KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 ― In an unusual gesture to recognise the police's efforts, several residents of a Subang Jaya township recently came together to produce a heartwarming farewell song dedicated to a police station chief after the end of his seven-year tenure in serving the community.
The song was produced in a community effort for a surprise farewell ceremony on October 12 for USJ 8 police station chief Assistant Superintendent Jasni Zolpa, just before he took on a new role this week at the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman.
The song titled Kami Doakan Terbaik Untukmu ― Farewell Song for ASP Jasni Zolpa and the accompanying music video illustrated the close ties that Jasni forged with the Subang Jaya community in preventing and fighting crime together, while also lauding him for his dedication and integrity.
Endorsement from Wong Chen and Hannah Yeoh
Subang MP Wong Chen, who was also featured in the video for the song, spoke well of Jasni's tenure.
“Tuan Jasni served the Subang Jaya community professionally, with full dedication and courtesy for 7 years. The fact the community leaders got together to give him a special and meaningful send off is testament to his excellent service.
“The community leaders approached me to join the video. They did all the work, I just sang bits of the song badly and contributed some money for the farewell tea party,” Wong related to Malay Mail.
Wong said he has known Jasni for six years, and managed to keep abreast of Jasni's performance even though he does not work directly with the latter.
“However we have community events together and I track his performance. During his seven-year tenure, crime rates fell year-on-year and his crime response speed was consistently excellent,” said Wong, whose constituency is partly under the coverage of the USJ 8 police station where Jasni served.
Deputy minister Hannah Yeoh, who was Subang Jaya assemblyman from 2008 until 2018, spoke of how Jasni engaged the community as the USJ 8 police station OCS or officer-in-charge of police station.
“When he first started as OCS, he took a lot of time engaging the residents' associations and patrol teams. He did not shy away from tough questions on crime and criticism on the police force.
“Back then there were so many dialogues on gated and guarded schemes. But he took time to engage and was always reachable by the residents,” she told Malay Mail when contacted.
“Ever since he became OCS, I didn't have to stress a lot about crime issues in USJ,” she said, also confirming that the crime rates that fell during Jasni's term was also during her tenure as Subang Jaya assemblyman.
“Also he is the true epitome of 'polis dan rakyat berpisah tiada',” she said, referring to a popular slogan of the inseparable ties between the police and the community.
“All the nightmare other Harapan leaders faced with police before we became federal government, I didn't have that with Jasni. He was always professional in his conduct and discharge of duties,” she said, describing the end of Jasni's tenure as “a great loss to Subang Jaya”.
How the song was born
Musician David Cha Hou Yean, who composed the song and its lyrics and performed all music instruments for the song, said the MPSJ Zone 3 Residents' Committee ― covering USJ 7 to USJ 22 and Taman Tanamera ― had approached him to write the farewell song in appreciation of Jasni's service.
“Because Tuan Jasni is very dedicated and a person who's committed to his job. We are all very sad that he's going to Bukit Aman. They approached me to write a song, that's how we started,” the piano teacher who had previously composed USJ 9's theme song told Malay Mail, when contacted.
Cha pointed to the crime rate reduction under Jasni's tenure and how Jasni had led the USJ 8 police station to be awarded twice as the best police station nationwide, noting that the song was not only in appreciation of Jasni but also “indirectly” to the whole team at USJ 8 police station.
“Actually the inspiration is Tuan Jasni himself, he has been fully committed to his job,” he said of the song's lyrics, also praising Jasni as having high integrity and for being “friendly and approachable”.
Cha, who joined the USJ 9 resident's association in 2017, also shared of his experience as part of his neighbourhood's Rukun Tetangga where residents carry out patrols in shifts from 9pm to 6am, including an incident where a potential break-in was prevented and the police was alerted.
Cha noted that Jasni was in a Whatsapp group for the neighbourhood crime watch group, where community leaders could immediately alert of any suspicious individuals or incidents found during the Rukun Tetangga patrols. Cha said Jasni was also responsive to such alerts by dispatching police personnel or personally attending to them.
“He managed to build the bridge between the community and civil servants. He made it so that we can join together, work together to ensure the safety of USJ,” Cha said, noting that Jasni was actively involved within the Subang Jaya community where he gave talks on crime prevention and regularly attended festive celebrations held by residents.
The song was produced within a tight timeframe and on short notice, with Cha being asked on September 17 to pen the song, and actually completing the writing of the song's melody and lyrics on September 19 with the help of his sons, and incorporating the rap section on September 20.
Cha said the recording of the song's audio was done each night from September 20 to September 27, while video footage of those singing were recorded in three hours on October 1.
The music video was fully completed and edited on October 9, just three days before October 12 where Jasni was surprised with the farewell event for him, Cha said. Cha also said that Jasni was “very touched” when shown the video during the farewell.
The entire community effort in producing the song was done for free by Subang Jaya residents, including Cha who used a room in his house for the audio recording of the song and Jeffrey Tan who also made available the use of his studio and is credited with the video and its post-production.
Those who provided the vocals for the song are listed as including current Subang Jaya assemblyman Michelle Ng, Subang Jaya Municipal Council Zone 3 councillor Lee Jen Uyin, as well as community leaders in Subang Jaya.
The song has since been uploaded on Youtube, with the description saying: “This is a specially composed farewell song for Tuan Jasni Zolpa; Ketua Balai Polis USJ 8 as he will be leaving for his new adventure at Bukit Aman. We wish you all the best in your future undertaking. It’s a lost for USJ but a gain for Bukit Aman. Kami doakan terbaik untukmu.”
