparently, it was a friendly chat with no untoward incident; they parted ways amicably.
On Tuesday afternoon, my dad and Kevin were diving again closer to Pulau Jarak itself when the APMM gunboat turned up once again. When Khay Lee eventually saw them flashing their lights, he sent over a boathand in the skiff to see what was up, himself being unable to move from the spot due to the fact that there were divers underwater.
The boat hand was shocked to find the same ‘friendly’ officers before yelling and screaming at him when he arrived at their vessel. They were apparently really pissed when the Kaleebso had failed to answer their radio calls (turned off :P ) and loudspeaker hails. They demanded that the Kaleebso come over immediately.
The boathand explained that this wasn’t possible because it would mean deserting the divers (imagine surfacing in open water without a boat to greet you).
The officers refused to accept this reasoning – “Aku tak peduli tentang you punya divers, you datang sini sekarang!”
Filled with haughty, self-righteous “you jangan kurang ajar” type anger, one officer actually even fired his gun into the sea. Another pointed his automatic rifle threateningly at the traumatised boathand. One officer then said “jika bot you tak dataing dalam 10 minit, kita akan tembak bot!” (and the APMM vessel had a big mounted gun that could do exactly that)
The poor guy went back to the boat and explained the situation. Khay Lee reluctantly came over.
The angry officers demanded that the Kaleebso return with them to Lumut, but Khay Lee eventually managed to persuade them to allow him to send the skiff to pick up the divers first.
Meanwhile, my dad surfaced, and behold, there was no boat :( Having ’survived’ the random deep sea gunshot, he now faced the prospects of death by any number of means (drowning, dehydration, etc).
Kevin had surfaced earlier and found his way to some rocks nearby.
Dad decided to hang on to a bouy, and the boathand came back with the skiff to find him there eventually (thank goodness!). It took them an hour of truly panic-filled searching before finding Kevin.
A little bit more bad luck and the APMM could easily have had two dead people on their hands.
The Kaleebso made its escorted way back to Lumut. Oddly enough, midway through the journey, the gunboat stopped and insisted that three armed officers (one automatic rifle and 2 handguns) board the Kaleebso and stay onboard for the duration of the journey. o_O
When they arrived at Lumut, there was some amount of confusion. There was almost no case against the boating party, except that their permit to conduct business was for a nearby island and not Pulau Jarak per se. Apparently the issuing officer at the Maritime Department had said it was valid for Pulau Jarak as well.
This was still pursued as the discharge of a firearm required follow-up investigation. Thus the APMM referred the case back to the Maritime Dept.
Nonetheless, the Kaleebso and its crew were not allowed to leave the base, and they awoke on Valentines Day still guests at the APMM jetty.
By this point, the crew decided to lodge a police report, and were not stopped from doing so at Sitiawan. The cops apparently said that reports of abuse of power by the APMM were increasingly common.
After this, the crew was allowed to leave, but the Kaleebso remained impounded. As per the police investigation, a lineup was called to identify the officer who had fired the shot. Unfortunately, said officer was not actually amongst those sent for the lineup :P
So, the Kaleebso was finally released last night, the Maritime Dept has fined the Kaleebso RM 200 for its infringement, and the police continue to investigate the case.
Visit Msia Year eh?
warrao. :(
will call sometime soon!
Our country progresses to the 21st century with more of this nonsense. bah!
Your poor dad!.. First time reading your blog while I’m in France. No access to blogs in China.. hmm at least there’s some form of free speech in Malaysia!
Keep it up cuz.
oH MY GOD….. i was on Kaleebso twice, once for Tioman trip ( June 05) and the other one for Pulau Jarak ( 31 dec 05).
Yhe action is not necessary to fired the gun because it might hit the diver underwater….
MY GOD>>>hope your dad is well..firing random shots in the water…FREAKS..kurang ajar? what about BAHAYA. Nak ang pow ke?
“The officers refused to accept this reasoning – “Aku tak peduli tentang you punya divers, you datang sini sekarang!”
Filled with haughty, self-righteous “you jangan kurang ajar” type anger, one officer actually even fired his gun into the sea.
crazy la!!!!! how can leave the divers out at sea? will MATI LEMAS man!
As an avid conservation minded angler, I feel violated.
These APMM, a newly set up crew, comprises of EX-NAVY personnel btw. PR is not part of their training.
[...] http://jelas.info/2007/02/16/my-dad-terrorised-by-law-enforcement-at-sea/ [...]
The New Straits Times carried a story today about the predicament faced by the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN). The story quoted RMN Chief, Admiral Ramlan Mohamed Ali as saying that the RMN was facing a serious shortage of men and ships following the handing over of 1,300 commissioned officers and enlisted men, and 17 vessels to the newly-formed Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) last year.
Hmm, what has happened? A year ago, everyone was so excited when Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak launched the MMEA which was regarded as Malaysia’s very own Coast Guard.
Ini le masalahnya dengan kita ni. Orang ada Coast Guard, kita pun nak ada Coast Guard. Itu lah mengada-ngada namanya. This is the problem with us. Just because other people have Coast Guards, we must also have Coast Guards. And now the number one sailor in the country is complaining that he’s facing a serious shortage of naval personnel in the Navy which is supposed to be our first line of defence should enemies attack from the sea.
I think we should give Admiral Ramlan’s statement a serious thought. Which is more important? The Navy or the Coast Guard? I say the former. You see, Malaysia is not as big as the United States. The US requires a full-fledged Coast Guard because their coastline is so vast and long, the US Navy can’t possibly be entrusted with the responsibility to safeguard the US territorial waters full time. But here in Malaysia, did we really need the MMEA in the first place? What good would it do if the creation of the agency would result in the Navy’s personnel and assets being shrinked to expand the personnel and assets of MMEA?
This is further proof of really, really lousy planning by the government. The MMEA’s fleet and personnel expansion should have been done at it’s own expenses, not the Navy’s. And of course, to further add to all this gobbledygook, it make no sense at all that MMEA personnel are considered civil servants rather than military. Now what crap is that? For your information, the MMEA is placed under direct jurisdiction of the Prime Minister’s Department. It would only be placed under the Malaysian Armed Forces command during war or emergency/crisis times. Well, I guess this is further proof that MMEA is a copy cat of the US Coast Guard. The USCG is placed under the Department of Homeland Security during peace time and under the US Navy during war time. But please bear in mind that the USCG is actually a mirror-image of the US Navy where the rank structure is exactly the same as the Navy. That’s why they are still regarded as a military outfit. But our MMEA is actually a concoction (rojak in Malay) of seconded personnel from the RMN, Marine Police, Customs, Fisheries Department, Administrative and Diplomatic Service, Judicial and Legal Service and a whole load of other government services under the Public Services Commission. Now that kind of mixture I tell ya, is a recipe for disaster.
I personally feel that MMEA is redundant to the roles and function of the Navy. I say let our sailors do the job of defending Malaysia’s territorial waters. Unless of course, the government is willing to spend huge sums of money to ensure that both entities expand side by side, and not at the expense of either one. To our sailors, hold your head up high and do us proud. Let’s hear it for the Royal Malaysian Navy….
REPORT ABOUT THE BRUTALLY ACT OF MALAYSIA POLICE WHO CAME TO (PANDAN MESRA B16-07,JALAN IKAN EMAS AMPANG CAMPURAN 68000,MY NAME IS EMMANUEL A NIGERIAN STUDENT OF RIMA COLLEGE MALAYSIA, THESE ARE MY REPORTS
I KNOW BY THE NATURAL LAW EVERYBODY HAS HIS/ OWN REPECT AND FREEDOM, BUT IS QUITE UNFORTUNATE THAT FOUR POLICE MEN ON MOFTY CAME TO APT B16-07 IN PANDAN MESRA PRIMA AMPANG CAMPURAN)_ AT ABOUT 1AM ON THE FATEFUL MIDNIGHT OF DECEMBER 1ST 2007. AT GUN POINT RANSACKED WHATEVER THEY HAVE IN THE HOUSE INCLUDING THE MONEY THEIR PARENTS SENT TO THEM ON 29-11-2007,DESTROYED THEIR PASSPORTS,IN WHICH THEY HAVE AS THEIR LEGAL RIGHT AS STUDENTS, THERE IS NO OFFENCE LEVELED AGAINST THEM NO SEARCH WARRANT WAS PRODUCED BEFORE THE OPERATION WAS DONE,THIS PEOPLE WAS TAKEN TO BUKIT AMAN IN PUDU RAYA DETAINED THERE FOR WEEKS, THEN TOOK THEM TO PUTRAJAYA IMMIGRATION OFFICE, THEY WERE NOT CHARGED TO COURT OR WHATEVER NON OF THEIR PROPERTIES WAS RECORDED EVEN THEIR MOBILE PHONE,I BELIEVE POLICE IS A LAW ENFORCEMENT THAT WAS TRAINED TO IVESTIGATE A CRIME (FLAGANTE DELICTO)FOR ANY BODY THAT COMMITED IT COMMITING CRIME.IS QUITE UNFAIR THAT MALAYSIA POLICE WOULD ENVOLVE WITH SUCH CHARACTER BY SEIZING FOREINERS PASSPORT, IS SO SAD, IS INHUMAN,RACIAL ACT,BRUTALLY ILL FATED, THOSE BOYS ARE WITH MALAYSIAN IMMIGRATION CHARGING THEM FOR NO PASSPORT,ASKING THEIR PEOPLE TO PROVIDE AIR TICKET TO THEIR COUNTRY, THAT IS INTIMIDATION, PLEASE I WANT YOU TO USE YOUR HONOURABLE WISDOM TO TACKLE THIS ISSUE BEFORE IT WILL BE TOO LATE , PROSCUTE THE PEOPLE THAT WENT TO THIS MISSION, I MEAN THE POLICE THAT WENT FOR THE MISSION.
EMMANUEL.
Oh no…I was in Kaleebso in 2006 & had a spanking good time with marvelous people & crew. So I did write about Kaleebso in my blog. Those idiots. Luckily, your dad probably a veteran diver. What if the diver was an unexperienced one like me? Don’t these marine/coast guard have any idea how dangerous it is to be in open sea? Gah!!!
http://travelintee.blogspot.com/