Kota Kinabalu has never failed to excite me – it is a melting pot where thousands of illegal immigrants have fitted in well with the local inhabitants.
Hemmed in by the Crocker Ranger, KK as the city is known, is the linchpin to a myriad of adventure sites such as South East Asia’s highest mountain the 4,095m-high Gunung Kinabalu and a pristine western coastline that reaches “the end of world” at the tip of the Kudat peninsular.
I was invited to the city by harbour pilot Captain Lubin Chiew to attend his mother’s 87th birthday at the Kinabalu Golf Club’s seaside property and to meet his Eurasian family members last week.
For me the KK visit was an opportunity to meet long-lost friends such as lawyer Annuar Tan Sri Ghani Gilong – one of the pioneers of the historic 1997 5,000km Trans Borneo Expedition.
It was also to catch up with two former NST staff correspondents – Datuk Joniston Bangkuai and Joseph Joswan Bingkasan.
I was only unable to catch up with Joniston who is the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) assemblyman for Kiulu and former chairman of the Sabah Tourism Board; he who hosted me to a “beef steak” dinner at his Taman Graceland home on the eve of the nomination day of the Sandakan by-election.
I had also planned to interview PBS’ leader Tan Sri Pairin Kitingan but his younger brother Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said he was busy with the by-election.
I had interviewed Jeffrey, the chairman of the local party STAR, on my last visit and this time I had hoped that an arrangement could be made to interview Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Shafie Apdal.
Luck was on my side when by chance, I met Sabah Times journalists Eric Bagang and John Gordon and was told that the Chief Minister was holding an interview at the Kinabalu Airport on the eve of the by-election.
Coincidentally, I had met a year earlier in Tarakkan in North Kalimantan; Eric had been sent to cover a BIMP-EAGA conference and I was on my way home after visiting the Apo Kayan highlands bordering Sarawak’s Belaga district.
I had another interesting encounter at the Kinabalu airport with the Chief Minister’s consultant press officer Colin Forsyth whom I had known when I was consultant public relations officer of Sarawak Chief Minister Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud in 1999.
Another big surprise unravelled at Shafie Apdal’s press conference when his burly police bodyguard approached me and asked if I was James Ritchie.
Corporal Daimler who was with the special “Unit Tindak Khas” force, was the younger brother of a Kenyah boy named Lian whom I had “saved” 34 years ago.
On that fateful day in 1985, I had hitched a ride with Belaga Member of Parliament Datuk Justine Jinggut to the remote Kenyah Badang village of Long Gang to write about a community who were opposed to the proposed RM7.3 billion Bakun Hydro-electric Dam.
On that trip, Lian’s father Okang, a poor farmer, told me that his six-year-old hole-in-the heart son was in danger of dying as his doctor said his heart was infected by a virus.
On returning to Kuching I contacted Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Chan Hong Nam who arranged for Lian’s immediate evacuation by helicopter to Kuching’s Normah Medical Specialist Centre where he was treated at an exorbitant cost at the government’s expense.
Daimler told me the good news. “After Lian recovered my older brother and I decided to join the police. We were both good swimmers and the Balui River was our training ground. Lian was first to be recruited as a police commando with Vat 69 and I followed suit; later both of us were assigned to protect the Prime Minister.”
But that was not the end of the story because on the eve of my departure that evening, I received a call from the Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly Datuk Amar Asfia Awang Nassar who told me a Kuala Lumpur VIP was looking for me.
“He wants you to attend the Darul Hana function in Kuching tonight,” Asfia said.
I tried very hard to guess who it was and then concluded that he must been part of the royal entourage accompanying the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Al Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin ibni Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah and the Queen Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimuna Iskandiariah.
As I knew the royal couple well and was awarded the title Ahli Mahkota Pahang by the King’s father Sultan Ahmad Shah in 2000, it could have been one of them.
I recall that in 1986 the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Iskandar, the Queen’s father, “ordered” me to accompany him on his tour of Sarawak – to Kapit, Bintulu and Miri – and the RMAF obliged and arranged for my flights.
Since it was too late to attend the Kuching function and as a recipient of a prestigious Pahang award, I may have to visit Kuala Lumpur soon to apologise!
As they say, better late than never!
And since it’s the fasting month I would like to wish my Muslim countrymen, “Selamat Berpuasa”.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
