MEETING people who risk life and limb to protect the country is a rare opportunity. In my line of duty, I’ve had my share of encounters with them, especially those from the Armed Forces and police.
I cannot explain why, but every time I hear their stories, I’m moved to tears. It could be due to the fact that my late father was an ex-soldier, and he had to work hard to support my family, even long after his service had ended. The many tales recounted by ex-servicemen or their families are often heart-wrenching.
Despite the various government initiatives, there are numerous sad cases of unsung heroes and the plight of their families, as I recently found out during the VAT 69 Commando Veterans Association annual general meeting (AGM) in Hulu Kinta, which was opened by Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.
Association president Datuk Mohd Rani Abd Rashid admitted that a substantial number of its 300 members did not receive medals or any form of recognition or financial aid for their years of sacrifice.
The association’s office, where the meeting was held, was an indication of this — a nondescript rented shoplot not far from the General Operations Force headquarters, which used to be their former base.
VAT 69 is part of the police Special Operations Force, a paramilitary and elite counterterrorism tactical unit. The other is the Special Action Unit, better known in Bahasa Malaysia as Unit Tindakan Khas, or UTK.
One veteran, Halim Ishak, confided that because their assignments had always been cloaked in secrecy, they had learned not to share their predicaments with others. Former commandos, in particular, are reluctant to divulge their problems.
“They are more conservative.”
Halim is among the youngest of the veterans at 52 years old.
As if to push this point home, he gesticulated to a 65-year-old gentleman, retired sergeant-major Sallehuddin Omar, whose hearing was impaired from a bomb explosion. He communicated with me through WhatsApp.
“As a former commando, we should not stoop that low and beg for aid or acknowledgement,” he wrote, adding that he depended mostly on his monthly pension.
As one of the remaining members of the first batch of VAT 69 Commandos, Sallehuddin said his only wish was that the “powers-that-be” set up a museum to highlight their contributions.
“Most veterans are ailing and may forget their memories of serving in the VAT 69 force. Camp Zabri, located in the Temenggor forest, is the most ideal site for the museum. It was the jungle where my boss got killed,” he wrote.
He was referring to the police commando camp named after Assistant Superintendent Mohd Zabri Abdul Hamid, who was killed by a booby trap set up by communist insurgents in Hulu Perak in 1975.
Sallehuddin said the memory of that incident was still fresh in his mind, as if it was just yesterday.
He was part of a team hunting for communist insurgents in the area. Zabri, he said, was killed when the team was on its way to evacuate two wounded comrades to an extraction point.
The state government has yet to decide on the fate of Camp Zabri, but the AGM ended on a high note when Husni, the Tambun member of Parliament, announced that he would help source an allocation for the association’s permanent office at Tanjung Rambutan.
Costing about RM800,000, the three-storey building can serve as the information centre or mini-museum to highlight the members’ contributions and services to the country.
It was good reason for the members to cheer and leave the meeting in good spirits — footprints for future generations to appreciate and understand what their forefathers had gone through to protect this country.
M. Hamzah Jamaludin is a UM science graduate who refuses to follow Einstein’s path, and chooses journalism for a more colourful life. It’s a crucial decision that helps spare dozens of labs and research facilities from accidental explosions.