KOTA KINABALU, Sept 4 — “Show Terakhir”(The last show) were Major Mohd Zahir Armaya’s last words to his mother Rusunjan Mohamad via Whatsapp yesterday before the commando was killed in a shooting demonstration at Lok Kawi Camp here today.

Rusunjan, 57, said her son, the eldest of three siblings, also expressed his wish to meet her and his family near Tuaran tonight.

“Since he had been here for a week, we have not been able to meet. When I mentioned that I could go to Lok Kawi camp to see him, he said he was busy.

“So today, he had a last event to attend to in the late afternoon. He called me at about 7am this morning saying that he needed to buy some souvenirs for his family (wife and children) and would come and see me in the evening.

“That’s the plan. The last time I met him was in August when I went to Kuala Lumpur,” she said when met by reporters at the grounds of the Forensic Medicine Department, Queen Elizabeth 1 Hospital here after the incident.

Major Mohd Zahir, 36, died after he was believed to have been accidentally shot during the launch of the Malaysian Fifth Infantry Division and the 13th Malaysian Infantry Brigade exhibition at the camp this morning.

The commander of the Special Operations Group 11 (11 GGK) died at 9.20am at the Queen Elizabeth 1 Hospital.

Major Mohd Zahir, who hailed from Kuala Lumpur and had worked at the Sungai Udang Camp, Melaka, was the son of veteran actor and comedian A.R. Badul. He is survived by a wife and five children aged between five months and nine.

Rusunjan was informed of the incident this morning while she was at the market to buy cooking ingredients to welcome her son home tonight.

“I know he did some training here. We always kept in touch and I always advised him to be careful. But I accept this as fate,” she said.

Rusunjan said she had been informed that the body would be flown to Peninsular Malaysia at 9pm tonight and would be buried in Perak.

His body was taken to As-Salam Mosque at Lok Kawi Camp at around 5.30pm.

Meanwhile, Major Mohd Zahir’s uncle, Mirdat Mohamad, 54, said the whole family hoped a thorough investigation would be carried out to determine the true cause of the incident.

“We wish for him to have a fair investigation, a fair trial and a proper closure. If this was negligence, hopefully it would not happen again in the future.

“We will leave it to the police and army,” he said. — Bernama