“ These are the assignments that gave a lot of impact in my career and me, personally. I even remember spending a night with the ex-chief of the Communist Party of Malaya (PKM) and, one of the stories that I can never forget was when I interviewed the prisoners who are waiting to be hanged.
“I met up with three male prisoners, one from each race. I got permission to interview them in one day. The Malay guy, who I don’t remember his name now, had already spent seven years in the Kajang prison cell.
“I was afraid – even though he was in the cell and I was interviewing him from outside the cell. His offence was murder. I thought to myself ‘Oh my God, he’s a death row prisoner, waiting for death, and he had killed someone.’
“The prisoner noticed how uncomfortable I was and told me ‘Bang, abang rileks je bang, sebab I tak akan ape-ape kan bang (Bro, just relax bro, because I won’t harm you), and said the longer you interview me, the more you will like me. His statement wasn’t funny, but it made me wonder, why did he say that?
“He told me he had been in the cell for 23 hours and living like that for seven years. So, if I took a part of his time, he would feel relieved to even be able to go out of the area,” because prisoners are only allowed to ‘go out’ for one hour, along the passageway in front of their cells.
“His last words to me were, if given the chance to either be hanged or wait furthermore in prison, he would choose to be hanged. When I asked ‘Why? Don’t you want to live longer?’
‘He told me, you can become a crazy man being inside here. You will go crazy because 23 hours I don’t do anything, just staring at the walls, in a 10×10 cell space – one can go crazy’.
There was a bit of silence, before he continued:
“He even made his own tattoo on his forearm because he really loved his wife and children. According to the Malay man, in Pahang, his wife did not mean to accidentally kill someone over a misunderstanding with a business transaction, as one of the items were fake.
“So, in the ensuing fight, she accidentally killed the other person. When he got back home, he said because of his love for her, he disposed the body and took responsibility for the killing.
“As they both were driving towards KL, I don’t remember how many days after, but they were stopped at a roadblock and they were caught. In court, he admitted that he was the murderer. He took responsibility – this was based on his story to me.
“He said when he was convicted, his wife promised to be faithful to him, but in the seven years he was in prison, not once did she come to visit him, which is why he made his own tattoo on his underarm because he really loved his children and her.
“It’s a really sad story if it’s true, and he has claimed that he is not lying and not guilty, but has submitted himself to God.”
“The Chinese man I think, was convicted of murder, but I don’t remember much details. But yes, all three men said if they were given the chance to be hanged immediately, they would take it.
“They all could not stand the waiting in prison, as the process goes from the High Court to the Federal Court and then the Sultan. The whole waiting process, it’s just a lot of mental torture for them.
“All three men have gone through the court of appeal but of course they have been unsuccessful.
“The Indian man whom I met goes by the name of ‘Lan’, after converting to Islam fully. He had a Malay girlfriend who worked in a bank, and they both come from Kuala Selangor, Sungai Besar.
“He was a drug dealer who spent a lot of money on his girlfriend and sacrificed a lot for her, even giving her a car. He sold drugs to make money and one day got caught. The punishment is of course, the death sentence.
“His last words to me were, that if I ever went to Sungai Besar, please do go and see his (now ex) girlfriend and give her his salam (regards) and love to her, and it was because of her that he got caught.
“His girlfriend also never visited him. I felt pity for them, especially for the husband who took the fall for his wife, but for the drug dealers, that was their own action and mistake and they knew what they were getting themselves into.
“But I heard that two years after speaking to Lan, I got a call from one of my interns saying that he was released and got a pardon. He said thank you for featuring and portraying me on TV, so he called me the day he got released.
“The other two, I don’t know what happened to them.
“I also managed to meet with the Ustaz who was the religious counsel for Muslims before they go to their end, but has now retired around a decade ago.
“He told me that, for the Muslims, right after they give their last salam in their prayers, two wardens will take them to the execution room.
“Most of them are not able to walk afterwards, nor can they walk because they know they are heading to their death.”
“The ustaz told me that at least, you know your date (of death). Because of that, prisoners become very religious and pray a lot. Unlike most of us out here, we are healthy and say accident happens, but we wouldn’t know when we will die.
“But for them, these special people, maybe they were chosen – because they know they are going to die. They know the time and location of their death when the Director comes and informs them they will be hanged the next day.
“So they are able to pray and focus and atone for their sins. That is the only advantage that they get.”
“They did mention not to do bad things like this to the people outside, look at what happens to them. It’s the law if you commit a crime. They admitted that they were in the wrong, regret for what they did, and if they are to be pardoned, pardon them now, or if they are to hang, hang them now, because of the mental torture.
“Don’t do bad things, don’t break the law. I feel grateful that we have a normal life compared to them’.
Photostory by Mushamir Mustafa
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(This post was first published on April 6th 2016)
