Pusara Bukit Kepong Tidak Terurus...?

Keadaan pusara mereka yang terkorban dalam peristiwa Bukit Kepong adalah dalam keadaan yang amat menyedihkan. Tembok-tembok pagar yang rebah menyembah bumi dan ada yang menimpa pusara telah tidak dibaiki sejak setahun yang lalu. Waris mangsa yang terkorban ingin membaiki sendiri pusara tersebut tetapi dihalang kerana tanah pusara tersebut adalah milik kerajaan.

Bukit Kepong cemetery Bukit Kepong police station damaged graves in disgrace

Families upset repairs have been slow in coming to Bukit Kepong cemetery  

THEY gave their lives in defence of the country against Communist insurgents. 

However, the final resting place of those who died defending the Bukit Kepong police station on Feb 23, 1950, in Muar, Johor, resembled more a rubble-strewn field than a warriors' burial ground. 

Even worse, family members of the slain policemen claim they were prevented from upkeeping the graves, as it was "government property". 

The Malay Mail was informed that family members and relatives of the fallen policemen were upset to find part of the cemetery wall collapsed when they visited the Bukit Kepong Muslim graveyard during last week's Hari Raya celebrations. 

A section of the collapsed wall bore names of those buried there following the deadly attack that left at least 25 people, including policemen, their family members, auxiliary policemen and Bukit Kepong villagers, dead. 

Their graves are separated from the rest in the cemetery by a perimeter fencing painted in blue.

The Malay Mail was alerted to the deplorable state of the cemetery by Haizad Ibrahim, a grandson of the Bukit Kepong police station chief, Sergeant Jamil Mat Shah. "Is this how they respect the heroes of Bukit Kepong?" Haizad wrote in an email. Jamil was survived by four children, including his third child, a daughter Jamilah, now 66, and who is Haizad'smother. 

Haizad said the wall had collapsed for at least a year now. "We wanted to fix it but we were told to leave it alone as it was government property," he said. According to Haizad, the family opted to take care of the graves but their requests were denied.