Brothers in arms: Rosenzweig (left) and other Australian veterans including Cameron and Hiscock are in Kuching to mark the 57th anniversary of the end of Confrontation. — ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE/ The Star
KUCHING: Snake-infested jungles, leeches and scorpions are some of the things Australian veteran Don Cameron remembers from his time serving in Sarawak during the Indonesian Confrontation with Malaysia.
Cameron went on counter-insurgency patrols from a base at Kampung Gumbang in Bau near the border during a five-month tour in 1965.
“We were patrolling all the time along the border. It was hot, sweaty and the leeches were six inches long.
“Cigarettes would knock the leeches off but I never smoked so I had to use salt.
“It was interesting meeting all the snakes and scorpions. You’d lie on the ground, next morning you wake up there would be a scorpion underneath you,” said the 83-year-old.
Cameron also recalled being in an ambush once on a river along the border, in which 20 Indonesians were killed.
“It wasn’t an easy five months, it was hard work patrolling in the mountain area. But once the tour was over we were glad we did something to keep the Indonesians on their side.”
Cameron, the vice-president of the National Malaya and Borneo Veterans Association Australia’s South Australia and Northern Territory Branch (SA Branch NMBVAA), is here on a reunion visit with Australian and New Zealand veterans to commemorate the Malayan Emergency and Confrontation.
On Monday, they will hold a service at the Sarawak Heroes Memorial Park to pay tribute to their fallen comrades and mark the 57th anniversary of the end of Confrontation.
Fellow veteran Jeff Hiscock, who served at Serikin in 1965, remembered food and other supplies being dropped by aircraft to the base.
“I like to take photographs, so when they were dropping the food supplies I would try to take a photo of the parachute at the point it opened,” he said.
Hiscock, 80, also had a lot of contact with the locals who helped to build the compound.
“I enjoyed working with them, I knew a little bit of Malay so I could communicate with them.
“When we were leaving, they gave me a tobacco pouch made out of bamboo. I’ve still got that,” he said.
Hiscock, who is making his first visit to Sarawak since his tour ended 58 years ago, said he looked forward to seeing what Serikin looked like now compared to how he remembered it.
“There were no roads to Serikin then, we travelled by helicopter and needed air supply for our provisions,” he said.
SA Branch NMBVAA president Paul Rosenzweig said this year’s reunion visit was significant because of the presence of 58 Australian and New Zealand veterans and their families.
He said there were plans for another major commemoration in 2026 for the 60th anniversary of the end of Confrontation.
On the current visit, the veterans and their families will also visit the Batu Lintang Memorial here to commemorate the liberation of the Batu Lintang prisoner of war camp in 1945.
They will later travel to Bau district to hand over financial donations and books to SK Serabak, SK Suba Buan and SK Stass.
The three schools were adopted by the SA Branch NMBVAA in areas where Australian troops served during Confrontation.
