KUALA LUMPUR : The five Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) cadet officers involved in three separate bullying incidents have been expelled and must pay compensation to the government.
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the Armed Forces Council Meeting (MAT) Series 623, which convened on Tuesday (Nov 26), had approved the recommendations by the Military Training Academy of the university.
"The academy recommended that action against the five cadet officers includes the cancellation of their appointment as cadet officers, termination of employment from the Malaysian Armed Forces and the imposition of compensation to the Malaysian government, calculated based on the total expenses incurred during the study period," he said in a statement on Wednesday (Nov 27).
Mohamed Khaled said the actions taken against the cadet officers was not subject to any other actions that may be taken by UPNM itself or the Attorney General's Chambers.
In the first case, action was taken against Amirul Iskandar Ahmad Norhanizan who allegedly abused Muhammad Salman Mohd Saiful Surash by pressing an iron to the victim's chest.
The alleged abuse was detected by a Military Training Academy on-duty trainer during a routine body inspection on Oct 28.
Following this, an investigation was conducted and it was found that Amirul Iskandar had physically abused the victim.
The perpetrator's appointment as cadet office was revoked, his service in the Armed Forces terminated, and he was imposed a compensation fee of RM44,600.20 to the Malaysian government.
The perpetrator was also charged in the Kuala Lumpur Criminal Sessions Court under Section 324 of the Penal Code on Nov 8, 2024, and the proceedings are still ongoing.
On the second alleged abuse case against cadet officer Alief Ahsreihan Ahslemy, the punishment was meted out on the three perpetrators - Izzat Izuddin Mohammad Arif, Muhammad Hidayat Haqimi Mohd Yuslan and Ku Muhammad Irfan Ku Zaimi.
All were found to have been in cahoots to perform corrective punishment towards the victim which is against the regulations set up by the Military Training Academy.
The first perpetrator Izzati Izuddin had been found to have instructed the second perpetrator Muhammad Hidayat Haqimi to punish the victim.
Muhammad Hidayat Haqimi was also found to have committed physical misconduct and instructed the victim to perform personal tasks for him.
The third perpetrator, Ku Muhammad Irfan, was found to have commited physical misconduct and isolation actions that caused emotional distress to the victim.
The appointment of all three as cadet officers has been revoked and their service in the Armed Forces terminated. They were also told to pay compensation to the government amounting to RM48,452.75, RM19,481.70, and RM44,600.20, respectively.
In the third case, where cadet officer Yeong Kian Rui was abused by Ammar Hafiy Muhammad Habib, it was found that the perpetrator had committed physical misconduct that caused a "soft tissue injury over the lower back secondary to trauma".
The abuse case involving physical injury was identified after the trainer became suspicious when the victim requested medical treatment.
Ammar Hafiy's appointment as cadet officer was revoked, his service in the Armed Forces terminated, and he is required to pay a compensation fee of RM32,115.95 to the Malaysian government.
Mohamed Khaled stressed that the ministry will not compromise on any form of abuse in any of its institutions and will continue to upgrade prevention mechanisms to prevent similar incident to repeat in.the future.
He also hoped that the decision will serve as a lesson to all and will improve the military values that are supposed to be practiced .
