S'wak Rangers ignored in TV show on the Emergency

The absence of the significant role of the famed Sarawak Rangers , in a National Geographic documentary, ‘The Malayan Emergency', has left a former Special Branch Commander fuming.

"I watched the documentary on the undeclared war three times recently on television," said the former SB Commander Tedewin Ngumbang Datu. "I was hoping that the Sarawak Rangers was mentioned somewhere in the footage. But there was none."

Ngumbang, who is now Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) deputy information chief, suspects that the role of the Sarawak Rangers subsequently known as the Malaysian Rangers, was edited out before local screening.

He doubts that National Geographic which has a worldwide reputation, would be so sloppy in its research.

He was commenting in his blog posting calling the documentary a farce sprung on the entire nation in conjunction with the Merdeka day celebrations on Aug 31 and in the run-up to Malaysia Day on Sept 16.

The documentary, added Ngumbang ( left - pictured when he was Commander of the Special Branch Probing Unit ), was meticulous about capturing everything including personalities, events, methods, tactics and the rest except the Sarawak Rangers.

"Everything was there . . .Templer, Briggs, the Special Branch, the barb wired New Villages, the ration system including rice, central cooking, the famous Orang Asli scouts, the turncoats, the secret murders."

The way that the documentary was put together, according to Tedewin, shows that the National Geographic crew knew their stuff.

"So, it's just not possible that they missed the role of the Sarawak Rangers," said Tedewin. "They have so many producers, scriptwriters, researchers, photographers and filming crew swarming all over the place."

Living hero ignored

The National Geographic team, Ngumbang is confident, would have discovered for example that the most decorated Malaysian living or dead, Warrant Officer 1 Kanang Anak Langkau, was a member of the Sarawak Rangers. The Rangers, he added, still keep their old Iban war cry , "Agi Idup Agi Ngelaban (As long as I live, I shall fight).

"Kanang ( left ) is still alive," said Ngumbang. "Are we to believe that the National Geographic team did not interview a man who saw action in Malaya as well as Sarawak?"

The unmarked graves of the Dayaks of the Sarawak Rangers, according to Ngumbang, litter the jungles of Peninsular Malaysia and "efforts are still being made by the ex-Sevicemen's Association to track them down and bring their remains home".

"It was a fight to the finish in the God-forsaken malaria-infested terrain of British Malaya and later independent Malaya," he said. "The communists were a determined force, having allegedly being played out by the British after World War II and the negotiations for Malaya's independence."

They wanted to seize power through sheer force and impose their godless ideology, continued Ngumbang, and the bravery and sacrifice of Kanang and other Sarawak Rangers help prevent the fall of Malaya like Vietnam to the communists.

Besides his belief in National Geographic's professionalism, Ngumbang bases his theory that the role of the Sarawak Rangers was edited out before screening on two factors viz. the famed Dayak regiment was everywhere in the thick of action and could not have been missed because of their linkages with others who fought the communists; and the tendency in Malaysia to give a political slant to history.

"This is a continuation of an insidious theme in our history books," said Ngumbang. "The role of some people is consistently overplayed while that of others are either blotted out or, if that is not possible, down-played."

Donating towards history's dustbin

This is like telling the story of World War 11, said Ngumbang, without mentioning the attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese. He reiterated that the British could not have won Malaya from the communists without the sterling role played by the Sarawak Rangers.

"They fought for Malaya, not Malaysia, and all for what?" he asked. "To lie forgotten in some lonely place in the peninsular without so much as an expression of remembrance and gratitude?"

He warned against the desperate culture of wanting heroes, to the extent of making somebody out of a nobody while relegating the real heroes to the dustbin of history.

He urged that footage he believes was censored from the National Geographic documentary be restored and re-screened with a suitable apology inserted in the beginning.

Ngumbang himself served with Rascom - Rajang Security Command - together with former members of the Sarawak Rangers. Rascom spearheaded the fight against communist terrorism in Sarawak.

‘The Malayan Emergency' was one of the two documentaries aired over the History Channel by pay-TV service provider Astro in conjunction with the 53rd Merdeka celebrations.

The other documentary was ‘VAT 69, Malaysia's Very Able Troopers'.

Both are films on the Malayan Emergency from 1948 to 1960 during pre-independence British Malaya and the early years of independence. They chronicle the gripping story of the country's struggle against ruthless communist terrorism.

The films were produced jointly by AETN All Asia Networks, which owns and operates the History Channel in Malaysia, and Finas, the National Film Development Corporation of Malaysia.

Both Astro and Finas were not immediately available for comment.