Sgt Dajai PGB  with Awang anak Raweh George Cross

Their objective was to assist in the welfare of the hundreds of “forgotten”Sarawak policemen attached to the Border Scouts (BS), Police Field Force (PFF), Special Branch (SB) as the Sarawak Ranger Regiment. ASP Gomez, a Sarawak Iban lawyer Gomez and Ranger Regiment Warrant Officer Dajai anak Angie were among committee decorated who had won Panglima Gagah Berani (PGB) which is Malaysia’s second highest award for gallantry.

Under the constitution and by virtue of being the son of Sarawak’s first Malaysian Commissioner of Police, I was appointed honorary secretary. It was family friend Hthe Veterans Association of Malaysia in 1955-- who motivated Sarawak to start our own separate veterans association. Harold who operated as a guerilla while living with Semai community of Cameron Highlands, likened the Dayaks to the loyal Orang Asli community who had joined the anti-Japanese army fight the Japanese.

After the formation of Malaysia in 1963, Harold felt that both the Orang Asli and Dayaks of Sarawak were not duly rewarded or recognised by the government and so he formed the Penang Veterans Association in 1996. At that time a census by the Sarawak veterans association showed there were a large number of “forgotten” members of the security forces—including a few score of ex-trackers, about 1,000 Border Scouts, Sarawak PFF, SB and Sarawak Ranger Regiment personnel.

Even today, there are several hundred surviving Border Scouts and Sarawak soldiers who had served the country well but felt they were short-changed. Among the families some of forgotten heroes are that of Cpl Natu bin Kadir who was killed by communists in a roadblock along the Old Serian road in 1952, Cpl Kim Huat and PCs Bujang Mohamad, Wan Jamaluddin and Insol anak Chundang who were killed in the Limbang Rebellion of 1962 and former Chief Minister Tan Sri Stephen Kalong Ningkan’s brother Sgt Simon Peter who was killed defending the Siburan police station against terrorists.

Others who sacrificed their lives for the country were PFF commander Supt Johnny Mustapha after he was killed in a comunist ambush at Stabau in Sibu together with PCs Nuing anak Saling and Abang Masri Mohd Nor on April 6, 1975 Nearly 50 Border Scouts have been killed while defending the country—nine Kenyah natives against Indonesian terrorists at Long Jawe in Belaga and 12 Iban against the communists at Ulu Sungei Ngemah in Kanowit on August 27, 1970 Special branch Inspector Herman Wong Teck Hung who was assassinated by two terrorists on a motor-cycle in front of his home at Jalan Oya in Sibu on December 1, 1970 was the most senior special branch officer to be killed.

One of the most tragic deaths was the killing of Iban headman Penghulu Imban anak Medan who was tortured by the before he was shot and his body mutilated by terrorists at his longhouse at Nanga Skuau on February 25, 1972. The terrorists had promised to spare his life if he agreed to work with them, but he refused and was brutalised before he was murdered.

In a letter to the Chief Minister on March 10, 2002 Sarawak’s Special Branch head the late Datuk Lawrence Lim Eng Liong said that the Sarawak Communists took care of their comrades even after they were killed. He said that in the case of the death of Iban communist leader Ubong anak Nuing hundreds of former communists turned up at his funeral. Lawrence who gave a copy of the letter to me personal lamented:

“If Ubong is accorded as a hero, why not the late Supt Johnny Mustapha, Inspector Harmon Wong, Sergeant Major Edward Kula and Cpl Kong Siew Lung and forty five other police personnel? “What about the military—eighty of them personnel from 1st Ranger and the Malay Regiment? What about the civilians, including the late Penghulu Imban and 120 three of them? They all lost their lives, gone with history, named also forgotten, being buried in the files.”

Even though Lawrence passed away on January 7, 2006, his plea has not fallen upon deaf ears. Three former Sarawak policemen who served Sarawak well and died for the country--Supt Johnny Mustapha, the late Special Branch chief Datuk Alli Kawi who was one of those who played a role in the surrender of the communist leader Bong Kee Chok in 1973 and Malaysia’s surviving recipient of the George Cross Awang anak Raweng—received State awards in 2018. As the saying goes—better late than never!