Letters from Roy Follows: Part 5

Dear Goh.

Many thanks for taking the trouble to me contact , and sending me a couple of pics and map * showing the postion of Brook (Fort Brooke ) which are most appreciated.

I expect you know about my hutan and Jungle Fort expirences from your friend TBF. But to briefly recap. For about eight/ nine years 1952 -1960 during the emergency I served with the Royal Malaysai Police . For a good five years or more, until dreaded malaria caugh up with me, I was a platoon commander carry out jungle operation some of which lasted up to a month ,and often in little known and not properly map Hutan . Mana Mankan Lah ? Every 5/6 day food and other supplies would be parachuted in to us ,on to the droppinh zone (DZ) which we had hacked out of the jungle. The map ref of the DZ had to be nearly spot on - no GPSs a compass- so that the aircraft could locate our postion Silap besar, dan tadak makan, susah lah. The most interesting, rewarding, but challenging and dangerous position I had the priviledge to be given, was that being appointed Commander of Fort Brooke, where I was for about nine months in 1954/55. Go back over fifty years and Brooke like the other jungle forts, were nothing like they are today. At the time with little or no contact with the Orang Asli , the Dept of Aborigines ,as it was then called , had little or no idea how many there were grubbing out an existance in the rain forest . When in Fort Brooke and after much 'cat and mouse games' , I eventually made contact with a shy and elusive tribe of Temiar , who until seeing me had never set their eyes on an orang puteh before. What a shock they must have had on seeing me. At present I'm writing a book about the little know jungle forts and the important role they played in defeating the communists during the emergency. With your kind help, Camera Kens, TBF, and any one who've I missed , (please forgive me if I have ) I'm looking for recent photographs of ,or anything associated with those Jungle Forts that still exist to day. The idea being, is the photographs would into the book ,so to compare todays 'forts' to how they were during the emergency over fiify years ago. * Something about the Map showing 'Brook' and a little information about the fort etc, in my next email.I tried to send cc to the others but not being a PC whizz kid I failed, and for some unknown reason could only cc TBF.

Letters from Roy Follows : part 4

Dear Tan.

Many thanks for the photgraphs /map and the emails address of your friends you suggest I should contact . This I will do in the next couple of days .The email addresses you kindly give me were a Mr Goh and Camera Ken ( I like it ) and also bookuan@tm.net my .

With regards to the last EM address , Tada nama Lah! So could you please give me the person name and give me some idea of what are his interests, ie kaki jalan Hutan ? so I know how to approach him .

That is an excellent photograph of the stone, giving a brief description of Fort Kemar, it's just the sort of thing I'm after thanks .

Here in the UK, there's only now two ex fort commander alive and kicking , that is myself and a friend of mine. But with us far away from each other I've not seen him for years. This friend of mine was the Police officer in charge of building Fort Kemar At the time 1952/53 he was with a police jungle company based in Ipoh. He and his platoon along with a small unit of the SAS, made their way miles up the Sg Perak where he found a suitable site and useing only rudimentary tools Fort Kemar was built. So Fort Kemar was mainly built by the Malay Police, but with help from a small of the SAS. More about Ft Kemar and Ft Brooke .

In your last email you give me the impression that these two forts are not too far away from each other by road. I could be wrong, but I cant see how this can be, when Fort Brooke is in Kelantan North of The Camerons and Fort Kemar is postioned to many miles away.to the north. The first jungle fort to be built was Fort Iskander ( Kg Aur ) It's in southern Pahang but because of its geographical postion it came under Johore .

Thanks again for you help Jangan lupa lah! Jaga baik hantu,dan Mawas delam hutan . Awak tahu Mawas ? Dia makan orang.

Best wishes

Roy.

Letters from Roy part 3. 8 Dec 08

Dear Tan.

It's good to hear from you. Sahaya banyak baik lah ! I've check out your blog ,tapped Fort Brooke in the search box, read the interesting article and saw the photographs of Blue Valley and others. Is that the correct article , or is there another one I should read ? Any news about obtaining a recent photograph of Fort Brooke yet ? There's two or three photographs supporting your article that I could be interested in . Two are on page 1 ' Entering the restricted zone '. Is that close to Fort Brooke and why restricted ? and the one of the ' Orang Asli settlement '. Then on page 3 The brige going into Fort Brooke , which looks much the same as it was when I had help repaire it many years ago.Thanks for giving me the email address of lady at the TV documentary company. I've contacted her and she appears to be most interested in what I have to say. Colin of the protection of Orang Asli , I first exchanged emails with him several years ago , then with me writing book about the jungle forts , I 've approached him to see what info he could provide me with. Through the magic power of the internet , a couple of weeks ago I received ' out of the blue, ' an email from a Brit who now lives in Ipoh , and who is working on a project about the emergency ,for some education department. I already sent him some information , and in return I've also asked him about trying to obtain me a photograph of Fort Brooke or of any of the other jungle fort that still exist . Skerang banyak sejok sini, dan thalji. Jaga baik hantu delam hutan.

Thanks Best wishes.
Roy.

Letters from Roy Follows, Forts of Malaya.

Dear Tan .

Further to my email of today . Rucksack weight Kilos? to read Ibs 70/80 not kilos,sillap lah ! 70/80 Ibs is about 35kilos, so you can see we were burden down like pack horses.
Roy.



Dear Tan.

with regards to 'The Return of the Blowpipe, to the headman Mentri Kechil,( and his tribe ) who I remember ,and is the son of the late Mentri Awol who presented his/the blow pipe to me , I have at your suggestion emailed Lina Tan. Yes I've approached Colin of COAC, to see if he can provide me with anything about todays jungle forts. Up to about twelve months ago I was in contact with an young English lady who had something to do with the OrangAsli Dept, but I've not heard from her for months , so I don't know what's happend to her - perhaps she's left there. I'm in contact with former Malysian Police Officer who lives in KL and was a Fort Commander during the emergency who'se been most helpful , but sadly he no photogrphs of any of the that are still going today. So you see I'm trying every where to obtain photographs of the modern day forts of which there must be many about somewhere .Having read Forest Gan article I would think he may have some. So if happent you contact him point him to my direction . Tell him I wont tease him about where he writes in his interesting article about how 'heavy' is rucksack was -honest.

ThanksRoy.

Letters from Roy, Forts of Malaya.

Dear Tan.

It's with me have a few Wow ! ( as you put it ) type of douments about the little known jungle forts , and other docs, together with historical photographs of jungle forts , plus my self having having been commander of one, allows me to write, giving a first hand account aboutthem. Why don't I fly to Malayasia ? I just packed my rucksack with six day rations , camping equipment, map compass ( no GPS ) Automatic, ammo, handgrenade and other accoutrements, weight 75/80 kilos, that's the weight we were saddled with when being a long jungle operation. So I will RV with your self and and Forest Gan at MR 383 827 time and date to be confirmed !!! I've not been back to Malaya since I left in late 1960. Should I ever return ,it would be to take back a blowpipe along with its quiver of posion arrows. The brief story. When in Fort Brooke Mentri Awol the headman of the Temiar tribe whose ladang was just across the river. Mentri and I would often meet , to discuss things, through this he and I became friends and his Tribe came to accepted me. When I departed the fort and called at his ladang to say my goodbyes ,and for helping me, Mentri handed me his personal blowpipe , saying take it, keep it, so it will alway remind you of the jungle people who looked after you . With the blowpipe being on the wall of my room, I'm reminded of the jungle folk as I write this email . When they hear the full story , and the circumstances behind it, people tell me 'The Return of The Blowpipe ', would make an interesting TV documentary. With this in mind,I've for ages being trying to find a Malaysian TV documentary/film making company, but so far I've be unable to find any. So should you happen to know the email address of any Malaysian TV Doc /film makers I would appreciate it if you would please let me know. Are there Big Foot ( Mawas, I think the Malay name is for it ) in the Hutan ? Thanks Best wishesRoy.

Forts of Malaya part 2

Dear Tan.
Re e/g mail , I think we've cracked it . You mention the SAS and Fort Kemar. With it being a long time ago, there's only myself and an other former Malay Police officer alive and kicking here in the UK, who were fort commanders. I put this down to, that both of us were far younger to hold this responsible postion than the other fort commanders. This friend of mine was in charge of the building of Fort Kemar. It was built by his platoon of a Police Jungle Company , along with a small unit of the SAS. Any photographs of Fort Kemar for to go into the book , would be more than appreciated. Fort Brooke was built by the SAS and the Police. It was named 'Brooke' after the then commanding officer of the SAS Lt/Col Oliver Brooke . Please find attached no 928 the official list of the forts., of which later two more were built, bringing the total to twelve . They were Fort Tapong situated in north Kelantan, not far from the Thai frontier. Fort Tapong now lies under many feet of water in a vast reservoir Temangor ? The other was Fort Sinderut postioned somewhere south wesrtish of Kuala Lipis. Sinderhut was deliberately set on fire before being abandoned. But a number of the other forts, I understand are still in existance and administered by the Orang Asli deparrtment.Banay sejok sini lah ! Sama sama atas gunong .

Thanks Best whishes

Forts of Malaya. By Roy Follows.

Thanks for giving me you gmail.

Please find attached four more photographs of Fort Brooke. 067 Self with a few Temiar Headman from the the local tribes .031Out side my shack, making friends with Temiar children. 109Guard Room Fort Brooke. 296 Helicopter bringing in a generator for the wirless communication set, so to keep in contact with the outside world.

The helicopter is a 'Dragon fly', it was only small and they were the first to be used in Malaya. Later bigger helicopters arrived inMalaya of which I also have photographs of them in the Fort. So you see I have photographs of the fort how it used to be, I'm now looking to obtain photographs how the forts is today, so if you can help me with this I would be more than pleased. I think I saw one on your website , a photograph showing the school at Fort Brooke where the people on some expeddition had slept. It takes some believing, but just think about it. It was me, who organised the building of the first shool in Fort Brooke for the Temiar kids . We built it out of bamboo and atap , and Malaya Policemen of the forts garrison taught the children. I have a photograph some where of this 'shool' which shows the date over the door way , as 1stJanuary 1955.