Month: September 2005

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Speciality Dive

Since I’ll be in Tioman this weekend, I would prefer to do a speciality dive…perhaps the Multilevel Diver speciality…rather than diving without purpose. I know I’ll be doing some underwater photography as usual, just to keep myself occupied, but it is time to move on. I must further my qualifications.

I’ve been spending almost every free time of my free nights revising my wheel Recreational Dive Planner, and have been reading more about nitrogen narcosis (from where this site got its name) to plan for my normal air dive to 57 meters, which really is, the depth limit for any normal air dive. Anything deeper than 30 meters is not really safe, and divers are more exposed to nitrogen narcosis at this depth. Recreational diving sets its limit at 40 meters (which is the depth US Navy sets for normal air dives), and 42 meters in case of emergency. Any deeper would be dangerous, anything deeper than 57 meters is..crazy.

Since I have been doing lots of multilevel diving, I guess I may as well make it one of the speciality ratings I’ll be going for.

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Ronnie Liu’s Freedom Fighters Visit Bukit Kepong Police Station

23rd February 1950 (Ronnie Liu, please read)

Bukit Kepong’s police station (BKPS) was manned by 15 regular and Marine policemen. At the time of the tragedy, this force was complimented by three Special Constables and four local Auxilliary Policemen. A force of 22 all told. There were also thirteen police wives and children lodged in the married quarters at the rear of the station. In the darkness, the 200 strong 4th Independent Coy of the MRLA under the joint-command of Muhammad Indra aka Mat Indra from Muar, and Commissar Goh Peng Tun, began its move towards the BKPS compound.

0400hrs – the communist terrorists or CT (read that properly, Ronnie Liu), completed their encirclement of the BKPS. They were assisted by their wives and children in carrying and deploying sandbags.

0430hrs – Special Constable (SC) Jaafar challenges and fires on a CT who was seen to fall and a bugle was sounded signaling the commencement of attack. As the BKPS was surrounded and attacked from all angles, Auxilliary Policeman (AP) Osman is killed in action (KIA) while SC Jaafar is wounded. The wives and children began assisting the men in defending their compound.

0450hrs – the initial CT assault is beaten back but at the loss of Sgt Jamil who had been manning one of the Brens. Cpl Mohd Yassim and L/Cpl Jidim bin Omar (later fatally WIA) assumed command. Casualties were mounting on both sides, including that of the wives and children of the policemen. Four of the wives and five children made it out of the compound.

0500hrs – APs and small group of citizen volunteers under Penghulu Ali bin Mustaffa mustered and headed towards BKPS. This party was ambushed by the rear guards of the CTs. At this point, the twon Bren guns were knocked out.

0530hrs – the CTs attempted a second breach but were driven back by interlocking fire from the married quarters. At this point, it was the wives who were manning the guns. Mat Indra grew restless at this lack of progress and ordered a bayonet charge at 0600hrs.

0600hrs – visibility is now better. Another breach was attempted but again driven back. Frantic calls over the loudhailers calling for the defenders were made but they refused to surrender.

0700hrs – the CTs entered the rear of the compound and managed to capture a wife, Miriam Ibrahim, the wife of Constable Mohamad Jaafar. The CTs asked Miriam to appeal to the defenders to surrender but she refused. At about this time, another wife, Fatimah Yaaba and her son Hassan are also taken. She was also asked to appeal to the men but refused and was executed immediately. Her husband, Marine Constable Abu Bakar Daud, elected to fight to the death with the CTs who were approaching his patrol boat. He was shot inthe chest and arm. The CTs torched the boat and married quarters, with a wife, Saadiah and her daughter Simah still alive inside, refusing to come out. They threw Fatimah’s body into the flames as well.

0800hrs – the station fully ablaze, the CTs launched a grenade-pincer attack, and succeeded. Then picking off male and female survivors with rifle shots, some with clothes ablaze, they captured Hassan, the young son of Fatimah and Abu Bakar, who was seen manning the Bren gun. The brave lad was thrown into the fire alive, along with the bodies of the dead and wounded defenders, including that of Sgt Jamil.

0930hrs – Mat Indra claims objective taken, 5 hours after launching the initial assault.

So goes the story of the visit of the Bukit Kepong Police Station by Ronnie Liu’s heroes.

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Let it be known to Malaysians..

Any Malaysian reading this, digest this properly before listening to cocktalk by the likes of Ronnie Liu.

During the First Emergency of Malaya (1948-60), the people Ronnie Liu labeled as “freedom-my-ass fighters” did the following to the people they had wanted to liberate:

1. They killed 1,346 Malayan troops (police, para-military and military)and 519 British military personnel.

2. They killed 2,478 civilians while 810 have not been accounted for.

The “freedom-my-ass fighters” lost 6,710 murderers, 1,287 murderers captured, while 2,702 had a bit of brains and could think, and surrendered to government forces.

Freedom fighters my ass. Maybe while you are at it, Ronnie Liu, why don’t you stick a straw up my ass and suck it?

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What is wrong with Ronnie Liu?

The Real Fighters of Merdeka by Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew.

I don’t know if Ronnie Liu knows his history well. As far as I can recall, all those names silly Ronnie mentioned were mentioned in the history books I had read. While most of the UMNO leaders were British civil servants, at that time they were the only ones the Brits would talk to. UMNO, at the time of the congress, was not a party yet, but a coalition of hundreds of malay parties fighting for the cause of independence. This is as far as Ronnie’s statements are true. The rest are just pure bull. Tell me…which malay person would the Brits have spoken to? The sultans? Never…this group was the first they had wanted to get rid of. And the Malayan Ministers of the time that had never spend a day in prison, are the only ones the Brits saw, who could administer a new nation level-headedly. Why should they leave a new nation in the hands of anarchists and hot-headed bastards? And where was DAP then? Busy trying to create a sub-nation out of Singapore.

Leaders of API then joined the Partai Komunis Malaya (PKM) because there were no other alternatives for them to continue the struggle. Therefore the only one that they can join is the PKM. They were supposed to have struggled for communal goods, but instead were fighting the people they wanted to fight for. And what better way to gain independence by joining up associations and communities into one large association representing the people of Malaya…namely then UMNO, MCA and MIC.

Those who joined the PKM to fight for independence should have given up their fight as of 1st September 1957, but they did not. They continued to murder innocent independent Malayans…chinese, malays and indians. Why did they not give up their fight?

I hope to invite Ronnie Liu to a do I’m planning for veterans of the armed services. I want to hear him say that those PKM bastards who blew up the legs of soldiers, bayoneted husbands, threw little children into burning police stations, and of course, on at least five different occasions tried to assasinate my father (not mentioning the assasination of my father’s predescessor and friends), were the real fighters of Kemerdekaan.

And Rahim Noor was not the IGP then, you shithead. He was the Director of Special Branch.

Ronnie, you are just a piece of shit.

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Malaysian Faces

The Faces of Bangsa Baru

Interesting article in The Star today (read link above). I was hoping to see the face of one of my favourite babes, Marsha Milan Londoh (the others being Sarimah, Maya Karin, Paula Malai Ali, Asha Gill…and the list goes on and on and on).

Coming back to reality, it has been 48 years since Malaya gained independence from the Brits, and almost 42 years since the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. We are still differentiating ourselves…malays, indians, chinese etc, etc. In fact, we tend to look at each other with some peculiarity. If I have a chinese girlfriend, people will cringe. And when I say people, I mean both malay and chinese people. I used to have a chinese girlfriend (coming to think of it, most of my ex-girlfriends are chinese). Her mother was totally opposed to the idea…especially so that I was a serving officer of the air force (somehow the stigma of the daughter marrying a military or police officer is still there). Oh well, Yoke Choo. At least you looked beautiful in that blue baju kurung at my Commissioning Ball.

Five years ago, when I was instructing parachuting students in Ipoh, my buddy Aziz, and I, used to walk into this chinese vegetarian restaurant at Green Town..and guess what…the moment we walked into that restaurant, everyine stopped eating and turned their head to look at us.

Now,as for the malays, I think this funny behaviour is also reciprocal. People used to ask me if there isn’t enough malay girls around in this country. Hey, my sister was married to a chinese. She is now remarried.. to an indian. My paternal aunt has been married to a very nice chinese man for the past 45 years at least. Last night, a very good chinese friend of mine told me that a relative would think of her as a prostitute if she were to go out with a malay man.What is wrong with mixed marriages?

After the race riots of May 1969, my father, who then became the Chief Police Officer of Malacca state, sent me to a chinese kindergarten. If I remember correctly, I was the only non-chinese kid there…five years old and spoke none of the chinese dialects. I know now why my father sent me there, less than a year after the May 1969 tragedy…for me to learn and understand other races better. I have not turned back since.

If things were better than they are now, my children would probably be of mixed parentage.

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An old song…

As I was driving to work today, I fumbled with the CDs in my glove compartment. Then I saw one particular CD that I have not played for some time…at least a year and a half. The album is actually a compilation of songs by LoSo, a Thai rock group. If I may quote the last two verses in MY version of romanised Thai, and I’ll translate the verses as best as I can:

Khae yak dai roo wa ter yoo nai
Jod cham wai chan yang huang ter
Ja yang khong rak rak ter seme
Ter kheu hua jai

Hak khae dai phob dai jeur iik thii
Hak wan nii dai mii sit phood pai
Yak hai ter roo khwam jing nai jai
Chan yang rak ter

Yak bork wa roo wa chan sia jai
Chan yang rak ter

Translation:

If possible I would like to know where you are
Remembering my concern for you
I still love, always love you
You are my heart

If it’s possible to meet one more time
If it’s right to say it today
I would like you to know the true feelings in my heart
I still love you

I’d like to tell you I’m sorry
I still love you

Heartbreaking, isn’t it?

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AstroNUT Crashed and Burned

Last Saturday, a colleague of mine, Robert Lee, went for the Astronauts’ Run – one of the early processes to eliminate applicants who are not up to mark. Around 10am that day, I received an SMS fro him saying that he failed to complete the given distance within the given time.

You should take up scuba diving, Robert, and become an AQUANUT like me.

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Ouch!!!

Back to diving now.

Bent UK scuba diver back home with $37,000 souvenir

Now this is painful.

May I relate this to what a friend had experienced just a couple of weeks ago. He is an instructor. He recently applied for a life policy but was turned down simply because he is a scuba diver. If he wishes to have a policy, he will be subjected to extra “loading.” In fact I’ve faced the same condition when I skydived. But as an instructor, he doesn’t earn much.

Now, to say he or I would be better off without a policy would be plain stupid. But what choice do we have?

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Some years ago..

Love is a funny thing. It makes people laugh, cry, happy, hurt. When two people share and love each other, they hope to die loving. In that, love can be dangerous.

My maternal grandfather passed away when I was preparing for my North Pole expedition back in 1998. My grandmother was totally devastated. Imagine spending the last three decades alone together, with the kids all away, building their own families. She was healthy. Then three months after the former’s passing, my grandmother fell ill and was diagnosed with colon cancer. I saw her…wasting away. The night before she passed, I held her hand. She smiled and told me that she could see my grandfather standing in front of her, smiling at her.

How she must have pined for him.

Then five years ago, my late friend, Siva, and I were with a recently-qualified freefall student, in a Cessna 172K, 8,000 feet above sea level at Mersing. Earlier that day, this former student from Australia had done something weird..out of the normal, like asking the drop zone manager to keep his belongings under lock etc., etc. So above the drop zone, he jumped, followed by late Siva, then I. This former student was supposed to deploy his main chute at 4,000 feet. He did not. Siva and I continued to watch him as we had 20 seconds before impacting the ground if we did not open our chutes. At 3,000 feet (15 seconds to impact), Siva hurriedly deployed his chute. This former student and I were still freefalling. I signaled for him to open his chute. He nodded but remained still. At 1,500 feet (7 seconds to impact), I opened my chute, and saw this former student zoom past me. To my relief, the CYPRESS automatic opening device activated and deployed his reseve chute at 700 feet (3 seconds from impact) above sea level. He landed safely at sea.

I learnt later that his wife was terminally ill with cancer in Australia, and he did not wish to live longer than necessary.

Love is beautiful….and dangerous.