IT is common for military cadets to undergo some ragging during training to instil humility and respect for superiors.
However, when viciously overdone and limits are crossed, the initiation ritual can affect one’s sanity to the extent of deadly retaliation.
This was the case of army cadet Private Adam Jaafar, better known as Prebet Adam, when he made news for the wrong reasons 33 years ago after he went on a rampage, firing hundreds of rounds of gunfire in Jalan Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur, killing a man.
Initially an army reservist, Adam – then aged 23 – decided to become a regular soldier and embarked on a tough military training at an army camp in Ipoh after passing an entry test. During training, he excelled in gunnery, turning out to be a skilled marksman.
While he endured the tough training, the ragging by his superiors was wearing him down, both physically and mentally.
Adam constantly faced vicious taunts and torture. He was assaulted and insulted, with many unthinkable acts being committed on him for more than three months beginning from the time his training began.
When he raised his ordeal with the camp’s higher-ups and it fell on deaf ears, he decided to head out to Kuala Lumpur on Oct 18, 1987 to bring it up with the bigger guns at the Defence Ministry.
He took an M-16 assault rifle along and stayed at a hotel in the city.
In a deeply disturbed state of mind, all it took was an argument with a hotel staff and all hell broke loose.
On the same night that he arrived in the city, he picked up his rifle and went on a shooting spree.
Amid the chaos, people scurried for safety but a male passerby dropped dead from a gunshot.
Jalan Chow Kit, an area known to be a bustling stretch for shoppers, fell silent minutes later as police arrived and cordoned off the area.
Adam went into hiding in a building and the standoff lasted until the following day when top army officers managed to convince him to surrender.
The soldier was subsequently charged for the crime and was sentenced to death .
However, the penalty was later overturned by a court after he was found to have suffered psychiatric issues when he committed the act.
He was ordered to be placed at the Hospital Bahagia in Tanjung Rambutan, Perak, a psychiatric facility where he underwent rehabilitation for his mental condition.
