I had my fair share of ‘command problems’ as did everybody
else. But a rape case? You can bet barrels of cold ones that the case will be
left to the PDRM to investigate and take action. Most would wash their hand off
this sort of cases involving police reports. Rape is a criminal act and there
is usually no bail until the case is heard in court.
I am thankful to my parents who like every Chinese parents
would bless their children after birth. I was adequately blessed with all the
traditional Chinese blessings for the children of being clever, filial,
hardworking and above all cunning. Actually blessings for wealth and material
gains are not true. Wealth and material gains are given dividends by living a
good life. Cunningness is deemed in the positive light as with initiative,
creative, thinking out of the box in modern paradigm.
I had just finished my tour of duty in the FMC as an officer
instructor in the cadet wing for the two years 1968 – 1970. I was posted as BK
to a BTY serving sometime in the middle of its roulement tour to Sabah. I had
to report to the BTY immediately as the BC was as usual ‘in the clouds’, always
attached here and there but not with the BTY. I was literally the acting BC
most of the time we were in Sabah.
I was always fortunate to have had outstanding and talented
or at least above average officers in my BTY, I did not have any below mediocre
or less caliber officers. It was my duty and responsibility to groom my
officers to achieve better. I had always enjoyed the trust of my subordinate
officers and men to this very day. I am very grateful to all of them.
In those days every BTY had their own live band providing
entertainment for ourselves, and also to generate some income for the BTY
funds. The band comprise basically some guitars and a drum set. There are
plenty of singers in the BTY and sometimes local singers attach themselves to
the band.
We had a particular dashing young officer who played lead
guitar, sang well and was made officer in-charged of the band. We played in the
local kampung scene at weddings and tombola sessions. A lovely talented young
girl joined the band and naturally became its lead singer and that attracted
many stints especially during the weekend. She was our star and crowd puller.
The band officer and their lead singer soon became a natural
couple. Love was in the air they said and I honestly thought they would make a
lovely couple. Sabah lasses would die to get hitched to anybody from Semanajung, and an officer would be an
additional bonus. We were not privy to the promises made by the officer, but
was confident that something good would come out of it. They were seen to be
close and compatible.
Soon we were preparing to return back to our camp in Semananjung at the end of our tour. The
band officer was scheduled to return ahead, and his flight was booked.
Unfortunately the flight was postponed, as was always the case, to another date;
true to our air force being called ‘Sunshine Airways’. Our TUDM’s Folker
aircraft came on scheduled flights twice a week. A no show means several days
delay. The officer had a bit more time with the BTY, but being mid week there
were no stints.
On the very morning our officer was rescheduled to return to
Semananjung, I had a telephone call
from our local police officer. The girl had just lodged a report in his station
that she was raped by our officer the previous night, and that he would come
over to take him in. I immediately rushed the officer to the airport.
It is always good to have drinking kakis with the locals, and the police officer was a regular. He was
as shocked as us over the report. I had known of many ruses used by jilted and
abandoned girls from our Sabah/ Sarawak tours. But rape is a serious offence. I
requested our police friend to come to our camp to sort it out. He came still
in disbelieve. I asked him if he actually believed in the rape report? Don’t we
know that they were a couple for quite some time now? Was there a need to rape?
He agreed but he will need strong evidence and alibi’s to disprove the alleged
report.
As if I was struck with an ‘aha moment’ in a flash of the
moment. A miracle thought went through my mind. I said immediately that the
rape could not have taken place because the named officer had already left
Sabah on the previous scheduled flight back to Semananjung. I could prove it with official evidence. I would be
able to produce the pax list from the TUDM. His name was on it. The police
officer was not to know about the cancelled flight. That saved the day. Our
officer flew home grateful to be off the hook.
I produced the pax list to the satisfaction of the police.
The case was resolved and the rape report dropped. The girl eventually was remorse
and confessed that she was desperate. She knew exactly what had happened and felt
guilty and apologized to us. We accepted her sincere apology and will recommend
that she sing with the incoming BTY band.
It was a close call, just like in thriller movie films when
the police were always a step behind the fugitive. We had many happy hours with
our police officer friend and our band continued to play “Please release me,
let me go” as our theme song.
Allen Lai
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