From :
Good Morning Yesterday
It was the crack Indonesian paratroopers
from the "KKI", an elite Guards unit from Jakarta which was sent on
this mission. The Malaysian police post at Kota Tinggi were alerted
of the parachute-landing and the nearest infantry garrison to Kota
Tinggi was 2 SIR in Singapore. 1SIR at that time was deployed to
the Sabah border with Indonesia.
One platoon of 2SIR was sent inside the jungles of Kota Tingi. For
those who have ventured into Kota Tinggi (which I did as a child
and as a teenager), it has a waterfall as the key attraction. The
killing zone was north of the waterfall.
2SIR made no contact with the Indonesians for about a week.
However, unknowingly the Indonesians were tailing one of the SIR
sections. Not finding them for a week, that section grew tired and
went for a bath at one of the nearby Kota Tinggi streams. Everybody
left their weapons at the riverbank with no personnel on
sentry-duty.
For those trained in the SAF doctrine, you are not supposed to do
this and at all times, your rifle must be with you. The Indonesians
pounded on our boys but one injured personnel managed to sneak away
and ran for his life into Kota Tinggi Town. All this time, there
was "radio silence" because this was a mission. It was only after
the injured personnel emerged from the jungle that the incident
became known. When the dead were recovered, their bodies were
infested with maggots and were very gruesome
Reinforcements were rushed up from Singapore. On that mission were
names like James Teo (who was the 5SIR CO for BERSATU PADU in
1971), Jimmy Yap (CO Officer Cadet School), Mahinder Singh (Dy
Director SAFTI) and Dalgit Singh (CO 3SIR). They were “young
lieutenants” then. James Teo was the unit signals officer. This
time, the Indonesians scattered in different directions. It must
have been somewhat of a surprise that no Indonesians were caught
alive. I leave it to you to guess what must have happened next
because I saw some of the photographs taken at that time. Don't
forget our jungle-weapons also included the machete. The two Singhs
were later involved in the Labis incident and again credited with
many enemy killings.
The decomposed bodies were brought back to Holland Road Camp for
the Malay burial rituals. The slain men were given a full-military
burial.
Photo of the funeral at
Bidadari
Muslim Cemetery. Men wearing songkok were Malaysian regulars
working side by side with their Singaporean counterparts in 2
SIR
================
This is the most detailed account I had seen of this incident so
far.......unless omeone cork-up again.......
