Birds rising in flight is a sign that the enemy is lying in ambush; when the wild animals are startled and flee he is trying to take you unawares.
– Sun Tzu, Chinese military strategist
Part 2
When the NKCP’s 1st and 2nd Bureaus returned from Indonesia in the 1970s they came with an arsenal of automatic weapons. They were bent on murder.
After the formation of the armed work force (AWF) in Sarawak’s Third Division (Sibu, Kapit and Belaga) the CTs were also planning to ambush remote or unprotected police and Border Scout location to weaken the resolve of the state government.
Their opportunity came on August 27, 1970 when they lured a group of 16 Border Scouts from their base camp at Song into a death trap at Ulu Ngemah near Kapit during the weekend.
Sarawak’s SB head Datuk Lawrence Lim Eng Liong in a detailed report following a debriefing by the Border Scout commander, Inspector Pasa Aran, said being a Sunday, the Border Scouts were either at the coffee shop drinking, gambling or at cockfight sessions.
A Kelabit, Inspector Pasa, was on duty at Kanowit bazaar about one hours away from the camp, leaving second in command Cpl Numbu to take charge.
Lim said he received information that the CTs operating in the area had hung anti-government leaflets in the upper reaches of the Ngemah River.
“Cpl Numbu reacted and rounded up all the Border Scouts in town. Outboard driver Border Scout Anudah was waiting in his longboat equipped with a 40-horsepower engine at the jetty in front of the town,” said Lim.
But in their enthusiasm to pursue the enemy, Cpl Numbu failed to inform his superior commanding officer Insp Pasa of the information he had received.
Instead of waiting, Cpl Numbu gathered Border Scouts Galau, Patau, Jantu, Edward Sli, Kanching, Dimba, Sekudang, Priyoh, Lat, Kelabit, Dusi, Brian, and Tukau and left in a hurry.
The banners that the CTs hung, halfway up the Ngemah River, poked fun at government security forces, apparently challenging the Border Scouts to a fight.
At 2 pm after being crammed for about six hours in the longboat, they reached the Sungai Tugam-Sungai Matau junction, where 45 heavily-armed terrorists were waiting in position on the hill slopes.
On reaching the “killing zone”, the CTs did not give them a chance pumping bullets into the vessel and killing all but three.
The three who were injured and realised there was no chance of escape, dived into the river and survived to tell their story.
Armed with an assortment of Sten submachine guns, 229 submachine guns and automatic rifles, the CTs had laid a rantau (a fishing drift net) across the river, which was at one of the river’s narrow junctions.
When the longboat ran into the net and overturned, the CTs who were waiting by the slope of the river bank opened fire, giving the Border Scouts little or no chance of returning fire.
Lim in his report said that Cpl Numbu and his men were in such a hurry that they did not undergo the normal operational briefing before any raid. They left without a radio.
“Insp Pasa Aran anxiously waited the whole day and when there was no sign of their return suspected that something was amiss.
“The CTs had put the posters up to lure the security forces. Pasa knew that the 16 Border Scouts were sitting ducks.”
Lim said Border Scouts Kelabit, Dusi and Tukau who were seriously wounded, faked death and floated downriver and survived before they were rescued by headman Penghulu Ajut and his followers.
In an interview, Insp Pasa who was furious that Cpl Numbu had left without informing him said: “When I received word of the tragedy, I sped to the scene of the ambush with only a pistol and an outboard driver to do whatever I could.”
But not before informing Sarawak Rangers who later arrived at the scene and helped recover the bodies of Pasa’s men.
That night Penghulu Ajut asked Pasa and his driver to sleep at the teachers’ quarters instead of the longhouse.
Added Pasa: “They were afraid that if the heavily-armed CTs found out I had stayed at the longhouse, they would later return to the longhouse and take revenge on the inhabitants for sheltering me.”
After the incident, Lawrence compiled the list of names of the 45 CTs who were involved in the ambush and the sophisticated weapons that the CTs used, which included 13 Sten guns, four Thompson guns and 28 Lee Enfield rifles.
Lim, who knew the Border Scouts personally, lamented: “It was a day of mourning for the families, colleagues and friends of the dead Border Scouts, whose bodies were sent back to their respective longhouses.
“Had these 16 Border Scouts come back with dead CTs, they all would have been hailed as heroes. Now they all had been forgotten.”
Pasa – who was trained by the 22nd Special Air Service (SAS), during the Confrontation – was demoted by a superior officer without a proper hearing and not long later resigned from the force.
Next week (Part 3): Reign of Terror: Child ‘spies’ and CT brutality
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
