It pays to listen to gut feelings, says GOF personnel

PADANG BESAR: Besides having to be always on their toes, some General Operations Force (GOF) members have also honed their intuition to sniff out trouble while they are patrolling and tracking down smugglers and illegal immigrants, says Sjn Che Min Anjang of the 3rd Battalion GOF.

Sjn Che Min, who has been in the service for 42 years, said it often helped him in detecting attempts by smugglers and illegal immigrants to sneak into the country.

However, he said this intuitive feeling could not be learned nor could it be gained through years of experience.

“It is a gift that comes from the heart that is sincere in wanting to serve, to contribute body and soul to protect the country’s sovereignty.

“That is my belief from the moment I first joined the GOF 42 years ago,” he said.

Sjn Che Min, 58, said based on his experience, tracking down smugglers or illegal immigrants was easier than searching for communist insurgents who were trained in forest knowledge.

Last week, a GOF member, Sjn Baharuddin Ramli, 54, was killed while his colleague Sjn Norihan Tari, 39, was seriously injured during a shootout with smugglers at the Malaysian-Thai border in Padang Besar.

The following day, a member of the same battalion who was on duty at Post M16 in Bukit Kayu Hitam was injured after being shot by an air rifle, believed to be by a smuggler.

Sjn Che Min hails from the Orang Asli community who are expert hunters.

However, he explained that there were differences in tracking human beings compared to wildlife.

“Tracking animals is very easy because we only have to detect their footprints, but to track human beings, there are many things that need to be considered, including the surroundings, noise and one must always be prepared for the possibility of an ambush,” he said.

Sharing his experience, Kpl Anjang Angah, 56, said it was his intuition that helped him to accomplish his task.

“To be able to do our job well, we are trained to put aside our own fear, fatigue and stress because these feelings can affect the alertness of our senses in tracking down enemies,” he said.

Kpl Anjang, who had been with the elite special forces unit, Komando 69, for 28 years, said the most important element in tracking smugglers and illegal immigrants was sharpness of thought, vision and hearing, while intuition could only be of help in certain situations.