A MEMORABLE REUNION
by Brian Finch
Before I went to Hong Kong to learn Chinese, my first Far East posting was to 1st Battalion The Malaysia Rangers. This had been formed from the old Sarawak Rangers, who had provided trackers for the British Army during the Malayan Emergency. Our soldiers were mostly Iban, a tribe of fierce jungle warriors renowned for headhunting. Our principal operational deployment was in Sarawak defending the border against the efforts by Indonesian President Sukarno to disrupt the formation of Malaysia in a campaign called “Konfrontasi”, which ended in 1966.
Earlier this year a group of former British officers planned a reunion in Kuching; a purely private venture. But when we arrived our trip was hijacked by the Malaysian Army, who met us at Kuala Lumpur airport with a two-star general and plenty of colonels, who ushered us through the VIP suite before we caught the flight to Kuching.
There we were met by another two-star general, more colonels and a pipe band. We were regally fêted throughout, with Military Police outriders wherever we went. A formal dinner at the invitation of the Chief of the Malaysian Army (he was abroad, so was represented by his deputy) included amazing speeches thanking us for everything we had done to help the very survival and preservation of the Malaysian nation. And it became clear that the 1st Rangers remain by a long chalk the finest unit in the Malaysian Army and have continued to distinguish themselves in combat situations, including for example peace-keeping operations in Croatia. Everyone we met expressed their gratitude for the groundwork we had done in forming this unit at its birth. The whole trip was a fantastic experience.