By : FADHAL A. GHANI
True friendship and protecting the nation and his comrades were Constable Nuing Saling's priorities in life, so much so that he died doing just that, even though he was on leave at the time. FADHAL A. GHANI speaks to his widow.
IMBOK Jimbon was enjoying having her husband at home. (RIGHT: Constable Nuing Saling and the NST report on April 7, 1975.)
She was six months pregnant with their third child and her husband, Constable Nuing Saling, was into his second week of leave from the police field force (PFF -- now General Operations Force).
Then Nuing told her he would be joining his best friend Superintendent Johnny Mustapa on an operation in the jungles near Sibu.
Imbok was worried. A feeling of dread came over her. "I had a feeling that this would be my husband's most dangerous mission. I reminded him that he was on leave and we were due to go back to my hometown, Kampung Sungai Banyok, in Sibu, in two days' time," said Imbok recently.
But Nuing was insistent. He told her that protecting the nation was his duty and a very important one at that.
Plus, he added, he and Johnny had an agreement that they would help each other out in all missions.
The night before Nuing left, Imbok had a dream that a well-dressed policeman who identified himself as Sergeant Intai visited her and presented her with a gold stick.
It would take her more than a year to understand the meaning of her dream, when Nuing was posthumously awarded the country's highest award for valour.
"It was only when he was awarded the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa (SP) did I understand my dream. He was destined to be a hero of the nation," said Imbok.
Nuing was awarded the SP on June 2, 1976, more than a year after the operation where he, Johnny and one other member of the 15th Battalion of the PFF lost their lives.
The trio of Sarawakians were among 16 PFF members who were on patrol when they were involved in a firefight with a group of 14 communist terrorists at 10pm on April 5, 1975.
When that battle ended, with no one killed, the policemen continued their patrol. They had another battle with communists at 3am the following day.
In both battles, none of the policemen were wounded, but blood trails indicated that several of the communists had at least been wounded.
At 6.30am, however, the patrol stumbled onto a terrorist fort near Sungai Setabau. They were in an open field when they were ambushed by the communists in their fort.
As the shooting continued, Johnny and most of his men managed to get to cover, but Nuing and Constable Abang Masri were unable to do so. All they could do was lie as flat as possible and use the ground for what little cover it afforded from the communists barely 100m away.
Seeing his best friend and another member of his group pinned down, Johnny ordered his men to attack the communists' fort.
Nuing and Abang joined in as the group began to fire and move toward the fort.
Abang, however, was stopped not far from where he had been pinned down, killed by several bullets.
His teammates later said Nuing became enraged by Abang's death, running toward the enemy while firing his weapon.
A shotgun blast hit him in the face, causing him to fall, but even that did not stop Nuing. With blood streaming out of his wounds, he continued to attack, killing and wounding several communists.
But just as he was about to reach the fort, he was hit several more times and killed instantly.
The battle continued for several more minutes, during which Johnny was also killed. The remainder of the patrol, however, eventually seized the enemy fort, although the communists who were not dead managed to escape.
The three cops were buried with full police honours in Kuching.
At the time of his death, Nuing was 32. He had a daughter aged 8 and a son aged 3. Three months' later, Imbok gave birth to the couple's second daughter.
Born in Sungai Bungam, Mata Igan, Sarawak in 1943, Nuing joined the force on Feb 5, 1963.
No comments:
Post a Comment