“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.”
“Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace,
for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man." “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
After the battalion returned to Wales in 1957, Augustin left the Security Forces and became a sales representative for office equipment. Soldiering was still in his blood, it was a matter of time before he signed up with the Territorial Army as a volunteer. In 1960, the 23 year old was commissioned as an officer in the 2nd Selangor Battalion. Two years later, he joined the 1st Battalion Singapore Infantry Regiment. “We were often referred to as Ang Tow Peng, meaning red headed soldiers, because the bush hats we wore had red piping around it.” By this time he was married to longtime sweetheart Sharon Lim whom he met when he was 15 and still a student. “ I spotted this cute China doll outside the Rex cinema in Kuala Lumpur after school one day in 1952. It was love at first sight. We lost contact after a while and later met up again. We married in 1962.”
The marriage produced three children, 33 year old Fitzgerald, a partner in a legal firm, 29 year old Chairmaine of TV3’s Muzik-Muzik fame some time back and 23 year ols Shawn who is awaiting the results of his law exams. Sharon 57, runs her own real estate business after she opted for early retirementfrom the teaching profession in 1985. Reminiscing further on his years in the army, augustin recalls that in 1963, when Malaysia and Singapore merged, he was posted to the Port Dickson Garrison and Recruit Training Centre as an instructor. His hard work paid off because a year later, he was appointed Company commander, with 444 men, comprising of officers, non-commissioned officers and recruits under his command. Happy memories of this period include his commanding the largest passing out parade of 3,000 personnel in 1966. “The passing out parade was usually commanded by a Captain or Major, so it was a real honour when I was picked to command it,” he says. In 1967, he was posted to the 4th Battalion Royal Ranger Battalion as the Unit’s Intelligence Officer, and also as the 2IC of a Company. In april that year he was appointed the Military Intelligence Officer of Selangor and attached as staff Officer to the Selangor Special Branch HQ. In early May 1969, when things were brewing in Kelantan, he was appointed MIO of Kelantan. “The last appointment was held by a British Officer who had died of a heart attack. It was at this time that communist activity had reared its ugly head in Kelantan. During the May 13th riots, I was recalled back to Bukit Aman.” Back in Kelantan in late May, Augustin had to deal with the 10th regiment of the Communist Party of Malaya which had infiltrated the state. He looks back with pride at his team’s successes in combating the infiltration. “Prior to May 1970, for more than 11 years, the country did not have much combat success, but in May 1970, we got our first three kills, five surrenders and two captures. We also recovered their food dumps. After several confrontations with us the enemy retreated to South Thailand.” Flushed from this success, Augustin was dismayed to discover a month later, enemy documents indicating a plot to abduct his son Fitzgerald who was then five. Overnight he drove his family back to Kuala Lumpur, where he was subsequently appointed MIO of Selangor, at the same time becoming a visiting lecturer at the National Special Branch School in Kuala Lumpur. A later appointment as Staff Officer 3 Intelligence West Malaysia resulted in him attending a course in 1971 at the School of British Service Intelligence in the United Kingdom together with students from 13 countries worldwide. “We studied strategies in intelligence work, security and counter espionage.” For his valiant efforts in Kelanatan, in 1972, he was “Mentioned in Dispatches” and was bestowed with the “Keputusan Perutusan Keberanaian” by his Majesty, the King. This was an honour in recognition of his bravery. Other awards he has received are the AMN (1972), PJK (1979) and the DPMJ which carries the title Datuk (1980). In 1989 he was appointed a Justice of Peace. After he resigned his army Commission in 1973, Augustin took up the post of First Chief Security Officer of the Kuala Lumpur Hilton. This marked the beginning of his entry into the corporate sector. In the course of the next few years, he became personnel and industrial relations manager in various organizations, among which was the Toray Pen-group of Companies. In 1984, he became the company’s group personnel manager and was subsequently appointed executive director of the group. While at Toray he initiated scholarships for research at USM and UM. “Upon retiring in 199, we stopped the scholarship and initiated the Malaysia Toray Science Foundation with a RM$4 million base. This foundation aids research in the fields of science, education, innovation and environment.” In 1991, Augustin joined MBF as senior vice-president of group human resource development and protection, and then moved on to head the group’s special security projects in the capacity of senior vice president. In June 1993, he resigned from the post and joined Wira Security Services as Chief General Manager. He retired last March. Today, Augustin sits on the board of Directors of the Malaysian Assurance Alliance Berhad and has several offers to chew upon. The free time he has on hand he devotes to reading and visiting non-built up areas like Kuala Pilah, Jelebu and Fraser’s Hill for recreation. “ I like to read books on jungle warfare and survival as well as those about labour laws. British author Noel Barber is one of my favourites.” “ I have never played gold,” he says. “Not even when I was offered cheap membership while stationed in Port Dickson. Those days, many people played golf not for recreation but to rub shoulders with VIP’s. I don’t believe there is any necessity to do this. Fawning on someone is so phoney. I believe in telling the truth, even if it doesn’t sit well with superiors. At the end of the day, truth wins.” He is also intolerant of misconduct and non-enforcement of policies that are meant for the good of the majority. He subscribes to the Special Air Service motto which read: “Who Dares, Wins.” “ I believe in this a hundred percent.” End The above interview was Dato’s last and it appeared in The New Starits Times in 1997. On the 1st February 1999 Datin Sharon passed away and one year and three months later Dato passed away. Dato was devastated after the death of datin. Information has it that Dato was the first MIO taken form the Royal Ranger Regiment and since Dato’s success was the first in many years it can be said that it was therefore a Ranger Officer who in his capacity as MIO that obtained the results. Dato was also the first core group of Intelligence Officers that were grouped even before the inception of the Intelligence Corps.
