How can it be that by addressing the issues that had led to the debacle of the Bernama cameraman’s death, one was “maligning the memory of the dead”?

To me that is warped logic as public interest overrides all protocols, and Malaysians have a right to know when there is a loss of life because of oversight, stupidity, negligence, callousness, indifference and a lack of detailed preparedness.

And remember post death cheques and the ensuing media spin can never substitute for a lost son, husband, father, sibling and friend slain in a most bizarre fashion.

Something that was lost when some idiot then went on to publicly declare that there has already been a RM200,000 compensation in insurance for the deceased’s next of kin.

How insensitive, how misdirected,  how cruel and coarse!

Then a minister chips in saying that a standard operating procedure (SOP) should be created to serve as a guideline for all parties, including media practitioners before embarking on or taking part in any humanitarian mission abroad.

Though late - I welcome this.

In other words, Malaysians are finally told there has yet to be a standard operating procedure (SOP) put in place, the very fundamental necessity and norm before we - for some misconceived and misdirected sense of goodwill or political agenda and expediency - run madly into the wilderness into a conflict zone with amateurs in tow, thinking it is a ‘song and dance’ or a ‘semerak gathering’ routine.

But politics, being such in Malaysia, seem to override common sense, ethics, governance, accountability and transparency.

And thus, the comment that takes the cake is the one none other than Kelab Putra 1Malaysia president Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, who instead of just apologising to all Malaysians, decided to go on the offensive, unable to take the criticism levelled against him.

Abdul Azeez issued a statement in an interview on BernamaTV’s Helo Malaysia programme, that was politically loaded, arrogant, and which showed no remorse when he extended an invitation to Malaysians who questioned this debacle, this misadventure, this stupidity, to join him in their next mission to the war-torn country.

So lessons have not being learnt?

With much arrogance Abdul Azeez goes on to say that he is even willing to ‘foot the bill for the lot’ as he put it, referring to those public minded quarters who had questioned the rationale of this misadventure, among them news portal like Malaysiakini, The Malaysian Insider and opposition politicians.

What Abdul Azeez forgot is that the more he opens his mouth the more he makes mistakes that exposed this trip as nothing more than a publicity seeking venture that has gone very wrong, making Malaysia a laughing stock in the eyes of the world!

A life has been lost, and Abdul Azeez talks stupidly about Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and about how 74 journalists had wanted to join the trip with a capacity for 48, which raises the point that those who had gone on this trip or frolic had absolutely no training whatsoever in war medicine, conflict, first aid, and hostage situations and no relevant protective gear like bullet proof vests etc.

My learned friend had rightly stated, which many have still not fathomed, that any  mission that carries with it civilians and journalists are a handicap to any military personnel, exposing even the most well-trained military commando to being nothing more than sitting ducks in crisis situations.

More so, when Somalia is a country run by warlords and where 12-year-olds carry AK47s, something that Umno’s Abdul Azeez seems to have difficulty comprehending, even after such a tragedy.


Jacob George is president of Consumers Association of Subang and Shah Alam, Selangor (Cassa)