EYEWITNESS TO THE BATTLE OF MERSING: 4 MONTHS ON PAKU ISLAND
Part 2: Paku Point
The New Yorker Magazine, March 9, 2055.
"There is one golden rule," Major Nur said as we stood around the 'kitchen'. The rounded chamber - which resembled a cylinder with a diameter of around 10 foot and a height of 8 foot -had the bare necessities. A microwave oven, a shelf with various items of processed food - canned food, instant noodles, packages of army rations - and a sink with faucet, attached to a drainage pipe that disappeared into the wall. "Do not ever go outside of The Secret Place without my permission."
"This is non-negotiable, understood?" the Major emphasized.
The three cousins nodded.
"The primary objective of this place is to observe enemy shipping and to report to HQ what's happening here. If for some reason you give ourselves away, because you think you would like a nice walk on the beach, this place will lose it's raison d'être."
Evelyn was impressed. The Major pronounced it correctly. She didn't get this phrase right for a long time. She always pronounced it ray-zon de-ter.
"What happens if this post is exposed?"
The Major paused for dramatic effect. Not really expecting an answer.
"We run?" John quipped.
"We can't run, there is no boat to take us anywhere. We get hunted and eventually captured. Who knows what they might do, smoke us out or just throw grenades."
"So remember the golden rule," he concluded. "Please sit."
He came across as down-to-earth. Our first dinner were instant noodles in soup, canned sardines, and pickled vegetables. Our 'seats' were military issued jungle green plastic boxes which seemed empty. Perhaps designed to store ammunition. The table was made of wood planks assembled together with nails.
The cousins were famished having lived on coconuts and coconut water for the past 14 days. And they ate everything in sight.
"How did you come to be on this island?" the Major asked.
"We were on vacation in Mersing when the invasion started," Ken said. "We were awakened from our sleep from the bombardment. Maybe around 3:00 am. Our resort was 10 km away from town, so we weren't hit. But we could tell from the explosions Mersing was very damaged."
"The owner of the resort advised us not to go to town because of the bombardment," John picked up the story. "But that's the only way to get back to Singapore, so we felt helpless. We couldn't reach any taxis, or uber. Nothing. It seemed everything had died, shutdown. We tried calling Singapore but couldn't get through."
"So how did you get to this island?" the Major repeated the question.
"The owner said he has a family on Tinggi and he offered to take us on his boat to Tinggi. It might be safer there than the mainland. We didn't have a lot of time to think. Any place else besides Mersing seemed safe, so we went with him," Ken said.
"Who's the owner?"
"Hussein Al'Sagoff," John said.
"The Sheikh," the Major said.
"You know him?" Ken asked.
"Yes, a good friend. Where's the Sheikh?"
"We don't know," Ken said. "The boat got shot to pieces as we got close to Tioman and then all three of us found ourselves in the sea. Couldn't see the Sheikh anywhere."
"And you drifted here?"
"Yes."
The Major reminded Evelyn of a peranakan friend she knew from university. He seemed peranakan. The term refers to a group of Chinese who came to the Malay peninsula (commonly known as West Malaysia) several hundred years ago ever since the eunuch Admiral, Cheng Ho, of the Ming Dynasty, opened up the marine route from China eastwards to India and the east coast of Africa. Distinct from more recent Chinese immigrants that came with the British empire, these Chinese settled amongst the indigenous population and adopted some of the Malay customs, their fashion, and created a new cuisine which mixed the Malay cuisine with their Chinese cooking. The Chinese immigrants of recent years rarely have deep set eyes. He has a habit of closing his left eye frequently as if he was focusing with his right eye. He seemed stern with his mouth firmly closed as if there was a determination to succeed come hail or hellfire. Now that she have had carbs and felt at ease, she was more attentive to him and liked what she saw.
"Some introduction is in order," the Major said. "I am Noor Jalidin, a Special Forces Major with the Royal Malaysian Navy. I am Kadazan by birth, however my mother is Chinese. I was educated at National University of Singapore and have been with the Navy for the past 8 years," he smiled, the first time they had ever seen him doing so.
"What course?" Evelyn asked.
"Course?" the Major repeated.
"What faculty did you graduate from?" Evelyn clarified.
"Engineering, Mechanical. Class of 40."
That would make him in the mid-30s, Evelyn thought. Perhaps that's why he seemed at ease with them, a fellow graduate of NUS. He recognized our NUS mindset, the arrogant, uppity, think-we-are-so-great-because-we-are-the-top-10%-of-Singapore-society mindset.
Later, he gave us a tour of the "The Secret Place" as he called the bunker. As we milled around the Control Center, a cylindrical space identical to the kitchen, he gave a brief summary of the place: The very first level as you entered the bunker from the hidden pool was where we stored our food, rations, and spare equipment. There is a shower and toilet there as well. This place has 200 gallons of water tank which is replenished by rain water. To conserve fresh water, we use sea water to flush toilets and wash dishes. Should our fresh water tank drop below 100 gallons, we start using sea water for showers. There is a special soap for that. The next level above the storage and the washroom is the kitchen space where we were, and adjacent to that is the sleeping quarters, with a bunk bed for two. And above the kitchen level is where we are now, the Command Center. There are cameras pointing towards the horizon, and there are 8 display screens rotating through the cameras (and he pointed towards the walls with the screens). And finally the most interesting feature of this post.
The Major climbed a vertical ladder along the wall and disappeared above the Control Center. The cousins followed. They found themselves in a much smaller chamber around five foot diameter with a metal ladder in the center that goes to the top through a hole about 3 foot diameter. They couldn't see where the ladder ended because the column was dark.
"There's about 800 foot of ladder to the top," the Major said. "Remember the golden rule?"
"We need your permission to go to the top?" Ken said.
"Exactly."
"And we don't ever go to the top in day light," he added.
The Major showed us our sleeping quarters. Ken and John will take over the bunk bed next to the kitchen. Evelyn was shown a storage room where a space had been prepared with two layers of sleeping bags.
"I will be taking the Control Center," the Major said.
The cousins retired to their sleeping quarters and slept over 10 hours on the very first day in the The Secret Place.
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