A police officer negotiated for almost two hours with various Al-Ma'unah members holed up at Bukit Jenalik, Perak, before succeeding in persuading them to surrender, the Kuala Lumpur High Court was told today.

ASP Abdul Razak Mohd Yusof told the court that he managed to get six members of the gang to surrender first and this was followed by the surrender of group leader Mohd Amin Mohd Razali and 16 others.

"However, there was a small problem in getting Mohd Amin to surrender on the conditions imposed by the security forces," he said.

Mohd Amin changed his mind twice about finally surrendering, he added.

Mohd Amin and 18 others are on trial before justice Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin for waging war or abetting to wage war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, which carries the sentence of death or life imprisonment and a fine if found guilty. ([#1]Twenty-nine Al-Ma'unah members claim trial[/#], Aug 9)

They are alleged to have committed the offence between June and July 6, last year, at Pos 2, Km 19, Kuala Rui, Jalanraya Timur-Barat, Grik; Batalion 304, Infantri (AW), Kem Grik, Grik; and in Bukit Jenalik, Sauk, all in Perak.

They are alleged to have carried an arms heist from two military camps by duping the soldiers at the camps that they were there to conduct an arms inspection in the early hours of July 2.

Ten others have been sentenced to 10 years' jail each by Zulkefli after they had pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of collecting men and arms to prepare to wage war.

Conditions for surrender

Explaining the complications in getting Mohd Amin to surrender, Abdul Razak said, "Mohd Amin refused to have his men put their hands above their heads when surrendering. He also wanted to release his men from their base in Bukit Jenalik to the open ground in batches of five."

He added that the commanding officer for the security forces, Major Fadzil Tajuddin, agreed to the conditions imposed by Mohd Amin.

"I then called for more back up to escort these men down," Abdul Razak said.

He added that soon after a convoy of four armoured personnel carrier vehicles with about 40 soldiers led by Left-Gen Zaini Mohd Said came into the enemy territory.

Abdul Razak also said that he managed to get every Al-Ma'unah member at Bukit Jenalik to surrender as a result of his negotiations with them.

"I spoke to Mohd Amin and several others and used religion to make them surrender."

Own initiative

Abdul Razak said he and his team of 20 men went to Bukit Jenalik to fire tear gas at the enemy.

"I then went to scout the enemy area and got as close as 10m to them. There, I saw second defendant Zahit Muslim and asked him to surrender.

"He agreed and asked some of the other men if they too wanted to surrender and five agreed," Abdul Razak said.

He added that Zahid then took him to Mohd Amin whereupon he started negotiations with the group leader for his surrender.

Abdul Razak also said that he had not informed his superiors of his intention to enter into negotiations with Mohd Amin.

"After I managed to get the first batch to surrender, I radioed my superior and asked him to order other security forces to stop shooting into enemy territory," he said.

He also said that his team had full view of him in the enemy area and that they were well positioned to protect him.

Application denied

Earlier, Zulkefli dismissed an application made by the defence team yesterday for the judge to disqualify himself for further hearing the case. ([#2]Judge asked again to disqualify himself from 'treason' case[/#], Jan 29)

This was the second such application, which was made on grounds that the judge might act with bias in the trial as he had already sentenced 10 others and was well acquainted with the facts of the case.

Zulkefli said that he was dismissing the application again on similar grounds as his first dismissal on Jan 15.

He also said he will judge the rest of the accused persons solely on evidence tendered against them and on their defence and gave assurance that he will not act in a biased manner in hearing the matter.

Zulkefli added that he had not decided on any facts against the remaining accused persons when he delivered his earlier sentencing on 10 others who pleaded guilty to the alternative charge. He said that he had only given grounds of judgment based on facts agreed to by the 10 defendants, adding that those facts will not influence the court in prejudging the rest.

"This court is still impartial in judging all evidence given against the remaining accused persons," said Zulkefli.

The hearing continues tomorrow.