BY ruling fireman that Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim’s death was the of result of a criminal act by two or three persons, the coroner’s court had reached a mind-boggling conclusion that a detailed police probe could not.

Former attorney-general Tommy Thomas said several police units had conducted exhaustive investigations into the death of the 24-year-old during riots outside a temple in Seafield in November 2018.

The police ruled out foul play. Adib’s injuries were caused when the fire engine reversed into the vehicle Adib was travelling in.

Adib appeared to be trying to get back into his car when he was pinned down. It was an accident and it followed that the police could not be expected to arrest any person for a non-existent crime, Thomas wrote in his memoir, which revisits the hot-button issue of the time he was the A-G.

Three weeks after Adib’s death, people started baying for blood. Thomas said the anger was stoked by racists who “proclaimed without any evidence whatsoever that Indians at large had murdered Adib”.

Against this backdrop, he decided to order an inquest in the hope that a transparent inquiry would satisfy the public. But right-wing forces did not respond favourably to the idea.

In late September 2019, the coroner released her findings that two or three persons had caused the death of Adib.

“It is mind-boggling that she arrived at this conclusion, when the police, with their experience, expertise, manpower and resources, could not.

“The coroner was also specific: two or three persons. Why not one? Why not five or more?”, Thomas said in My Story: Justice in the Wilderness.

The officers in the A-G’s Chambers urged him to appeal the findings of the coroner but he decided against that route because a key element of the coroner’s decision was that the police resumed investigations into the incident.

In June, police said further investigations had uncovered nothing new. Two months later, Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador said a proposal for a second inquest into the fireman’s death was awaiting the approval of A-G Idrus Harun.

Thomas said the Adib case illustrated the challenge of racism the Pakatan Harapan government faced after the 2018 general election. – January 31, 2021.