Since the Confrontation by our neighbouring country to oppose the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963, all areas at the Malaysian/Indonesian border were declared “black areas” for security operations. Curfew hours were imposed from 6.00 pm to 6.00 am the next morning. No one was allowed to move out of their premises during curfew hours as they would be shot on sight by the military Standing Operation Procedure.
As a concept of military operations, infrastructure projects were proposed and approved by the Federal Government to win the hearts and minds of the local people who had the mindset that the people from the Peninsula were colonising them. This was a form of psychological operations; the brainchild of our Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Defence Minister, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein. His tag line was, “Security & Development go hand in hand”. It was a counter-insurgency tactic against the local sympathisers to cut off the lines of communication of the enemy by denying them food and supplies.
The access to the Indonesian Border was mainly jungle tracks formed by the local natives. For the urgent development of Sarawak to win the hearts and minds of the locals, the Malaysian army engineers were quickly deployed to build feeder roads to the border areas at Tebedu and Kohom (Bau District) in the First Division of Sarawak in 1965. The road access was also for the resupply of logistic needs to the army at the frontline border instead of routine air supplies by the British Royal Air Force helicopters.
On 21 Nov 1965 there was a fierce battle in Bau District (30 miles west of Tebedu) where 24 enemies were killed. A British soldier (Gurkha) neutralized the 2-men enemy machine gun pit with his grenade and killed another 4 of them who were trying to cross the border. He also rescued 2 wounded British comrades under heavy enemy fire without regarding his own life. For his bravery action, he was decorated with the Victoria Cross (highest bravery medal in the British army). He was Lance Corporal Rambahadur Limbu of the British Gurkha Rifles Regiment. He was promoted to Sergeant in situ and later to Captain in England. Another 10 soldiers were awarded the Military Cross for bravery.
On 1 March 1966, I was re-deployed from my Engineer Squadron in Taiping to another Engineer Squadron in Kuching which was in support of the British Mid-West Brigade in Sarawak. My task was a road construction project from Tebakang village to Tebedu, about 9 miles south of the Kuching-Serian main road. I had a troop of 30 army engineers, consisting of land surveyors, plant operators and plant foremen to do the road construction from site surveying, site clearing of virgin jungle, bull dozing of trees above 100 feet high, cut & fill of earthworks, grading of road formation level and final compaction and surfacing.
While going about with our work we were all armed with sub-machine guns and rifles for our own protection. Meanwhile, we had the local protection from the British Light Infantry Regiment co-located at Tebakang in case of any attack by the enemy. To assist in the manual work, surveying, culverts and drainage, we employed a group of 20 local civilian workers at RM4 each per day. The financial allocation came from the Public Works Department of Sarawak for the wages of the local workers and for repairs and maintenance of spare parts for the army plant machines and vehicles.
On a sunny morning about 10.00 am on 16 April 1966, the village headman of Tebedu came to me to report the sighting of about 40 men in camouflage uniform coming from South of the border at his village early in the morning. I gave the order for my men to stop work, disembarked from our plant machines and went into defensive positions. No doubt, we were all very apprehensive and conscientious of ourselves as army engineers being in the frontline operations like the infantry. After about half an hour without any noise or movement in the vicinity, I ordered my men to embark into their vehicles and returned to our base camp at Tebakang. Meanwhile, I reported back to my Head Quarters in Kuching about 40 miles away. I had also reported to the Commander of the British Light Infantry Regiment about the incursion of the enemy. As they were also based in Tebakang it was easy for them to be deployed immediately. A rifle company with two tracker dogs was sent towards Tebedu. In the same evening they contacted the enemy and killed 2 of them. The rest of the enemy disappeared into the jungle. The next morning two bodies were brought back to Tebakang for police action. This Regiment was honoured with 2 awards of Military Cross for their bravery.
Recalling back those days, it was indeed a close deadly encounter as to whether I would return home alive or in a box. In fact, my father even bought me a life insurance before I flew over to Kuching in March 1966 by the air force plane. My task was to build the road and not so much as to fight the enemy except in defence. That fighting part was left to the infantry who were trained in their tactics. That is why as a builder, my tag line was, “No kills but skill”.
After an armed struggle in the leadership in Jakarta in mid-1966, the new leader, General Suharto called for the cessation of hostilities in the Confrontation. On 11 August 1966 a peace treaty between Malaysia & Indonesia was signed in Bangkok, formally recognising Malaysia as a new sovereign nation and normal relations were re-established.
By Ingenieur Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Goh Boon Pah KMN
(Royal Engineer Regiment)
Footnote: This incident/article won a Maybank award of a branded wrist watch and a special plaque for its author at their Heroes Night celebration on 30 Nov 2018.