CAREFREE: Dr Morely (front) and Bob (right) enjoy the environment in Bukit Lima Forest Reserve.
AT EASE: (From right) Dr Morely, Rudi, Bob, Melintan and a friend at the lookout tower.
SIBU: Australian Bob Pinkerton has visited Borneo 137 times in the past five years, something he deems a personal achievement.
He said he really liked to be in the world’s third largest island.
“It is very interesting to be here. Borneo people are wonderful,” he told reporters when met at Bukit Lima Forest Reserve here on Monday.
But most of all, this historian said he was thankful to Borneoens for looking after his father, the late Lieutenant R J D Pinkerton, a veteran of the Second World War (WWII).
“If not for the Borneo people, I would not be here at all,” he said.
According to Bob, his father was involved in Semut Operations between 1943 and 1945.
Semut Operations, which started in Bario, was undertaken by Z Special Unit, an Allied special force to operate behind Japanese lines in South East Asia. The members comprised Australians, British, Dutch, New Zealanders, Timorese and Indonesians.
In Borneo, the unit conducted surveillance, harassed attacks and sabotages and trained the natives in resistance activities.
Bob said his father was known as Tuan Pink Orang Tinggi among the Kelabit of Bario.
“His mission was to go north to Lawas to track down the Japanese while some of his colleagues came down to Kapit through Sibu by Catalina aircraft.
“The landing point was somewhere around here in Bukit Lima Forest Reserve. I am not sure where but I will find out,” he said, adding that his frequent visit to Borneo was to see personally where his father went and who his friends were.
Bob was accompanied by his colleague Dr Doughlas Morely during his visit to Sibu.
Leading them on a guided tour were Melintan Ina and Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) Sibu executive Rudi Anoi.