Former RECCE scout David Muyai
OFTEN we hear stories from battle-scarred veterans that war or combat demands a special kind of courage — both physical and moral.
While some may see it as their ability to face hardships with steely determination, to others, it may be their readiness to confront challenges that put not only their their emotional well-being and reputations but also their lives on the line.
Their stories frequently inspire courage that rubs off on others. It’s a striking part of the experience of war or combat.
For David Muyai, the interest to be in uniform and the fear of the unexpected in combat were what kept him going and constantly on his toes when he signed up as a rifleman during the early years of his career in the armed forces. He was frequently deployed with his squad to conduct reconnaissance on the communist insurgents in the jungles of Sarawak and peninsular Malaysia in the 70’s.
“Everybody prayed a lot,” said David, now in his early 60s, and from Kampung Sinibong Singgai in Bau.
“You did some things you never knew or thought you could during an ambush or a skirmish.”
When David joined the armed forces in 1973, he was still a bachelor.
He felt he was lucky to have survived a communist ambush while on a scouting mission in Ulu Kinta, Perak, in June 1977.
In the surprise attack around 9.45am, a corporal, a sergeant and a second lieutenant were killed.
Former Ranger Belitong Ranggi
“I came very close to death that day. I was seriously wounded in my right arm and hospitalised for a month.
“When something like that happened, you were so preoccupied with surviving that the thought that you could die anytime did not hit you at first.
“After a while when you felt less numb, you suddenly realised you were in mortal danger. Honestly, I was scared to death — it was the scariest moment of my life.”
David lost a lot of blood but said: “Luck was on my side. I could have died but thank God, the rescue helicopter arrived just when things were getting worse.
“When things quietened down, my colleagues set a fire to indicate our location. The helicopter arrived around 1pm and winched me up,” he said, showing the scar of the bullet wound in his right arm.
He said three communists died during the firefight while several of their wounded managed to escape.
Before the 1977 incident, David had been involved in many clashes with the communists not only in the peninsula but also Sarawak.
“Believe me, we got ambushed a lot. One I remember well happened in Lundu in 1975.
“I was a recce scout and always in the front. The risks were high, especially for the recce scout,” he said.
There were no casualties in that ambush.
“None of us was wounded but we saw blood in the area where the shots originated and we believed some of the communists were injured during the exchange,” David recalled.
The ambush in Ulu Kinta was the last reconnoitering mission for David as he was subsequently assigned to do light work – mainly in the office.
David retired in 1983 as a private. He was awarded the Kepujian Perutusan Keberanian (KPK) after four years in the service.
Malaysia has five gallantry awards – SP (Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa), PGB (Pingat Gagah Berani), JPP (Jasa Perkasa Persekutuan), PTU (Pingat Tentera Udara) and KPK (Kepujian Perutusan Keberanian).
After retiring, he worked in the Bau District Council until he retired.
He is now the village head of Kampung Sinibong, Singgai.
Another combat veteran, Belitong Ranggi, 67, from Kampung Grogo, also demonstrated his loyalty to the country during the communist insurgency.
“In the heat of battle, it was hard to tell what was going on with all the bullets flying around you.
“You either shoot or be shot. Although I was in the signal battalion, I had seen live exchange of gunfire,” he said.
Once such incident happened in Ipoh, Perak, in the 70’s during a reconnaissance.
Belitong said during the skirmish, two communists were shot dead while an army captain from Sibu was hit in the chest.
“We from the signal unit were behind the riflemen. The injured captain was in charge of the operation. He caught a stray bullet.
“It happened right in front of my eyes. I even helped pull him to safety. Thank God, he was saved.”
The communist insurgency, also known as the Second Malayan Emergency, occurred from 1968 to 1989, involving the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the Malaysian security forces.
Following the end of the Malayan Emergency in 1960, the Malayan Races Liberation Army, the armed wing of the MCP, retreated across the Malaysian-Thai border where it regrouped and retrained for future offensives against the Malaysian government.
The communist insurgency officially began when the MCP ambushed security forces in Kroh, Betong, in the northern part of peninsular Malaysia, on June 17, 1968. The conflict also coincided with renewed racial tensions in peninsular Malaysia and the Vietnam War.
While the MCP received some limited support from the People’s Republic of China, this support ended when Kuala Lumpur and Beijing established diplomatic relations in June 1974.
In 1970, the MCP experienced a schism which led to the emergence of two breakaway factions — the Communist Party of Malaya–Marxist-Leninist (CPM–ML) and the Revolutionary Faction (CPM–RF).
Instead of declaring a state of emergency as the British had done previously, the Malaysian government responded to the insurgency by introducing several policy initiatives, including the Security and Development Programme (Kesban) Rukun Tetangga (Neighbourhood Watch), and the Rela Corps (People’s Volunteer Group).
The communist insurgency ended on December 2, 1989 when the MCP signed a peace accord with the Malaysian government at Hatyai in southern Thailand. This coincided with the collapse of the Eastern Bloc regimes.
Besides the communist insurgency, another communist insurrection also occurred in Sarawak which joined the Federation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963.
Belitong said during those days, military scouting missions were often ambushed — and exposed to not only gunfire but also booby traps.
“Two in my batch were booby trap victims. Both lost their foot,” he added.
Like the rest of the old warriors, who served during the communist insurgency, David and Belitong felt the war veterans deserved better, especially in terms of pension.
David is not eligible for pension, having served in the army for only 10 years, but he feels the veterans’ welfare, including pension, should be seriously look into.
He said as the cost of living kept rising, veterans who earned very little from their pension, were struggling to make ends meet.
Belitong lamented that when he retired on July 24, 1987 as a corporal, he only received a RM305 pension. Now, he is receiving RM805 a month.
“Presently, a retired corporal receives between RM1,500 and RM1,600 a month while mine is only RM805.
“Can you see the gap? I’m also a corporal. We have sacrificed our life and family for the nation to put an end to the communist insurgency.
“We are not asking for the same amount, but at least raise our pension to RM1,200 a month,” he suggested.
The gap in pension was one of the issues raised during the recent Tasik Biru Veterans Association dialogue with Veterans Affairs Department director-general Major General Dato Wira Mohd Noor Daud in Bau.