Second Chance For Man Who Murdered His Employer At 14 Years Old, Now Holds A PhD
A prisoner of 23 years receives a royal pardon from His Majesty the Sultan of Selangor.
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Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor celebrated his 79th birthday on Wednesday. On top of giving the public a holiday, the Sultan of Selangor pardoned a number of inmates. One of those inmates was 37-year-old Murad (not his real name).
Murad’s Story
Murad was imprisoned on a murder charge in 2001 when he was only 14 years old.
He left Sabah to work in Kuala Lumpur at the invitation of an agent who offered him a job as a cake maker.
Murad was promised RM800 a month. Despite his family opposing to his decision to go to KL on his own at such a young age, he was steadfast in his decision as he believed the money could be used to financially help his family.
His family feared for his safety as he did not know anyone in KL and people might take advantage of his naivety to cheat him.
He left for KL with eight of his friends. However, upon reaching KL, the job offer turned out to be a scam by the agent.
The agent split the eight of them into two groups, sending each group to a different place. The agent then handed off Murad and his group to an employer.
Murad worked for five months with no pay and was not told what the salary of the job would be.
All of his important personal documents were held by the employer. After work, he was forced to stay at the house of his employer. On one night, after returning home from work at 12am, he noticed that the grille door was unlocked.
Believing that this was his chance to escape, he attempted to leave. Unfortunately while the grille door was unlocked, the outside door was not and he was caught.
The employer began to hit him again and again until Murad snapped. He picked up a knife nearby and stabbed his employer a number of times.
In a state of panic, he ran to the airport and with the little money he had brought with him, tried to buy a ticket at the counter.
On the morning of his flight the next day, at 6am, he was caught by police as he got on the plane. He was charged with murder and sent to the Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Kajang Prison.
A New Beginning
In the 23 years of his prison sentence, instead of giving up, Murad took it upon himself to learn.
He had only studied up to standard 6 in school and was considered illiterate. As he was stripped of the ability to continue his studies as a result of his actions, Murad wanted to continue his studies.
This urge came when he saw a couple of the other inmates, that he called his friends, study while in prison.
After years and years of hard work, Murad earned his PhD in business administration. He became the first prisoner to achieve this great feat.
On the day of his release, Murad was incredibly grateful towards the Sultan for honouring him with a royal pardon. He also offered thanks to the Prisons Department that gave him an opportunity to further his studies and achieve a PhD.
Murad expressed that he will remember the kindness showed to him by the Prisons Department and believed in the role they play for rehabilitation of inmates.
The inspiring redemption story of Murad is an example of hard work, reform and second chances.
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