I share the sorrow and grief of the family of the late Lance Corporal Amin Che Ros, an army commando who plunged to his death after his parachute failed to activate, during a training exercise in Kulim, Kedah on Thursday, June 11, 2009. He leaves behind a wife, Puan Rosnita Othman and two young children ages 5 and 3. I pay tribute to this brave and loyal soldier, and that his passing away is not in vain.
As soldiers, especially those serving with the elite forces, they are constantly faced with the threat of certain death or injuries that could maimed them for life, while on training. These soldiers are a very special breed of men who are trained to take challenges, however dangerous it may be, in defence of the nation. It is sad though, that men of our elite forces have had little publicity; hence little is known about them. And in the eyes of the public, they seemed not to understand what the Army is composed off, and the roles they play in war and peace. Likewise, little is known of its sister service i.e. the Air Force and the Navy.
While the police force has dedicated TV programmes depicting them as crime busters and law enforcers, the Armed Forces has none. And this is where the Public Relations office of the Ministry of Defence has failed miserably in projecting the image of the Armed Forces to the public. One has to understand that the Armed Forces is built on public funds, and it is only proper that the tax payers knows how such funds has been utilised to serve the betterment of the Armed Forces. The public must be afforded the confidence that the Armed Forces is credible enough to ensure their safety, as well as the security of the nation; not just displaying to the public how gorgeous the soldiers looks on parade.
Turning back to the late Lance Corporal Amin Che Ros, it is heartening to note the statement made by the Defence Minister Dato Dr. Ahmad Zahid, that the family of the decease will be looked after by the service, and especially the two children, who will grow up not really knowing how their father had died. I sincerely hope the statement by the Defence Minister will be honoured, and that the Veteran Affairs department will closely monitor the welfare and well being of Puan Rosnita Othman and her two children, and all other families that had lost their loved ones in the course of duty.
Never will the Armed Forces allow the wives and children of our soldiers who have died honourably, to suffer a life of neglect and despair.
CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION
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Alfatihah........Amin. Innalillahina Hirajiuun. From Allah you came and to Allah you return.
Pardon me Dato, but I do not think the public is ready for the reality in the life of a soldier.
The wife of of late lance Corporal Amin Che Ros, Puan Rosnita and her two kids have lost their "beloved one", the army lost a very well trained soldier and the nation has lost a loyalist and warrior.
Our condelence to Puan Rosnita and family.... alfathihah.
Since the incident happened and after reading this article I talked to many serving and retired military friends who share their views and feelings over the subject. According to them, the army realises the risk of losing lives in war also accepts certain percentage of casualties during trainings.
I fully understand, the military life is such and losing life whether in combat or training is something a soldier can expect. That is why every single rakyat of this country must understand the sacrifices of our military men and due respect must be given to them.
There would definitely be a Board of Inquiry every time an accident happens and this case would certainly be thoroughly investigated to ascertain among other things, the actual cause and any party responsible for the mishap.
Newspapers have reported that the accident was due to technical reason, that is, Corporal Amin's parachute failed to open. Minister Zahid Hamidi also made his similar comments and added that similar parachutes had to be "grounded".
Parachutes should open seconds after the soldiers exit from the plane and why Corporal Amin's did not open?
After my research and phone calls to some airbore infantry men and the commandoes, the Army has many questions to answer.
What tpyes of parachutes are in the Army inventory and which are used by respective units? What are the names of local contractors which supply the parachutes?
There are various types, including one manufactured locally by a Malaysian company, some from Korea,
others from USA and recently the Army aquired the German parachutes for the Special Warfare Training Centre.
It is just fair that the soldiers are given the best weapons and equipments to fight and they must be second to none.
We have to ask the commanders and the slodiers who ACTUALLY jump from the planes ( paratroopers) the following questions:
Are the parachutes supplied to the Army, the best, most reliable and the ones which give the confidence for the sodiers to jump? (We do not accept answers from generals who wear "para wings" without doing a single jump from a flying plane!)
The Army needs to get the TRUE answer from the present and the last two Commandants of Special Warfare Training Centre as to why the instructors were refusing to use certain types of parachutes for their training? They have now changed to more reliable and safer parachutes, which according to them, offer "zero failure" capibility.
Now Dato' Arshad, you must know about army parachutes as you could have probably used them during your time in the army. It could be similar parachutes by the same manufacturer and supplier!
If we were serious with "crusade
against corruptions" we need to go after the following:
Which company supplies the failed parachute?
Who is the company politician/ owner?
Who are the directors of the company? ( politicians or ex-army general)
How was the contract awarded to the company?
Serving and some of you, retired army guys, may know some irregularities!
As a para trooper the risk is always real, have yet to find a chute that is fully failure proof!
May it be the first jump or the millionth jump!
The danger is real and forever present!
Any free faller, sky diver or para-trooper knows very well.
But that does not mean we should take chances with cheap chutes and low quality ones!
Investigate we must as a military organization, find out the probable cause....!
Minsiters and some Generals wear the Wings just to look good, that's about all, add glamour to the 7 or 9 bars of ribbons.
It could be technical or human error or even the forces of nature...wind speed being the most dangerous!
It happened before, remember LIMA in Langkawi!
Hope lessons will be learnt for once !
I agree with komando regarding the real risk of being a paratrooper. Because of the high risk the paratroopers are given a certain allowance which, I feel, is far from satisfactory considering the risks that these guys have to face.
It is because of so many factors which can contribute to the failure
of the parachute opening resulting in accidents, the more reasons why we need to eliminate some of them. One of the ways to reduce the chances of accidents happening, other than effective training, is by supplying the army paratroopers with the best and the most reliable and reputable type of parachutes available in the world.
I do a lot of flying, also a high risk profession and sport. The training I went through had been very effective and dispels fear of flying. As an example, I would rather fly from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Baru as opposed to driving on highways. Everytime I fly I have the confidence of the plane, airworthy, professionally maintained and the engines would not quit in the air.
The same goes true with the paratroopers. They must be given all the confidence that the parachutes they carry on their back will open everytime they exit from the planes. Additional their reserve parachutes will not fail when they activate the rip chord!
We need Dato' Arshad to throw some lights on how the army ended up using present parachutes. Are they the best in the world or is it because a politician or some businessmen had convinced the generals that the locally made parachutes are the best for the army?
I talked to someone on how the latest army purchase of German parachutes was done. Accordingly, they went through the most stringent test and various were done trials in accordance to the laid down procedures. On the other hand the airforce happily accepted an American made parachutes with hardly any trials and I know such a slip-shod procurement practice may end up in some unhappiness later.
My question is simple. If there are locally made parachutes for the army, why and how the Special Warfare Training Centre, the airforce and the navy are running away from locally made parachutes?
Aren't they the best in the world?
Zahid Hamidi has made statement on the grounding of the similar parachutes which was used by late Lance Corporal Amin Che Ros and Mindef must probe further to establish the credibilty, reliability and safety of similar parachutes. Can the present Commandant and past commandants of Special Warfare Training Centre come forward and offer unbiased views on these parachutes?
We forbid our military to be supplied with questionable safety and reliability. They deserve the best to defend this country.
This would mean the
Taking the cue from Hansac's comments, I agree with him that this country's society is far from being ready for the reality in the life of a soldier.
I am sorry but there is still a very long way for majority of the public to accept soldiering or the military service as a very honourable profession.
I know there have been many lip services of "understanding and appreciating the military", especially from politicians who need the military support. However, how many sons and daughters of our political leaders ( cabinet ministers and deputy ministers)have joined the military? Hardly any!
Contrary to the situations in developed countries such as United States, Australia and Britain where sons and daughters of political leaders do join the military to serve their countries.
As an example, during my stay in United States, my neighbour, a very senior Republican Congressman was very proud to tell me about his daughter undergoing officer traing at the Air Force Academy and eventually she would take up flying to be a USAF pilot. Wow, I thought that was nice of this Congressman to have done that which I swear, would never happen in our country.
The Malaysian Armed Forces has to do much more to get the military service exposed to the society. Instead of allowing medias to display emotions and sentiments of accidents involving the military, there must be a well planned and execution of a kind of regular roadshow of "Angkatan Tentera Bersama Rakyat" in order to promote positive publicity of the military.
Last but not least, the country MUST give maximum efforts to make military service very attractive, comparable to those in the dveloped countries,to commensurate with the challenges and risks our servicemen face in defending this country.
YES THE LATEST PR STINT FROM MINDEF WAS ABOUT ATM, IT WAS ON TV1...SHOWING PWI KANANG AK LANGKAU (SP) TALKING ABOUT THOSE DAYS AND TODAY.INTERVIEWED SOME IBAN FOLKS, HIS SON ANOTHER SOLDIER HIMSELF.
IT WAS NEVER AND WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN SINCE 1989.!
YES, WE NEED BETTER RECOGNITION AND MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED FOR THE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF AN ARMED FORCES.
WE ARE THERE ALL THE TIME, BUT NOT EXPOSED TO WHAT WE ARE TO ACTUALLY DO...SOLDIERS ARE NEEDED AND REQUIRED WHEN ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE! IT IS A KNOWN FACT!
"BANJIR, RUNTUH,HILANG,TERBAKAR"
USA GOVERNMENTS FINDS JOBS AND TASKS FOR THEIR TROOPS..EVERY WHERE THEY CREATE CONFLICTS TO TEST THEIR LATEST EQUIPMENTS AND TROOPS CAPABILITIES!
SO, LET THEM FIND OUT WHY WE BUY CHEAP CHUTES OR LOCAL CHUTES?
WHY WE DON'T BUY GERMAN CHUTES OR USA CHUTES?
WHO THE SUPPLIER IS?
THE AIR FORCE HAD A SIMILAR CASE CHEAP SPARE PARTS LED TO DEATHS OF A FEW VERY SENIOR ARMY OFFICERS!
KOREK, COREK, COREK... SAMA DIA!
"GOOD NOT CHEAP, CHEAP NO GOOD"
THE ARMY ESPECIALLY HAS ALWAYS WANTED CHEAP STUFF..PLEASE ALWAYS REMEMBER, THE PRICE OF A PERODUA KANCHIL AND MERCEDES BENZ DIFFERS FOR MANY A REASON !
OTHERWISE BUY A PROTON SAGA!
Lets not forget the last time the similar incident happened to our soldiers was during the LIMA Langkawi 2006 where trainees were used for demonstration and they died for that. And the PTD, Mael Polin and the BOI simply dismissed the case was due to human error. How inconsiderate for them to not to think why would in the first place, they used trainees for demonstration whilst others used experts to fly aircrafts for a show like LIMA. Such was the mentality of a general and our military and we will get to see many more deaths before he retires.
Enjoy your golf Mael Polin like Nero singing with his guitar when Rome was burning.....
Datuk,
Myself also qualified as Paratrooper. I took by basic Para in BatuJajar (Kopassus) few decade ago. Indeed during my basic Jump I used to foiled my own chute to jump. Just imagine that, even though we are just freshie, we are also qualified to foil our own chute that we use on the next jump. Compared to Malaysian they just have to use the chute that has being foiled by Rigger Section not by individual. So in this case there is lot of impossibility such as negligence, human error etc, etc, etc. Confirmed that Domestic Inquiries should be establish to identified what area that tragedy incurred.
Datuk...
Sorry wrong definition for the word 'Foiled' I suggest that the correct word should be "prepared". Sorry my bad English term or not accurate what I interpreted for.
Minister Zahid Hamidi has made press announcement that the accident was due to "technical" but we have no privilege to know what exactly was the cause of the accident. Zahid also added that similar parachutes would be grounded or the usage will be suspended until the findings of the Board of Inquiry.
"Technical" can be anything from canopy failing to open, adverse wind conditions, etc, etc, and we leave to the Board to establish what is the actual cause of the accident.
We just hope that the findings are not swept under the carpet just to save certain commanders or the supplier! Shall we trust the Army Chief ( Mael polin?) to handle this since the case is his "baby".
The deeper I researched into the army parachutes procurement and the usage by our army, the more worrying informations I received from various people. These people range from very senior serving and retired generals, former commandants of Special Warfare Training Centre (SWTC) and of course, the soldiers who had done hundreds of jumps using various types of parachutes.
Some of the jumpers including very experienced instructors from SWTC, have some reservations on the parachutes issued to the army airborne units. For very obvious reason they are reluctant to grade the parachutes as "unreliable" but they were bold to admit that they are NOT the best!
A very senior army retiree who once served as the commandant of SWTC, spoke adversely and aggressively about the issued army parachutes. He commented, "The army generals may wear honorary para wings on their chests but they don't jump from planes and are not sensitive to our
"unhappiness and predicament"!
What are the "unhappiness and pradicament"? He remarked, "SWTC had been avoiding the use of certain parachutes because we question the reliability and safety
of the chutes, resulting in the purchase of new type of parachutes which we are very confident and proud of. I have no comments on the army's operational para units, but I suppose soldiers have no choice but to obey orders! My prayer goes to every paratrooper using home-made chutes and hope accidents will not happen".
There is a very strong message which we must learn from the senior officer. There must be some unhappiness and dissatisfaction over the parachutes issued to the army. However, the soldiers would find it hard to open their mouths for obvious reason.
The Chief of Army, the President of the Board of Inquiry and his Team MUST go to the ground, listen to the soldiers greviences over these parachutes and take positive action to save future lives.
I have said earlier that our soldiers deserve the best to defend our country and army leaders must never compromise with safety.
I now take you to the recent RMAF parachute aquisition for the Pasukan Khas Udara ( PASKAU).
Informations received was shocking when compared to the procedures adopted by the Army in their parachute procurement for SWTC.
While the Army conducted various trials and tests before accepting to purchase the German parachutes, the RMAF short-circuitted the whole procedure and accepted the American parachutes without stringent trials!
The RMAF Chief has to check whether his fomer PASKAU officer had a hand in the company supplying the parachutes to RMAF or, shall MACC open a file on this case?
Whatever it is, we hope the PASKAU will not have problems using the new American parachutes and we pray for accidents not to happen!
Lastly, can Dato' Arshad throw some lights?
Let the BOI determine what actually happened. Do not simply listen to coffeeshop talk. Which parachute producing company would like to give a 100% guranntee that his chute will not fail? So do not assume please. Pse get your facts right, paracute for static jump and parachute for freefall is two different thing altogether pse do not get mixed up. Please tell me which General got honorary wing? and how many of them if one pse do not make an issue out of it. Salam
I am an "Old Putra", a member of Royal Military College Old Boys Association. Another OP member and close friend is General Tan Sri Borhan Ahmad (Rtd), a commando officer and former PAT. General Borhan was a parachutist and so were my two other friends Maj Gen Dato Ghazalli Ibrahim ( speedy?) and Lt Gen Dato' Seri Zaini (Rtd).
I suppose you must know them too.
The above retired generals would never run out of commando and parachuting stories but theirs are not as dramatic compared to stories from another OP, Maj Gen Amir "Guntur".
I fly a lot and I took parachuting as another favourite sport. I have many jumps on record, using many types of parachutes from 1500 feet to 8000 feet.
One type of chute opens second after I exit from the plane door and another type which I have to activate the rip-chord at desired heights, using an altimeter strapped to my wrist.
Mr. Hamzali may have to educate me and the readers which is static chute and which one is the "free-fall" chute?
By the way, if Mr. Hamzali happens
to manufacture good, reliable and reputable chutes( having a TRACK RECORD of ZERO failure) I may be interested to purchase for me and my parachuting Team. With outstanding record you need not have to give 100 percents guarantee that your chutes would open!
My sole objective in subscribing to this blogg is to contribute to Dato' Arshad's honourable mission in reducing corruptions in this country, especially in the military.
I am sorry if in the process, somebody accidently has eaten chillies and feels the "pedas"!
OP Mohamad
We have a bad precedence in our military, while we had all the while maintained a strict rule that no one soldier can don a paratrooper's beret or an RGK's green beret without first qualified in a formal training, a general is excused from the rule and can wear and walk around all over the world, without the slightest shame, the symbol of pride and honour of all elite soldiers, without that qualification as a paratrooper.
A general is a soldier he doesn't need to wear an "honourary" beret and wing of an elite unit, all he needs is to go for and attain that honour, honourably, by joining, with all his soldiers, a formal training. If he is not qualified to wear one, then don't wear, otherwise it is a simple dismay and disgrace to our military. And if a general is so glamour crazy for medals, he may wear it like all unqualified RGK's personnel - the RGK's badge without the green backing.
Lets not say it that blog writing is coffetalk, and please do not behave like a wet blanket when writing in blog. Everyone has his/her say to express any viewpoint whether good, bad and ugly and let the readers judge it, none of us here is above others, no matter if one is a formerly high ranking military personnel or just a private soldier.
In blog writing, we are what we write not what we say who we were and who we are. Don't try to pull rank in blog writing.
Lain peralatan yang di ujinilai dan dicadangkan,lain yang dibeli itu adalah salah satu budaya KEMENTAH.
Forget about quality, reliablity and what not.
Good luck to those in service as I have gone thru these nonsence.
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