The original article is taken from Major D Swami (R)’s blog and has obtained his permission to publish it on this website.
From the information derived from the Special Branch on the 27th May 1979, the 2nd Brigade Commander, Brigadier General Mohammed Daud bin Abu Bakar, launched an operation named “Gerakan Setia 8/79” (Operation Loyalty 8/79 – a rough translation). This was launched around the Korbu Forest Reserve. The task befell 8 Rangers which was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel C.A. Loone (200104). The Enemy (Communist Terrorists) in that area was estimated to be around 30- 40 in strength.
They were from the Headquarters of the 5th Assault Unit of the Malayan Communist Party which was commanded by the Central Committee Member, named, Nam Yet. This was an elite and well armed unit of the MCP. The enemy was believed to be camping, in map coordinates QY 755445 and a smaller camp at QY 741433. Two Orang Asli (original people of Malaysia) who were familiar with the location of the two camps agreed to lead the the Rangers to these locations, for the assault. The Rangers involved were C Company of 8 Rangers, Special Recon Unit, two UCIS Platoons one of which was from 6 Royal Malay, the rest of the troops were 8 Rangers.
All the troops were under the command of OC C Company, Captain Othman bin Abdul Hamid (453161). The group moved from Camp Syed Putra (formerly known as Suvla Lines Camp) Jalan Tambun, Ipoh, Perak. They debussed at QT 734442 at around 2130 hours on the 26th May 1979. They continued on foot to Sungei Chemor. On the 27th May 1979 at around 1300 hours, two Rifle Companies of 8th Rangers and a Battery of Artillery moved to Post Legap at QY 647467, the following day moved on with the Battalion Tactical Headquarters to Post Yam at QY 729443. It was appreciated that the Enemy would likely contact the two Orang Asli on the 1st June 1979, the area was identified. All forces were ordered not to approach that particular area so as not to compromise the operation.
On the 29th May 1979, after breakfast, C Company picked up a trail and started tracking, they were set on this trail by the two Orang Asli. At around 1200 hours they arrived at a confluence of a two tributaries and found a small waterfall. The troops were ordered to halt and have their lunch there and also to cook for their dinner to be had very much later in the evening. Captain Othman felt strongly that they were on the enemy’s trail, he requested permission from Lieutenant Colonel C.A. Loone to leave a small unit to mount an ambush in that spot. He was denied that request. After lunch they continued tracking the Enemy, this was led by the Special Recon Unit of 8 Rangers commanded by 2Lt Wong Ang Peng (370688) which comprised of 9 men. The men in this group apart from 2 Lt Wong were :
1. 929394 Sergeant Mat Wan anak Anji Jau
2. 931635 Corporal Omar bin Awang Tengah
3. 931705 Lance Corporal Jirim anak Robot
4. 931722 Lance Corporal Zaini bin Mahli
5. 931509 Ranger Nyapi anak Kassim
6. 931713 Ranger Lai Chun Min
7. 932315 Ranger Dio anak Dris
8. 101077 Ranger Kamil bin Bujang
The leading scout of this group found that 3 twigs were laid on the trail, these twigs bore the traces of being cut. A halt was ordered by the leading scout, 2Lt Wong was called forward. Whilst Wong was discussing the ‘twigs’, the rest of the troops were ordered to discard their packs. Rangers Lai Chun Meng was ordered 30 meters forward to take up sentry duties whilst the discussion was going on. As Ranger Lai Chun Meng was moving to a location to take his post, he came across 3 Enemy Communist Terrorists at QY 796468. They were shocked for a moment, then everyone started firing. Ranger Lai Chun Meng had the good sense to take cover and return fire. There was an exchange of fire for around ten minutes. The enemy withdrew, after which they conducted a quick search and withdrew, as Captain Othman had ordered an artillery strike into that area, on the enemy likely withdrawal routes. The Artillery fire rained down into the area. After the Artillery fire was lifted the troops conducted another search.
Even though the Enemy managed to escape, they, in their haste left behind their packs, hammocks, a hand grenade, a compass, 154 rounds of ammo for their carbines and medicines for various ailments.
The UCIS Platoon of 8 Rangers was ordered up front to continue tracking. A Forward Observation Unit from the Artillery Unit in direct support of the operation, was deployed along with the UCIS in case they needed fire support. Another group from 8 Rangers was tasked to construct a heli pad to airlift all the Enemy’s captured equipment.
The following day for the UCIS Platoon of 8 Rangers under the command of 2Lt Mohana Kumaran al Ragupatty (370935) was divided into two groups, The Special Recon Unit was detached from C Company. This was to enable a wider search area to be covered. As the UCIS was conducting the search towards the East, the Platoon discovered two Enemy Camps on the 30 May 1979. They were located at QY 812497 and QY 816496. At that moment of discovery the UCIS Platoon had already merged. The UCIS Platoon of 6 Royal Malay which was commanded by Lt Rajie’ bin Mahmood (411638) also manged to be at that location. Apart from the UCIS Platoon Commander of 8 Rangers, 2Lt Mohana Kumaran al Ragupatty (370935) the rest of the platoon were :
1. 901738 Sergeant Kanang anak Langkau
2. 931729 Corporal Micheal Riman anak Bugat
3. 455669 Lance Corporal Mohd Nasir bin Mohd Nordin
4. 931894 Lance Corporal Wan Shapuddin bin Abu Kassim
5. 931705 Lance Corporal Jirim anak Robot
6. 931722 Lance Corporal Zaini bin Mahli
7. 932360 Lance Corporal Jampong anak Daong
8. 931879 Ranger Ali bin Amit
9. 931646 Ranger Baru anak agong
10. 931496 Ranger John anak Young
11. 931893 Ranger Osman bin Sahuk
12. 213573 Ranger Mohamad bin Tisman
13. 213613 Ranger Mustaffa Kamal bin Majid
14. 213614 Ranger Jamian bin Hj. Lajis
15. 1011276 Ranger Ramli bin Othman
16. 1011919 Ranger Baharuddin bin Yahaya
17. 1011426 Ranger Kotap bin Buang
18. 1012101 Ranger Abdullah bin Chik
19. 1011364 Ranger Rahim bin Saad
20. 1011336 Ranger Rosli bin Md Isa
21. 1011229 Ranger Abdullah bin Harun
22. 1011293 Ranger Zulhisham bin Shahrum
23. 1011643 Ranger Gopal al Supramaniam
24. 1012424 Ranger Muniandy al Govindaraju
25. 931899 Lance Corporal Abang Salleh bin Abang Morsihidi (Attachment form the Medical Corps)
26. 212057 Private Arif bin Harun (Attachment form the Medical Corps)
From that location they split from the UCIS of 6 Royal Malay, they tracked for a whole day as the trail looked very fresh. The two Orang Asli who were with them could no more identify locations as they themselves had never been there before. As they tracked and the day was getting dark they decided to base up. As they were looking for a suitable place to spend the night they came across a machete on the trail. They informed Captain Othman on their finding by radio. They were instructed to base up and continue the following morning. That night it rained very heavily.
C Company along with the Special Recon Unit managed to discover another Enemy camp on the afternoon of 30th May 1979, when they conducted an assault on it, it was found to be abandoned. No. 9 platoon under the command of 929390 Warrant Officer 2 Gandat anak Merdan was directed to conduct an ambush in the enemy camp’s location for some days. As the Orang Asli did not have further knowledge on the location of other camps, Lieutenant Colonel C.A Loone ordered the assault forces, which were C company, UCIS 8 Rangers and UCIS 6 Royal Malay to break up into smaller sub units. These was to enable a wider search. They were to conduct the search in all directions.
On the morning of 31st May 1979, the UCIS Platoon of 8 Rangers moved in a northerly direction whilst No.8 Platoon of 8 Rangers under the command of 2Lt Govinda Raj al Kanappan (370800)moved to the right , HQ C Company with the Special Recon Unit and UCIS 6 Royal Malay were at the rear. The UCIS of 8 Rangers found another Camp not far from their night’s resting place at QY 828499.. There were signs of 16 sleeping places. A search of the camp was conducted, where they discovered a cooking place, the fresh skin of tapioca and an empty milk can. The enemy force was estimated to be larger than the UCIS Platoon. 2Lt Mohana through radio contacted all subunits in the vicinity not to wander too far, as they could be mutually supporting, if near one another. They carefully searched the area, moving cautiously, they moved, always covered by other groups. This was done until late in the evening. Later, in the evening they ascended a small hill to spend the night there.
C Company’s HQ and the Special Recon Unit closed up to the UCIS Platoon. On 1st June 1979, in the morning, the UCIS Platoon continued tracking the enemy along a fresh trail, which was believed to have been used by the enemy. As the UCIS was moving they suddenly came across HQ C Company. This sudden encounter nearly resulted in a firefight and a disaster amongst the friendly forces. Thankfully it did not happen, after a few moments from this near disaster the UCIS Platoon of 6 Royal Malay married up with them. This increased their strength and fire power. After sentries were sent out, all were told to cook their lunch and cook for dinner. The Officers grouped to have a discussion. After the discussion a Recon Group commanded by Sergeant Kanang anak Langkau was directed to conduct a patrol along the trail leading to the bottom of the hill.
The patrol discovered that the trail left by the enemy was wide and still fresh. It was believed that it was recently used by the enemy. As they continued along the trail they came across a stream, here the signs of the enemy activity were even clearer. They found a temporary resting camp with signs that it was abandoned in haste. They found a cooking place which was still warm, which meant they abandoned the place in the morning. All these findings were reported to Captain Othman. Sergeant Kanang had predicted that day that they would come up to those signs that were found.
Corporal Micheal Riman relates the following, “ After having lunch, we continued moving, led by Section No. 1, which was commanded by me. We went back to the temporary enemy camp, after which we ascended a hill following a trail which was left by the enemy. I was leading in front. At that moment it rained even as the sun shined. After awhile it became heavy. As we were climbing uphill, a group of the soldiers behind me started running in a state of distress. This was because Lance Corporal Nasir had stepped on a nest of hornets in the ground. They were disturbed and were stinging most of the soldiers around the nest. When the excitement with the hornets had receded they continued with their now, very swollen faces. I was quite out of breath, I stopped and took shelter under a tree.
At that moment Sergeant Kanang passed me, taking over the lead, with a very determined look on his face. Over the peak and we started descending, Sergeant Kanang suddenly made a signal that there were enemy in front by pointing his thumb downwards. I signaled back to him, that if it was the enemy why not open fire. At first, I believed he was mistaken about seeing the enemy. I received a second vigorous signal about the enemy in front. I knew that he had spotted the enemy. I was excited.
Very slowly I placed my pack on the ground, with the intention of moving closer to Kanang. As I was on a very steep incline, without much ado or without me realizing it, my pack slid down the slope very speedily. That made one hell of a noise in the jungle.I held my breath for gunfire to rain in my direction. Thankfully the heavy rain drowned out the noise. After closing up to Sergeant Kanang’s position, he informed me that the enemy sentry was located between two big trees on the slope of the hill in front of us. He informed me that he spotted the enemy sentry when the sentry was moving around with his head covered in a light green plastic sheet, he covered his head with it from the rain. I could not see the Enemy sentry, what I saw was a woman terrorist who was half naked, taking up a squatting position, probably to urinate”.
After she had urinated the woman pulled on her slacks and moved to a tree to take cover from the rain. They stayed and watched the enemy location, they were worried that the Enemy would move away to a different location out of their sights. Corporal Riman ordered his Section forward. Ranger Mustaffa Kamal was the first to close up to their location. The rest came in cautiously. Captain Othman who was at the rear of the UCIS Platoon too received the signal about the Enemy. He moved forward to close up to Sergeant Kanang’s location. At that moment Kanang was around 50 meters from the enemy’s location. In front of them was a small stream. Not far from that particular stream was a a hill on which the Enemy were located. The Enemy sentry was located about a 100 meters away from the Enemy main force. Sergeant Kanang aimed his rifle at the enemy, for Captain Othman to take a look through the sights of Sergeant Kanang’s rifle. This was done as it was just too difficult to spot the enemy. Captain Othman managed to sight the enemy.
Time and the situation did not permit Captain Othman to conduct further recon on the Enemy’s position, to get a better picture of the Enemy’s defense layout. There’s a saying in the Infantry,”time spent on Recon is not wasted”. After appreciating the lay of the terrain and estimating the strength of the enemy, he decided to launch an assault using the UCIS Platoon of 8 Rangers, who were already in location. The edge of the river was to be used as a LD (Line of departure, sometimes also know as the Start Line – This is a line defined by physically identifiable patterns on the ground, or just a tape. This line is the line the troops cross which is the start of an assault). The H hour ( the time of assault, when troops cross the Line Of Departure) was at 1500 hours. Captain Othman directed the Assault group to empty one magazine in the direction of the enemy on automatic fire before the assault. He directed the UCIS Platoon of 6 Royal Malay to take up position as a “ Cut-Off”, behind the location of the enemy. 2Lt Govinda’s Platoon was assigned to act as a “Cut-Off” on the left of the enemy’s location. The men in 2Lt Govinda Raj’s Platoon were :
1. Corporal Ambrose anak Uning
2. 931608 Corporal Mohd Jamil bin Hj Abang Udin
3. 931588 Lance Corporal Amin bin Bujang
4. 212616 Lance Corporal Abd. Rani bin Bujang
5. 931739 Lance Corporal Zaidi bin Madal
6. 931654 Lance Corporal Kiprawi bin Basim
7. 931486 Ranger Mates anak Bean
8. 931813 Ranger Mahamad Nordin bin Enjah
9. 931956 Ranger Ajek anak Sulai
10. 931610 Ranger Abit anak Kuan
11. 931546 Ranger Lemon anak Suhin
12. 931923 Ranger Nyiup anak Donnai
13. 455684 Ranger Abdul Rahman bin Harun
14. 932254 Azman bin Abdullah
15. 1011633 Ranger Paul al Ayuvoo
16. 1011542 Ranger Tan Liam Chye
2Lt Mohana with a few of his men from the UCIS were ordered to act as “Cut-Off’s” on the right along with members of the Special Recon Unit. The FOO party (Forward Observation Officer-Artillery party) along with the soldiers who were ill were tasked to guard all unnecessary equipment left behind by the assault and cut-off groups.
Sergeant Kanang continued observing the Enemy sentry as the rain continued pouring heavily. Sergeant Kanang gave Corporal Micheal Riman and his men only 15 minutes to take up their assault positions, which was after the small stream at the extreme left at the foot of the hill. Some had to move to the right, in an extended formation facing the location of the Enemy, who happened to be at the top of the hill. In this formation the person on the extreme left was Rgr. Ramli, followed by Rgr. Baru, LCpl Ali, Rgr. Kotap,, Rgr Baharuddin, Rgr Johnnny, Cpl Omar, Sgt Kanang, Cpl Micheal Riman, LCpl Jampong and at the extreme right was Rgr Mustafa. They had to wait for the attack signal to commence the assault from Sgt Kanang. In a little while’s time when they had shook up into attack formation, Captain Othman and 2Lt Wong joined them. Cpl Micheal had at that moment handed over his M79 to Sgt Kanang. Most of them were not sure of the exact location of the enemy. Sgt Kanang instructed all of them to open fire in the direction, the M79 was fired. Sgt Kanang opened up with his M16, followed by a round from the M79. All of them opened up, with a resounding burst of fire, the battle at the Korbu Forest Reserve began.
The started “paper potting’( fire and movement ) toward the Enemy’s position. One group opened fire whilst one group moved, a continuous non stop movement to close up with the enemy, done in turns. Sgt Kanang led the assault with confidence in his men. The Enemy started returning fire from their location. The enemy’s fire power nearly overwhelmed them. The Enemy were opening up with all their automatic weapons in their arsenal at the Rangers. As they were moving a cry was heard , they saw Rgr Baharuddin’s weapon flung to the ground. They realized at that moment one of them was hit. Cpl Micheal and Sgt Kanang were too far away to assist him. Knowing that Rgr Baharuddin was hit the assault troops moved tenaciously led by Sgt Kanang and Cpl Micheal to close up with the enemy, they were 30 meters away from the enemy, when they heard cries of “Withdraw! Withdraw!” Sgt Kanang was puzzled , no one knew who was shouting out those orders. Sgt Kanang was furious asking, “Why withdraw, one of our men is down!” Hearing this order some of the men withdrew. Leaving only Cpl Micheal Riman and Sgt Kanang Langkau alone, to face the heavy fire of the enemy.
After a few moments of being left alone Sgt Mat Wan from the Special Recon Unit joined them, braving the Enemy fire by laying himself between Cpl Micheal Riman and Sgt Kanang. A number of others too had followed him. Sgt Kanang who was yelling very furiously asked for a grenade, as he had run out of 40mmm grenades for his M79. Cpl Micheal Riman passed the the grenade to Sgt Mat Wan, who in turn, passed the grenade to Sgt Kanang. Sgt Kanang on receiving the grenade lost no time in hurling it. The grenade hit the branch of a tree in front of them and bounced off, rolling towards Rgr Johnny. Sgt Kanang on seeing this yelled “Grenade!”
Rgr Johnny quick thinkingly, rolled down hill away from the danger, which landed in front of him. Cpl Micheal Riman moved forward and took cover behind a large tree. The expolsion did not hit them. Behind this particular tree, without him realizing it, was an enemy also taking cover there. The Enemy was a woman, who was wounded. Both of her thigh bones were broken. The woman terrorist was desperately, in pain, trying to pull out her carbine from under her legs to shoot Corporal Micheal Riman. She did not achieve her aim, he shot her dead first, in the chest. He moved, crawling and firing past the dead woman terrorist.
As he was crawling and firing in the direction of the Enemy, he saw an M16 flung from the arm of an Enemy. At that same moment a round from that enemy struck him in the arm. His rifle was flung from him. He went to retrieve his weapon, at that time he saw the white of his bone jutting out in the right arm. He yelled to Sgt Kanang that he was hit. LCpl Jampong who was nearby yelled for Rgr Dio, telling him that Cpl Micheal Riman was hit. Sgt Kanang too yelled out the same to Rgr Dio. Sgt Kanang, even at this critical period was rallying his men for the assault. Cpl Micheal Riman being a bit out of the way, LCpl Jampong asked Rgr Dio, how to go about to assist Cpl Micheal as the enemy was bringing concentrated fire in their direction. LCpl Jampong then directed Rgr Dio to give him covering fire. Rgr Dio opened up, enabling LCpl Jampong to close up with Cpl Micheal Riman. Then LCpl Jampong started giving covering fire for Rgr Dio to close up with him. Rgr Dio undid the towel hanging around his neck and handed it to LCpl Jampong who made it into tourniquet for Cpl Micheal Riman. This was to stem the bleeding. After that he ordered Rgr Dio to provide him with covering fire, whilst he carried Cpl Micheal Riman to a large tree for better cover, it was near the line of departure.
There LCpl Jampong saw Captain Othman and LCpl Nyapi on the radio, communicating. After that the enemy ceased firing. He left Cpl Micheal Riman with them. LCpl Jampong started moving back to Rgr Dio’s location when he heard firing on the left. He was crawling at that moment. He started veering away to the right as he felt that the fire was being directed at him. He managed to get into cover, he saw Cpl Omar to his left and in front he heard voices speaking in Chinese. This made him very uneasy.
Very slowly he lifted the leaves that were obstructing his line of sight towards the direction of the voices, with the barrel of his rifle. He saw LCpl Rajagopal. Nearby was Cpl Omar who was advancing standing without any cover whatsoever, firing his Light Machine Gun. After a little while he saw Cpl Omar’s LMG experiencing stoppages, to which Cpl Omar, just threw aside the LMG and continued firing and advancing with his M16.
LCpl Jampong crawled up the embankment of the stream, about 5 meters away he saw a someone who was wounded crawling and moving with great difficulty. He challenged the figure by shouting out to identify itself. The wounded person did not answer. He moved closer to the figure, he saw that the belt used by the wounded person was a nylon string. He identified the wounded person as a Chinese. I shouted out to LCpl Jirim who was nearby, that there was an enemy who was sill alive. Sgt Kanang on hearing this, shouted out, “Kill him, Jampong !” To this order LCpl Jampong, obeyed by firing three bursts of fire into the enemy.
LCpl Jampong then leapt upon the dead enemy, whilst firing to the front. He checked out the body of the dead enemy and found $196.00 in cash and a sewing kit. The firing in the distance had receded. He took the dead enemy’s cap and crawled into the Enemy’s camp, the rest of the Rangers were actually conducting a search on the enemy’s location. Sgt Kanang was already inside the camp with the rest of his men.
They were directed to collect the dead enemy and all the equipment of the enemy. Two dead bodies, two carbines, a number of packs made from sugar sacks filled with food stuff, medicines, ammunition and booby traps were recovered. All were taken down to the LD.
2Lt Govinda’s Platoon was ordered to conduct a follow up on the retreating enemy, by Captain Othman. The task of being the lead tracker befell Cpl Ambrose ak Uning, who also happened to be the acting Platoon Sergeant. They followed the retreating enemy’s trail. Along this trail, suddenly they heard voices in front of them. The time was approximately 1730 hours. Immediately he gave a hand signal for 2Lt Govinda to come forward. When he came forward, 2Lt Govinda was not too sure about the voices and he said they were probably the noise made by birds. Cpl Ambrose did not accept 2Lt Govinda’s assessment, therefore he moved forward to confirm the source of the voices which he heard quite distinctly, with Rgr Abit following him closely behind. The day was getting darker, he moved cautiously and spied several of the enemy. He saw three of them very clearly. One of the enemy was sitting whilst two of them were preparing to set up camp for the night. All three were males.
He aligned his rifle very slowly in front and took a bead on them with his M16. Before that he signaled to Rgr Abit to close up with him. The distance to the enemy was only 10 meters. Rgr Abit whispered to him to open fire. He told Rgr Abit to wait awhile, taking out his hand grenade, whispering to Rgr Abit to cover him. Before he could hurl the grenade at the enemy, the soldiers who were behind had already closed up and opened fire in the direction of the enemy. In that ensuing firefight two of the enemy were killed and their bodies recovered immediately, the body of one more enemy was discovered a day later by another group, the enemy had succumbed to his wounds from this firefight.
Sgt Kanang on hearing the firing in front in which 2Lt Govinda’s group was involved asked LCpl Jampong to move with him to the location of the new firefight. They both ran towards 2Lt Govinda’s location. As they ran, a realization dawned on LCpl Jampong that he had already been tasked to construct a helicopter landing point, as he was a member of the Assault Pioneers. He informed Sgt Kanang about this, to which Sgt Kanang allowed him to go back. Sgt Kanang on his own proceeded towards the new firefight. The fight was over by the time he reached the location.
LCpl Jampong arrived at the LD to start the construction of the helicopter landing pad. This was very important and a critical task. This would enable the wounded to be evacuated quickly for a life saving hospital. The initial work started, to make a winching point. This would enable quick extrication of the wounded. After the preparation of the winching point they heard the helicopter approaching. The pilot could not locate the winching point as the weather had turned bad. The mist was also thick and heavy.
In the morning they continued working to prepare the helicopter landing point. Until late in the afternoon no helicopter was coming. LCpl Jampong was directed to blow a big tree, which was preventing the helicopter from making a safe landing. He was forced to use 12 lbs of plastic explosives to blow that particular tree. He had to blow the tree at a very close range as there were not enough paraphernalia for demolition work. This resulted in him losing his hearing in the left ear.
At 1500 hours, the helicopter landed extricating the 6 wounded soldiers and two dead soldiers. The enemy dead were taken out with their equipment on the second sortie.
Throughout the battle from the first sighting of the Enemy, Sergeant Kanang anak Langkau displayed extreme bravery and courage along with Cpl Micheal anak Riman and Cpl Omar bin Awang Tengah.
For valour displayed in the highest traditions of the Ranger Corps Sergeat Kananag ak Langkau was bestowed the Pingat Gagah Berani for valour in the face of the enemy by the King on the 4th June 1980. Cpl Micheal ak Riman too was bestowed the Pingat Gagah Berani for valour on the 6th June 1984.
