Faces of despair

Johor, 1964

Faces of despair

By Mohd Tajaharis Ismail

The photo was taken by my late father who was then a soldier serving for Royal Malay Regiment (RMR).

The photo shows a captured Indonesian communist paratrooper who had landed in the southwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia in the state of Johor.

Our RMR Battalion, which based in Kluang, was despatched and counter ambushed the bandit resulting in many losses of life on the enemy side.

It was at the height of confrontation between Malaysia and Indonesia.

A relatively young country of Malaysia withstood the intermittent attacks and ambushes along the border with Indonesia in Borneo and in Peninsular Malaysia between 1962 and 1965.
My late father was later posted to Sabah, another hotbed of Indonesian Communist activity where the border with Indonesia recorded a number of security breaches.

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