Thursday, October 31, 2024

Anwar heads to UPNM tomorrow amid latest abuse scandal

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is scheduled to visit the Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) campus in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur, tomorrow amid the latest abuse scandal involving its military cadets.  

According to an invitation poster on the university’s official Facebook page, the visit would be a part of the “Temu Anwar” programme, which is an ongoing initiative by the prime minister to meet university students and share the country’s direction with them.

It was understood that the 10.30am event at UPNM’s Dewan Theatrette had been scheduled much earlier before the news broke out about another military cadet being bullied and scalded with a hot iron by his senior.

An aide to the prime minister has indicated that he will go ahead with the planned programme.

This morning, Malaysiakini reported that another brutal abuse case has surfaced at the defence university, which saw a cadet sustaining burn marks to his chest after a more senior student allegedly applied a hot iron to the area.

The Armed Forces confirmed the incident in a statement last night, promising that a thorough and fair investigation is underway.

Meanwhile, it was learned that the incident had not been reported to police.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Rusdi Mohd Isa told Malaysiakini this evening that they have not received any report from the university or the Armed Forces regarding the case.

“Belum ada (no report yet),” he said in a brief text message.

The incident is yet another black mark on UPNM’s reputation after the 2017 infamous murder case of navy cadet Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, who died of injuries from 90 instances of steam ironing, which left scalding burns on 80 percent of his body.

The 21-year-old was allegedly subjected to multiple assaults over his refusal to confess to stealing a laptop of another student at the public university’s dorm in Kuala Lumpur between May 21 and 22 that year.

Following the incident, six former UPNM students were convicted and sentenced to death for Zulfarhan’s murder. - FMT

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