KUANTAN – A hiking trip meant to reconnect with old friends turned into a widow’s worst nightmare when Raja Azlan Shah Raja Abdul Aziz, then 51 and fondly known as Ian, died during a four-day, three-night expedition up Gunung Tahan in 2022.
Three years later, his wife, Nor Zaharah Sham Shamsul Bahar, is still fighting for answers in court, demanding accountability for what she believes was a preventable death caused by negligence and a series of alarming missteps.
Ian had joined a group comprising seven other former St John’s Institution schoolmates, two mountain guides (malim), and four additional hikers who were also friends of the group.
“The last time I spoke to Ian was on the morning of March 12. He had called to say he was about to start the expedition. After that, there was not even a text message,” Zaharah said.
Despite carrying a Garmin tactical watch and an SOS beacon, no emergency alert was activated.
According to testimony and Zaharah’s own findings, the group allegedly continued the climb even after Ian began experiencing severe diarrhoea and breathing difficulties by the second day.
“The guides didn’t have proper communication gear. They relied on a hiker’s personal walkie-talkie to call for help,” Zaharah told Scoop.
She remembers their last conversation before Ian left with one of his school friends.
“I believe they left him behind,” she said. “They had promised to look after each other, but that was quickly broken.”
Zaharah says Ian’s close friend later claimed he didn’t know Ian had brought a beacon — a claim she disputes.
“I was in the kitchen that afternoon when he came over. I saw him examine the beacon. I even made them promise to take care of each other, as friends do.”
An initial postmortem was limited to an external examination. It was only after Zaharah pushed for an exhumation that a full autopsy was conducted. The results pointed to dehydration, high urea levels, and sepsis — all conditions that experts say are treatable with timely medical intervention.
The case took an unexpected turn when police presented a toxicology report showing 0.01mg of ketamine in Ian’s system.
“I was shocked,” Zaharah said. “Ian never took drugs. He was a health freak — very particular about what he ate. I cooked for him every day.”
“Before the expedition, he was fit. Ian exercised daily. He would run every morning and do strength training at the gym. In December 2021, he even participated in the Taiping Mountain Trail Festival. He went for full medical check-ups every year and wasn’t on any medication.”
At the morgue, Zaharah wasn’t allowed to approach Ian due to Covid-19 protocols — even though other members of the group were seen gathering together.
“I just wanted to ask what happened,” she said. “But I was told to stay away. I’m just the wife, I guess.”
Only three members of the group visited her at home after the incident, but Zaharah said they offered no clear answers when she tried to find out what had happened.
“I wasn’t trying to blame anyone,” she said. “I just wanted to understand what really happened up there.”
Testimonies during the ongoing inquest have been conflicting. Zaharah described the emotional toll of viewing photographs of Ian’s decomposed body presented in court, and hearing inconsistent accounts from those she once considered family friends.
“I couldn’t hold back my tears seeing the photos for the first time in court,” she said.
One group member allegedly took photographs with Ian while he was unresponsive.
Zaharah also questioned the claim that Ian had been ill for two days during the descent.
“I don’t believe that. I think he was already sick before they started descending. If he’d been unwell for two days, why didn’t they bring him down? He was obviously ill during the ascent and that was why he could not continue to the summit.”
“This wasn’t just a tragic accident,” said Zaharah, who has three children aged between 21 and 29. “It was preventable. And now, no one wants to be responsible.”
She says some group members later told her to “move on.”
“After the incident, many turned cold. It was as if they just wanted to forget it happened.”
As the inquest continues, with another hearing set for Tuesday, June 10, Zaharah remains steadfast — not only seeking closure, but also pushing for accountability to prevent similar tragedies.
According to news reports, Ian had died at 12:30pm on March 16, approximately 13km from the Kuala Juram entrance, which also served as the starting point.
A police statement reported that Ian had become weak after two days of diarrhoea, was unable to eat, and that the group called the Lipis Fire and Rescue Department for help. A helicopter was reportedly dispatched but arrived too late.
Zaharah clarified that it was she who called for the police helicopter.
The case was originally handled by Gobind Singh Deo, but after his appointment as Digital minister in December 2023, it was handed over to Mohd Haijan Omar.
The first inquest, initially scheduled for 2024, was postponed and began in January 2025. — June 9, 2025
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