SCDF Officer Claimed He Won’t Have Pushed CPL Kok Down If Commanders Told Him Not To


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It appears that the saga of SCDF personnel Corporal Kok remains yet unfinished.

If you somehow missed the country-shaking news of the tragic passing of CPL Kok, you could catch up here.

Ever since the news hit the headlines and the nation erupted into a fire of debates and blames, more and more information are being revealed over time, fuelling the flame even further.

With the personnel involved with his death back in court again, yet more information of the fateful case is coming to light, after learning that there was supposedly a swimming instructor prepared to save him.

Commanders Did Not Stop The Ritual

As SCDF officer Muhammad Nur Fatwa Mahmood, 34, was giving his testimony in court, he claimed that the commanding officers that night did not stop the ritual taking place.

The commanders on duty that night, Kenneth Chong Chee Boon, 38, a lieutenant, and Nazhan Mohamed Nazi, 40, a first senior warrant officer, have both been charged in July least year with aiding a rash act that caused grievous hurt by illegal omission.

Nur Fatwa claimed that if Chong and Nazhan had commanded him to stop, he would have complied as “they are (my) supervisors”.

He said that he brought up the “kolam” ritual twice on the day of the incident. Following the celebration at night, some officers brought CPL Kok to the pump well and others, including Nazhan, gathered to watch but no one opposed against the act.

The Game of Blame

Nur Fatwa further elaborated that he would always obey his superiors out of respect, adding that that was the reason he listened to Mohamed Farid Mohd Saleh, 34, first warrant officer, who allegedly instructed Nur Fatwa to push CPL Kok into the pump well.

Nazhan’s defence lawyer Singa Retnam attempted to crumble Nur Fatwa’s testimony, claiming that what “you are remembering is not true because video evidence does not show that” in reference to Farid’s instructions to push CPL Kok.

Mr Retnam used this fact to point out that similarly, what Nur Fatwa remembers about Nazhan may not be true.

Nur Fatwa also mentioned the fact that the “kolam” ritual was only meant to tease and scare CPL Kok, and that the push was completely unplanned.

It is a true misfortune that the tragedy of CPL Kok’s passing continues to stretch after his death, tearing apart the friendships of a formerly happy group of colleagues.

As the trial continues with more involved personnel taking the stand in court, yet more information may come to light.

By the way, Fatwa has already bee charged and sentenced to one year and four weeks of imprisonment since last October, and is now on home detention.