One story in the news that caught my attention a few weeks ago is the tale of Jam Kirong and his “girlfriend”, Santy. Haven’t heard of it? It is probably the scariest case of kidnapping and abuse I have ever read in the Brunei papers.

For everyone’s information, here it is the sequence of events between Jam Kirong and Santy, now in chronological order. All information are gathered from news articles written by Ilham Rizal in the Borneo Bulletin, Friday (26/11/2010) & Thursday (25/11/2010).

1. Sometime in 2009

Santy dated Shahrulnizam, also nicknamed Jam Kirong, for a few months in 2009. They broke up but continued to meet despite the break-up.

2. 8 November, 2009

Jam Kirong’s parents went to see Santy’s mother on 8 November, 2009 for a marriage proposal. The marriage proposal was turned down. This event basically triggered the whole incident as it made him very angry and embarrassed.

3. 9 November, 2009

Before going to work, Santy went to her friend’s house in Kg Lambak Kanan to borrow some work equipment. She did not manage to do so as she was followed by Jam Kirong.

When she arrived, she parked her car at Erwan’s house and got out. After she got out she realised that her car was being blocked by Jam Kirong’s car. He asked her to get into his car.

He warned Santy not to run away and threatened to break her head if she didn’t get into his car. She followed his instructions and went to his car.

Whilst in the car, he hit Santy a number of times before driving to his house at No 538, Kg Sg Besar, Jalan Kota Batu where he dragged her to his room by her hair and hit her on her face, head, back legs and hand until she was covered in bruises.

4. 12 November, 2009

Jam Kirong brought Santy to see his parents and made her apologise and explain why she rejected his marriage proposal.

She managed to escape shortly after that and managed to ask his uncle to drop her off at her ex-husband’s house in Bunut.

5. 13 November, 2009

Santy lodged a report to the police.

6. 8 January 2010

Santy went out with her friend Nourol Mazidah, also known as Bibi, in Bandar Seri Begawan until 1am when they both decided to call their friend named Ali Mustapa for a ride home.

Ali Mustapa came, picked the girls up and brought them to Jubilee Hotel as he had to meet someone there. (It’s weird that he has to meet someone at 1am in Jubilee Hotel)

To their shock and horror Jam Kirong and another man named Jack entered Ali Mustapa’s car as they arrived at the hotel.

Santy tried to escape and yell for help but it was no use. Instead, Jam Kirong told Jack to drive everyone to his house in Kg Sg Besar. On the way, Jam Kirong scolded Santy for running away, for leaving him and hiding from him.

Upon arrival at Jam Kirong’s home, he asked Jack to send Bibi home. When they were alone in the house the he pulled Santy by her hair all the way to his room and locked the door. She ran towards the bed and took a pillow to protect her body and face from the beating. He also threw objects at her like ashtray, medicine bottle and hot oil bottle. He questioned Santy and also kicked and hit Santy several times all over her body, head and feet.

Santy said, “If I cried or screamed, he would throw something towards me and shout at me to keep quiet or he would hurt me even more.”

This abuse continued every day.

“He treated me like an animal. If I was sleeping he wanted me awake, he would pour water over my head and he would throw my food on the floor and asked me to eat it like that,” she told the court.

Santy also informed the court that Jam Kirong’s parents were in the house but did not help because they were afraid of him.

7. 6pm, 11 January 2010

Santy managed to run away from Jam Kirong while he was asleep. She ran to a women’s tailor shop in the next building where she borrowed a mobile phone from one of the Indonesian workers there. She phoned Bibi and hid as told by Bibi whilst waiting for her to come with the police.

But Jam Kirong discovered the victim there, pulled her hair, punched and kicked her in front of everyone in the shop. Sadly no one was brave enough to help. .

The beating went on after Jam Kirong brought Santy back to his room. He hit the victim with a plastic chair on her head. Shortly after, Santy heard the siren of a police car and thought that Bibi had arrived with the police.

Jam Kirong rushed Santy out of the back door and took her to his relative’s house on top of the hill behind his home and later brought her back to his room once again.

8. 10pm, 17 January 2010

Jam Kirong asked Santy to go to the kitchen to prepare some food for dinner as he was feeling ill. Without wasting any time, she took the opportunity to escape and quickly ran down to the ground floor of the house and ran out of the back door. She called Bibi.

9. 18 January, 2010

Second police report lodged.

10. 6 February 2010

At about 5pm, Santy went out with Bibi and her boyfriend, Wadi. They went to a place in Berakas to eat. After, they dropped heroff at Batu Bersurat, where her car was parked. She got in, locked the door and started the engine. As she was about to leave, a Kijang belonging to Jam Kirong blocked her path. Jam Kirong came out of his car and brought along a long metal pipe. He hit the body of her car a few times, so as to make me feel afraid of him and I would open the door of my car and surrender myself to him. I could hear him shouting my name a number of times but I did not want to open the door. I sounded the horn as hard and as long as I could so that someone would come to rescue me, but to no avail.

“All of a sudden, Shahrulnizam used the metal pipe to hit the window of my car, he did this a number of times until it broke. I was in shock and screamed for help and sounded the horn as hard as I could.

“Without wasting any time, he opened the door of my car on the driver’s side and pushed me towards the passenger side at the time slapping me on the face so that I would stop screaming. He then got into my car and drove to Kg Serusop. His car was driven by his friend Jack. At Kg Serusop, he drove me to his uncle’s old empty house. Once he stopped the car’s engine, he told me to hand over all my belongings to him. He then pulled me out of the car and did a body check on me and he discovered my mobile phone, which I had hidden in my pocket, which I refused to give to him. Shahrulnizam lost his temper and started kicking me in my stomach with his cowboy boots. He also hit me on my head and my back with the metal pipe that he used to hit my car. After I gave him my phone, he threw the phone against the wall of the house and broke it.

“Shahrulnizam then asked me to get into the Kijang and follow him to his house in Kg Sg Besar. Once we reached his house, he kicked me and pulled my hair when I tried to run from him and he also pushed my face into the ground. He then took me to his room and locked the door,” she said.

11. 18 February, 2010

Santy was rescued by the police on February 18, 2010 when Shahrulnizam brought Santy to a nearby workshop and was arrested by the police.

Shahrulnizam was brought to court and then released on bail.

“I knew that he was not allowed to see or contact me. After he was released on bail, Shahrulnizam still contacted me and would send me text messages and I would reply his messages as they annoyed me.”

12. 8pm, 1 June  2010

“I went to buy Nasi Katok at the carpark of the old Tiong Hin Superstore at Jalan Sungai Tilong and was unaware of the fact that I was being followed by Shahrulnizam. As I returned to my car, I was shocked to discover Shahrulnizam seated in the driver’s seat.”

Later it was revealed that she was not able to see that he was in the car from outside as her car windows are tinted.

“He instructed me to sit in the front passenger seat. Afraid of what he might do to me if I refused, I complied with what he instructed me to do.

“He drove the car to a house at No 6, Spg 472, Kg Sg Hanching, where he was residing at the time with Ak Zul. He kept me locked in a room and kept an eye on my every move.”

“Whilst at the house, I was only allowed out of the locked room by Shahrulnizam on a few occasions to go to the living room, the kitchen or the toilet. I was not allowed to go back home or to drive anywhere.”

13. 2nd June 2010

Shahrulnizam started to act aggressively towards me and it brought back memories of the times he had physically abused me and I decided that I had to escape from him before he started to hit me again.

14. 3rd June 2010

“At about 1am when he was fast asleep, I slipped out of the room and exited the house and ran towards the nearest police post in Kg Sg Hanching and made a 993 call to ask the police to rescue me.”

The police came and took Santy to Berakas Police Station. She refused to lodge any report regarding what had happened and asked them to send her to her other car, which was parked in a flat in Anggerek Desa.

“I did not dare to make a police report because I was traumatised by the experience and that Shahrulnizam had sent me a SMS threatening that he would harm members of my family if I made the report. I feared for my daughter’s life and decided not to pursue the matter.”

15. 8 August, 2010

Santy finally decided to call the Chief Inspector of the Abused Women and Children Investigation Unit, CID to inform her of what had happened.

“I only dared to do this after I was approached by Ak Zul as he feared for my life as well as the lives of himself and his family. At the unit, I also relayed what had happened to me to a police inspector who was the investigating officer who was handling my earlier abuse and abduction case,” she said.

*********

I’m of course under no delusion that things like this do not happen in Brunei. I’m just quite disappointed in the role that the Police play in the whole drama. It seriously didn’t make me feel safe and confident in relying 100% on them? I dunno. I’ve had many bad experiences with Policemen in general so maybe my perception on them is rather tainted. They always come across as sleazy and opportunistic. Guess they only behave when their superiors are around.