Sea piracy

It has been reported that sea piracy in the Straits of Malacca has dropped recently. I was involved in this operation during the sixties, when I flew sea patrols in the Twin Pioneer aircraft.
During those days, sea piracy was very rampant. The pirates were from the many fishing villages and small islands, along the Sumatran coastline. They used 'kumpit', a small wooden boat, powered by one or two powerful outboard engines. The 'kumpit' were able to avoid radar detection.

Sailing alongside the vessel, the pirates would climb on board, carrying guns and knives and threatening the crew. They would then demand money and valuables from the crew. Their favourite was oil tanker. Oil tankers are not allowed to carry fire arms, because the discharge from them could spark an oil fire. The Captain and crew, aware of the fire risk from the pirates' guns, would generally give them money to get rid of them fast.

Although such acts of piracy can happen anytime, even in broad daylight, night time, under the cover of darkness, gave the pirates added advantage. By the time the tanker Captain radios for help, the pirates would have jumped off the tanker already. Pursuing Naval or Coast Guard vessels were not able to reach the tanker on time.

It was then decided to utilise the Air Force to provide air support. However, sea patrols were carried out only during the day, because it was not possible to make any sightings at night. Due to the high cost, aerial sea patrols were carried out at random intervals.

I spent a few days, sailing with the Navy, to familiarise with their mode of operations. We went on patrols and intercepted boats to check on the crew's credentials. No piracy was encountered.

Flying a sea patrol, I would start at One Fathom Banks (OFB), near Port Swettenham, and fly south along the international shipping lane and terminating at Pulau Kukup, near Jerejak, west of Johor. This stretch was very notorious because the Sumatran eastern coastline is closest to the Malaysian coastline. North of One Fathom Bank, the sea stretch is too massive for the pirates to operate. The aircraft also acted as a radio communication link with the Navy and the Coast Guard Police.

After several sea patrols, and without anything happening at all, it became quite boring. Flying at 3,000 feet for good visibility, the view was very good, and I could see all sorts of vessels plying the strait. Seeing a passenger liner always invoked in me, nostalgia of my cruise to Hong Kong and Japan, many years ago. Sometimes, I would swoop down to check out small boats looking for groups of men, who did not fit the profile of a fishing boat.

One day, I was abeam Pulau Kukup, when I saw a vessel anchored off the island. Deciding to check on the vessel, I descended and made a swoop over the vessel. I saw someone diving into the sea, and identified the vessel from the Navy. Obviously the crew was having a good time swimming and fishing. I made a wide sweeping turn and buzzed the vessel at a very low altitude.

When I finally landed at my base, the operations officer called me, and told me that he had received a signal from the Navy, claiming that they were buzzed by an unidentified aircraft. I told him that it was me. It was amazing, that the Navy could not identify its own Air Force aircraft!

On another occasion, I was approaching Pulau Kukup, when I saw the hull of a vessel. Going down to investigate, I discovered it was a submarine. As I flew overhead, I saw someone running out of the conning tower to raise the hammer and sickle flag. It was the Soviet Navy! I immediately radioed the Navy to inform them of the submarine. I remained overhead the submarine for some time trying to see what they were up to. There was no other activity and they appeared to be having some problems.

When I returned to base, I filed a written report. The next day, I was on sea patrol again. When I was at Pulau Kukup, I noticed our Naval vessel next to the submarine, shadowing it.

The newspaper also reported front page, that a diplomatic protest was launched with the Soviet Embassy, over the intrusion of the submarine into Malaysian waters. Apparently, the submarine had ran onto mechanical problems under the Straits of Malacca. It surfaced and quietly sneaked to Pulau Kukup to await the mother ship for assistance. It remained in this position for several days, before the arrival of the mother ship.

When I subsequently flew over the submarine again, I noticed the mother ship had arrived and repairs were carried out under the watchful eyes of our Navy. The Soviet Government had apologised for the intrusion. Although I did not find any pirates, I found a Soviet submarine!

During the Indonesian Confrontation with Malaysia, two AURI C130 aircraft belonging to the Indonesian Air Force, flew into Malaysia one night, carrying paratroops. As they breached the air defence identification zone (ADIZ), a RAF Hunter from Tengah, was scrambled, and shot down one C130, with a Sidewinder missile. The other C130 made it to drop the troops near Pontian. All the troops were captured by our ground forces.

The very next morning, I went on a sea patrol and discovered a lot of debris on the sea off Pulau Kukup. There were remnants of the C130, consisting of life jackets, seats and aircraft material.

Today, Pulau Kukup boast of many seafood restaurant and is a seafood paradise for many diners. Please see the attached satellite picture of the coastline that I flew during my sea patrol, and note the location of Pulau Kukup, north west of Singapore.

Till then....

Of ghost and man.

In my previous post, I was going to continue with this story, but decided to separate them for reasons which will be obvious.

When I was a young officer in the Air Force, I was quite mischievous and a practical joker. ( My conscience tells me that I still am!). When we had our first air crash, I lost two of my colleagues, Satchi, whose room was just next to mine, and Ong Eng Hai, whose room was three away from mine. Sadly, Ong Eng Hai, replaced me on that ill-fated flight, because I was already rostered on another flight that day. The crash dealt a sad blow to all the pilots.

About a week later, when things were getting back to normal, both Mat Ngah and myself decided to play some pranks to liven up the Officers Mess. It was a Saturday afternoon, when most of the chaps had finished lunch, and stripping themselves to their briefs for the afternoon nap. We stuffed some pillows into a flying overall, which is a one piece suit. Placing it on Satchi's bed, we brought the two sleeves on the chest with a pair of flying gloves. At the leg end, we stuffed a pair of boots. For the head, we positioned a pillow with a pair of sunglasses stuffed on it. Leaving the room, we left the door partially open. We returned to our rooms quietly.

A moment later, we heard this tremendous scream coming from Satchi's room. One of the woman servant, Ivy, an elderly woman had stumbled into Satchi's room. Her scream woke up the sleeping chaps and everyone rushed out to see what was the commotion. Both Mat and myself quietly joined in laughing away. It really looked grotesque! When Ivy found out it was a hoax, she started to laugh as well. We left the effigy on the bed, which scared the Mess Steward, who refused to walk past the room.

One night, I was alone in my room and feeling bored, I decided to liven things up. I had this hideous rubber mask which I had bought from London. Putting this on, and wearing my black jacket front to rear, I held my torch light in front of my stomach so that the light was shining on my face. Walking quietly into one of the rooms, which was quite dark, I saw Charlie lying on the bed, and Merican sitting at the table. They did not notice me and I stood there quietly switching on my torch light. Suddenly, Charlie jumped out of bed really fast and when Merican saw me, he screamed until I took off my mask to tell him it was me after all. He frightened me as I thought he was hysterical! We had a good laugh.

I then went into the bathroom when I heard someone showering. I gave my friend such a fright. He told me he was really frightened. Walking back to my room after all the 'haunting', I had to cross a small grass area. Suddenly, a car with lights on caught me running away. My colleague got out of the car thinking I was an intruder, gave chase. He was about to punch me when I took off my mask to show him who I was. Finally we all got together for a good laugh. I was accused of having nothing else better to do. That was true really!

Till then....

Another poltergeist?

In my last posting, I recalled my two scary encounters, which remained in my memory. My former colleague, Lily, wrote in her comment for more such stories. While thinking back, perhaps I might mention the night I spent in a friend's house in Malacca.

In Malacca, there are many old Peranakan houses, which are very big inside. In this particular old house where I spent a night, I was given an old wooden bed with a wooden canopy for the mosquito net. This bed is similar to those old wooden bed, you see in a bridal chamber, in the Chinese movies. There is a very big air-well inside this house, and upstairs, there was this wooden corridor that ran around the four walls. Looking down the railings, you can see the interior of the ground floor. Along the wooden corridor, there were doors leading into the various rooms. My bed was the only bed outside the rooms, and it stood along this corridor.

That night, as I laid in bed with the mosquito nets down, and the house in darkness, I felt very lonely. I could hear all the nocturnal noises like the odd cars, dogs barking and cats. I was drifting to sleep when I heard creaking noise on the wooden floor board. Thinking that someone could be walking into one of the rooms, I dismissed it. A moment later, the creaking noise again. I tried to look into the darkness, but saw nothing. The whole night, this noise was present and I hardly slept that night. I even felt the noise passing by my bed. Being a guest, I did not want to raise any alarm or question my friend.

The next morning, I was glad to take my leave and drove to Port Dickson with my friends. What was that? I do not know. Another poltergeist? Maybe!!

Till then....

Two spooky encounters!

I was out with the family on Sunday, 8th April, and ended up in a golf club for tea. On entering the premises, I was reminded of the male toilet being haunted.

Several years ago, I was there in the evening, and had entered the male toilet. I had this very uneasy feeling when inside, of being not alone, although I was physically all alone then. I felt some strong presence there, and as I looked around in the dark evening, it became so eerie that I had to rush out of the toilet. Later, when talking to an old member, he admitted that the male toilet has indeed been reported as being haunted! However, yesterday when I was there, I went into the male toilet again, but found that they had renovated the whole place and it seems to be alright now. This has prompted me to recall my two previous spooky encounters.

During my air force days, we used to position one aircraft at Taiping, a small town north of Ipoh, every Monday morning. It was known as the Taiping Detachment, consisting of two pilots and technical ground crew. The Detachment would remain for a minimum of two days or a maximum of four days, depending on the work load or weather.

On one such Detachment, I was the Detachment Commander and had flown in during the morning and had carried out my flying tasks for the day. We were accommodated at the Officers Mess at Drummond Hill. It was ran by the Army Engineers. Drummond Hill had a bad reputation because during the Japanese occupation, many civilians were killed and mass buried there. Anyone excavating there will find human remains. The British Army had built the Officers Mess there originally, and the location is away from the town. A very quiet and secluded place on top of the hill and away from public view.

On that particular day, I had finished early, and checked into the Officers Mess just after five. Dinner was not until seven, so I decided to stretch out for a while before my shower. Wearing only my brief, I laid down on the bed and had turned left to face the wall. Suddenly, I felt a slap on my right rump. I immediately turned to see who it was, thinking that it was my colleague. I saw no one. There was a big cane chair in the corner and thinking that he could have hidden behind it, I went to see but saw nothing. I checked out the whole room but saw no one. I went outside to see, since my door had been closed, and saw no one outside. It was then that I realised something spooky and rushed to take my shower. Dressing quickly, I ran off to the ante room feeling very eerie. What was it? A poltergeist?

Returning again to the Officers Mess on another Detachment at a much later date, I found myself allotted a very old room at the end of the Mess. It was quite far in and in a very quiet corner. None of the live-in Officers were anywhere around and it was rather desolated. The room was so old that all the paint was peeling off. It was clean with fresh sheets. The layout was like the letter 'U', with my room at the bottom right. There was a long corridor at the back of my room leading to the bathroom cum toilet. There was a small grass area separating me from my immediate neighbour to my left.

I had decided to take my shower and shave. During those days, I shaved in the evening to avoid the morning rush. The extra minute of sleep in the morning did wonders! Wrapping my towel round my waist, I proceeded to the bathroom. With all the paint peeling off, the mirror was so old that there was not much silver left, and I had to peer into it to shave. I suddenly felt that someone was close by and staring at me! Turning around, I saw nothing. I thought my imagination was playing tricks on me and dismissed it. I continued to shave, but this time, the sensation became very strong and I started to look around the bathroom. I even tried to look at the mirror but it became impossible. I had this very strong sensation that someone, very tall, as tall as the ceiling, was looking down on me very hard. I looked everywhere but could not see anyone. The sensation was so strong that the hair behind my neck stood up like bristle! Feeling frightened, I quickly finished my shaving and ran to shower. It was perhaps my quickest shower for I did not dare close my eyes, less I should see something when I reopen them. Finishing my shower, I graped my towel and ran all the way back to my room. Drying off, I quickly dressed up and ran out of my room.

That night, fortunately, nothing else happened when I went to sleep. I avoided the bathroom and luckily there was a wash basin in my room where I brushed my teeth. So what was it? It was definitely something sinister and there was something in the bathroom. Luckily also, I checked out the next morning never to return to that room again.

I find myself very susceptible to all these. Everytime I walk into a room or somewhere, where something is not right, I feel vulnerable and sense some presence there.

Till then....

My printer has kaput!

Sad day today that my Epson printer has finally kaput! It had given me faithful service since 2004, printing some beautiful pictures and managing my printed letters and manuscript.

When I tried to print copies of my blog, the error message popped up, telling me that some parts inside the printer has reached the end of its life! It then refused to budge. Only recently at the expo in Suntec, I bought a set of new printer cartridges as a special offer. What shall I do with them now?

Anyway, I sent an email to Epson telling them of my predicament and asking for their advice. So far they have acknowledged my message but has not given me a reply. I checked out Epson web site, and discovered that my printer model has been discontinued. I then checked out which printer would accept my same printer cartridges. Only one printer and one three-in-one. They being the oldest, will be discontinued soon! That puts me in a dilemma.

I need a three-in-one, because it can scan, copy and print photographs. Three functions that I use frequently. I telephoned several shops and not one has stock of the remaining three-in-one printer. One of them even told me that the model has been discontinued.

So what shall I do? I guess I will have to spend some money to buy a new three-in-one printer. I would like to stick with Epson because I have had very good results from them. Or shall I look at other brands? I hope it will not cost too much. Do not have that much money to spend!

Till then....