Shot newsman still in bad shape
Part-time videographer Amirul Amir won’t have an income as long as he’s bedridden.
It’s been a harrowing week for the Penang press corps. One of their number, Amirul Amir, was among those wounded in the shooting incident on Thursday and is still in bad shape at Penang Hospital.
The 28-year-old part-time RTM videographer, a six-footer, is big in more ways than one. He is a celebrity among his colleagues for being the best informed of Penang newsmen. He’s virtually always the first on the scene of any kind of crime, accident or disaster. Some are not surprised by this because he was a volunteer fireman before joining the press.
Last Thursday, he happened to be passing by when a BMW crashed into another car. By instinct, he rushed towards the cars to see if he could help anyone who was hurt and perhaps get a story. But he was shot by a deranged man who had killed his boss.
He was among five people hurt by stray bullets. Three other people died.
A bullet hit Amirul’s chest and penetrated through his back.
Those of us who visited Amirul at the ICU ward recently were heartbroken to see the usually jovial man fighting to hold back tears as he tried to describe the pain from his wounds.
“If I had turned back to get my camera from my backpack, I would have been dead,” he said, but he added that he regretted not capturing footage from the incident.
A nurse told visitors to leave because his breathing was impaired, causing him to cough as he spoke.
According to the nurse, Amirul had no feeling in his fingers. She told us to pray for his full recovery.
Amirul is currently under contract with RTM and is paid only when a video he submits is aired, which means he won’t be able to earn an income as long as he is bedridden. His wife works with a logistics company and they have a two-year-old son.
It was heartening to hear the Chief Secretary to the Government praising Amirul for his work and saying that a reward was being considered for him.
A one-off reward may be helpful for a while, but what happens in the long run? As a part-time worker with RTM, he doesn’t have EPF or any other benefit enjoyed by civil servants.
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Perhaps the government would consider taking him in as a permanent employee. After all, many would vouch that he would be an asset to RTM or any organisation that needs a good videographer.