SHAH ALAM: "We came for a degree, not to return as a lifeless body," said a trainee from the Officer Training Corps (Palapes) at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), who was also a witness to the incident involving the late Muhammad Amir Rusyaidi Muhammad Zaidi.
The student, who requested not to be named, said all of them are deeply saddened by the passing of the late Amir, even though they had only known him for almost two months.
"The training was conducted outside the schedule because the training for this semester was not supposed to start yet, but we received instructions to gather at about 3pm on the day of the incident.
"We had previously trained outside of scheduled hours, but that was of our own initiative, such as jogging.
"But this time, it was the trainer who called, so we just followed the instructions," the student told Harian Metro when met yesterday.
Palapes is a military programme that trains undergraduate students to be reserve officers for the Malaysian military.
The late Muhammad Amir Rusyaidi passed away on Nov 13 while undergoing Palapes training.
The police have classified the death of the Palapes officer as a sudden death (SDR) caused by heatstroke and multiple organ failure.
However, the family of the deceased hopes that a thorough and comprehensive investigation will be conducted, claiming that the victim was left lying on the parade ground for about 30 minutes without assistance before being taken to the hospital.
The late Amir's friend said that after the victim collapsed, several nearby teammates helped the victim to a cooler area.
The weather was quite hot that day, and fainting during training had happened before with other trainees. Moreover, the late Amir was still new to Palapes.
"At the time, I thought maybe he just fainted because he couldn't handle the training, since he was still new. I think he had been in Palapes for just over a month.
"We helped him to a cooler area, and at that time, I could feel his body stiffening. About 20 minutes later, he was taken to the hospital by the trainer," the student added.
The trainee explained that normally, there would be a medical team with an ambulance on standby during every training session to prevent any unwanted incidents.
However, the student said that there was no medical team or ambulance at the parade ground on the day of the incident.
The student and several other trainees had already given their statements to the police and the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) to assist in the investigation.
"For me, this should not have happened, and I believe that if all parties had followed the guidelines, this incident could have been avoided.
"But since this has happened, I pray for the best for the deceased, and I hope his family remains strong in facing this trial.
"I hope the police will do their best to investigate this matter thoroughly," he said.