A WEEK had passed and the jungle platoon had run out of rations.
The Tactical Headquarters at the Rajang Area Security Command (Rascom) Sibu had been informed of their need for supplies through the radio communication system.
The search and destroy party of the Malaysian Rangers still had one more week to continue their search for communist hideouts in the jungles of Sibu. As they combed the area of tangled vegetation and dense undergrowth, they came across an empty wooden house on silts.
Upon checking, they assumed it was safe for them to put up in the house while waiting for rations to arrive the next day. In the wee hours of the morning, it was still dark and they could not see anything suspicious.
After everyone had bunked in, the silence of approaching dawn was abruptly shattered by a powerful explosion from home-made bombs planted under the house. It was a communist trap.
The incident occurred around 4.45am on Oct 28, 1971, recalled Sgt Dajai Anggie, who was leading one of the groups in the platoon from the First Malaysian Ranger Regiment to search for and destroy suspected communist hideouts and harass the cadres in a mopping-up campaign code-named Operation Ngayau.
The explosion was so powerful that it caused Dajai and his platoon mates to momentarily lose consciousness (for about four minutes).
“When I came to, most of us were on the ground as the upper floor had collapsed. My ears were still ringing from the sound of the explosion. After a short while, I started to hear the sound of shotguns and automatic firearms.
“Bullets were flying and hitting the walls of the house — only then did we realise we were being attacked, trapped and surrounded,” he recalled.
Dajai said everyone was stunned. At that moment, he heard Ranger Nyabong say he was dying.
Dajai yelled at Ranger Arshad over the radio, asking him about the communication signal. When he heard Arshad’s voice, he shouted out to him to relay their position to Tactical Headquarters.
“I shouted to him that our position was GR 790251. He immediately informed Battalion Headquarters in Sibu that our platoon was under attack.”
Dajai said a few rounds fired by the enemy then hit the radio, rendering it useless.
The Malaysian Rangers crest.
Fightback by Rangers
Platoon personnel were looking desperately for their weapons. They crawled in the dark, looking for cover from the hail of bullets fired by the enemy.
Dajai said as he was trying to get his group of Rangers in proper firing positions, the enemy shouted at them to surrender unconditionally. This was repeated several times.
Instead of giving in, Dajai rallied his men with shouts of “Agi Idup Agi Ngelaban”. At first, none of the Rangers responded to the battle cry.
“I yelled again — only this time, there was a resounding ‘Agi Idup Agi Ngelaban’ from the platoon,” he said.
According to Dajai, the battle cry — which means to fight to the death — brought out the warrior spirit in the Rangers to engage the enemy in close quarters combat.
He said after one Ranger was killed and another seriously injured, the platoon only had 15 men left to fight about 30 insurgents. Instead of submitting to the demand to surrender, the Rangers counter-attacked with hand grenades and gunfire.
“I threw two hand grenades at the enemy. The others were thrown by fellow Rangers but only mine exploded,” Dajai said, adding that at that point, he simply had no fear or thoughts of conceding defeat.
“While waiting for support from Rascom Tactical Headquarters, we continued to exchange fire — until I ran out of bullets and had to ask some of my men for reloads.”
At that time, he was using a Sterling machine gun.
He said the communist guerillas were, in fact, stunned by the Rangers’ response as they had thought they had the upper hand.
Dajai noted that as the fighting turned in the Rangers’ favour, he heard the enemy shouting to one another to retreat.
“I saw some of them dragging their wounded from the battle scene. I then led my group to trace the enemy’s probable withdrawal routes. The rest of the platoon were ordered to take up defensive positions around the house.”
Dajai said when the support troops from One Company at Kem Kelupu, Bintangor, arrived around 7.30am, the enemy had fled. Five communists were killed while the Rangers lost one man with another wounded during the contact.
For his outstanding valour in keeping with the highest tradition of the Ranger Corps, Dajai was bestowed the Pingat Gagah Berani by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Dec 23, 1971.
Direct contacts with enemy
The Operation Ngayau firefight was just one of Dajai’s direct experiences with the enemy in his 21 years of service with the Malaysian Armed Forces.
The following year in 1972, Dajai’s platoon had another head-on contact with two communists – one female and one male – at Mile 6, Sibu Road. As usual, he was leading his men in search of communist hideouts when suddenly, he was ambushed by two communist cadres.
“They were about 30 feet from me. They opened up at me first with their shotguns. The bullets ripped into my army fatigues on the right side of my chest and grazed my right arm. I thank God, none of the pellets hit my chest or my body,” he said.
Dajai responded by shooting the female cadre and charging at the male cadre, who was reloading his shotgun at the time.
“When I reached him, I grabbed his home-made shotgun and shot him. Both of them were killed and their guns are still kept in the First Ranger’s Museum at Rascom,” he said.
Altogether, Dajai had seven direct contacts, including one mistaken clash with the Malaysian commandos in Ulu Kinta, Ipoh, Perak in 1969.
He said prior to the contact with the commandos, his platoon was searching for communist jungle hideouts in the same area. The Rangers were not aware of the presence of the commandos, who had arrived earlier.
While looking for the whereabouts of the enemy, the Rangers heard gunshots not far from their position. They thought the communists were shooting at them, so they took up their position and fired back.
“The exchange lasted quite sometime. From the sound of the gunfire, I realised both sides were using the same weapon – M16 assault rifles – and could be on the same side as well,” Dajai recalled.
He then asked his men to cease fire and he introduced himself as a sergeant from the First Malaysian Rangers special squad. In reply, the commander of the other side said he was Major Wong from the Malaysian Commandos.
According to Dajai, at that time, both sides were searching for the Malayan communists, led by Chin Peng and Rashid Midin. Before their contact with the Rangers, the commandos were shooting at the communists trying to flee their hideouts.
Dajai points to where on his uniform he was hit by shotgun pellets during Operation Ngayau.
Scary experience
For Dajai, however, none of his seven direct contacts was as scary as when the boat he and his platoon were travelling in capsized in Muara Tebas at the mouth of Sungai Sarawak close to the South China Sea.
He was leading his platoon to provide support for another platoon under attack by the communists in the vicinity of the coastal enclave of Bako.
“I can’t remember what year that was but I will never forget the experience — my scariest. Our boat was moving behind another boat when it hit a freak wave and overturned. There were eight of us on board and all had to swim to the bank, clinging desperately to our guns and ammo magazines,” he related.
Dajai – now 70 years old but still looking strong and healthy — left his longhouse Rumah Anggie Assin in Betong, Saribas to report for duty in Sri Aman on Nov 19, 1962.
He then left Sri Aman for Kuching on the vessel Rajah Brooke plying the Batang Lupar before heading to Singapore. From there, he proceeded to Sungai Petani by train for a six-month drill course and weapons training — plus another three months of field or tactical training in Golok, Kedah, on the Malaysian-Thai border.
Dajai completed his training with the Gurkhas. Subsequently, he was posted back to Sarawak and served in Lubok Antu before being re-posted to Taiping, Perak in 1969.He returned to serve in Sarawak in 1970 until he retired on March 3, 1985.
Lack of recognition
Dajai, who lives on his pension and PGB allowance, lamented that despite their immense sacrifices and contributions to the defence of the nation against both internal and external threats, many surviving Sarawakian Rangers seem to not be getting due recognition from the government.
“As a show of respect and recognition for their sacrifices to the nation, I suggest the authorities invite the next of kin of the fallen warriors to government-organised events like the Malaysia Day celebration or the birthday parades of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or the Head of State.
“In the past, you hardly saw — or never at all — the next of kin or children of the fallen warriors being invited to such ceremonies, which, to me, is really sad,” he said.
To the serving young soldiers today, Dajai hopes they will uphold discipline and obey the commands of their superiors.
“From my personal observation, discipline among young soldiers today is a bit lacking compared with before.
“I don’t know the cause(s), but it’s important for soldiers to be highly disciplined and obedient to their superiors’ commands,” he said.