FOR a Singaporean family travelling home from Malaysia last Thursday, their train journey turned into one that they will never forget.
Mr Peter Tan, his wife and his four-year-old son had boarded the Malayan Railway (KTM) train in Mentakab in Pahang state at 2.45pm after visiting relatives there.
The first few hours of the journey were uneventful. Then at about 6pm, a gunman boarded the train and threatened the passengers.
At one point, the man even put his gun to MrTan's head. The 50-year-old electrician told The New Paper yesterday how he had feared for his life.
But his fear later turned to anger when he found out that the "attack" was part of an army exercise. He is upset that no prior warning was given to the passengers.
The drama unfolded when the train was approaching Gemas Railway Station in Negeri Sembilan state just before 6pm.
A man wearing sunglasses and a blonde wig entered the carriage, pointed a gun at the roof and shouted in Malay for the passengers to put their hands behind their heads.
Mr Tan's wife, Madam Yvonne Ong, 40, a Singapore permanent resident, said: "One man seated at the back row was shouting 'Tolong! Tolong!' (help in Malay). The gunman shouted at him to shut up.
"But the passenger continued screaming. The gunman became angry and headed to the back."
At that time, the Tans' son was asleep across two seats on the other side of the aisle.
"I told my husband to grab our son from the other seats as I was afraid the gunman would hold my son hostage. He was the only boy in the carriage," Madam Ong said.
The couple said the carriage had about 30 passengers, including two Caucasians, another Singaporean couple and an old man who looked to be his 70s.
When the hysterical passenger wouldn't stop screaming, the gunman dragged him to the front of the carriage.
Madam Ong, who works here as a hairdresser, said: "He threw the passenger on the floor and kicked him. Both of them were shouting in Malay, which we couldn't understand.
"Everyone was so scared. Even my son had his hands behind his head. I whispered into his ear that the gunman is a bad guy and told him not to make any noise. Luckily, my son did not cry out."
Mr Tan said he could feel his little boy, who was on his lap, trembling.
"I couldn't do anything to calm my son. We were all too terrified to move," he said.
Then the gunman walked up to him and pointed the gun to his head.
"I initially thought that it was a robbery and I was prepared to give him everything for the safety of my family," Mr Tan said.
"But when the gun was pointed at me, my mind went blank. I have never had a gun pointed at me."
Screaming
"I was trembling and afraid that he would open fire. I will never forget that moment."
Asked if he thought it was a real gun, MrTan said: "It looked heavy and real. But whether it was loaded, I couldn't tell."
When the train stopped at Gemas railway station, the gunman ran off, dragging the male passenger with him. The passenger had stopped screaming and resisting.
Mr Tan said that minutes later, four soldiers dressed in full protective gear and wearing hoods entered the train and looked like they were searching for the gunman.
"Everyone was still terrified and our hands were still raised behind our heads. The soldiers walked up and down the aisle a few times and left."
Then the passengers were shocked to see the gunman emerge at the station.
Madam Ong said: "He had his jacket and shades removed and was chatting with the army officers. (Only) then did we realise that it was an army exercise."
She said many passengers were shaken up by the incident as they had thought it was a real attack.
Mr Tan said two passengers who were unhappy that the gunman had grabbed their shirts earlier confronted him. But they spoke in Malay, which Mr Tan could not understand.
She said a Singaporean couple she had met during the journey were so terrified they took their luggage and got off the train after the gunman left.
"It was only when the army officers left that the couple boarded the train again and returned to their seats," she said.
She said she saw an old man behind them clasping his hands and saying some prayers during the incident.
"He was still in shock after the exercise ended. His face had turned pale and he was still mumbling prayers as the train left Gemas station," Madam Ong said.
The couple said there was no explanation from anyone after the incident. There were also no announcements about the exercise before or during the journey.
Responding to queries from The New Paper, a KTM spokesman confirmed there had been an exercise by the Malaysian army between 5pm and 6pm on board Ekspres Sinaran Timur No 15.
In an e-mail reply, the spokesman said this was an annual exercise.
He said that passengers were not informed in advance as the army had wanted to make the exercise as realistic as possible.
"If we inform the passengers, they might not cooperate with us to make this simulation exercise a success," he added.
"We apologise to our passengers for not notifying them before the exercise was carried out. We want to assure them that for any exercise that we conduct, the safety of our passengers is always our main priority."
A total of 20 army officers were involved in the operation, and they were aided by auxiliary police from KTM.
When contacted, a spokesman for the Malaysian Ministry of Defence said: "The exercise was not announced to the public because it involves Special Forces and Commandos."
He said that for exercises involving such personnel, there are no public announcements "for security reasons".
"Not all the KTM staff were informed about the exercise. It's a secret exercise which only the very high-level staff will know," he said.
Saluted
The spokesman said the Special Forces involved in the exercise are trained to handle civilians should there be any mishap.
He added that there had been no official complaint and no one was hurt in the exercise.
Madam Ong said that as the train pulled away, the "gunman" made a gesture as if to apologise to the passengers.
"The gunman (waved his hand in a salute) at us and nodded his head as if he was trying to thank us for our cooperation."
Mr Tan said: "It is good to conduct such simulated exercises. I will feel safer when I travel to Malaysia in future.
"But I feel that the gunman should not have pointed his gun at my head."
Public should be alerted
SHOULD the public be informed when simulated attacks are conducted?
As far as possible, yes, said Ms Ng Sue Chia, who specialises in homeland transport security at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University.
Ms Ng, 30, an associate research fellow, said that unannounced drills should perhaps be conducted only in a closed-door setting.
"The public is generally not trained to deal with crisis. It is human nature to panic and react in fear especially when one's life is perceived to be in danger."
In the KTM case, which The New Paper related to her, Ms Ng said it would have been ideal if ample alerts were given to make affected passengers aware of the nature and objectives of the exercise.
Post-trauma help
She said that while it was understandable for agencies to decide not to inform the public, the exercise should be completed as fast as possible to restore calm and offer any post-trauma assistance.
Ms Ng added: "In cases where simulation exercises might be perceived as a real threat to life, ideally the 'victim' should be a member of the emergency team."
Two years ago, when Singapore mounted its largest anti-terrorism drill, Northstar VII, the public was informed beforehand.
The massive exercise, which involved 2,000 participants and personnel from the police, Singapore Civil Defence Force and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, tested their response in simulated attacks islandwide, including Orchard Road and HarbourFront.
When the police conducted a mock-attack exercise codenamed "Times Square" last November, they made no public announcement as the exercise was aimed at gauging public vigilance against suspicious activities.
This drill, which involved a smoking vehicle, was held at nine locations islandwide from 8am to 7pm. Only 52 people alerted the authorities about the smoking vehicle.
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This article was first published in The New Paper.
