At the time, communist insurgents had been positioning themselves across the state. Sarawak was considered fertile ground for recruiting new members since many of its villages pre-dated the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.

The intel gathered was crucial for the execution of a huge operation, known as “Ops Jala Raja”, which began in January 1970 and lasted three months.

Awal, who is now in his 70s, recounted to FMT on how it all went down.

He said the operation killed 78 communist members and crippled the movement in Sarawak.

“The army had attempted to eliminate these communists previously, but the intel they received was inaccurate, so they could not execute their plans efficiently.

“For instance, when they waited to ambush the communists at point A, they (communists) were able to come through point B. So, I was among those called from the peninsula to reassess the information,” Awal added.

His assignment was to coordinate intel on the enemy’s movement.

Meanwhile, the army had stationed brigades across Sarawak, while their Indonesian counterparts manned the state’s border with Kalimantan.

Village heads were also instrumental in intelligence gathering, he said.

“In those days, village heads were crucial. They could tell who the outsiders were and identify suspicious movements. They could also order villagers to gather certain information,” said Awal, who is the older brother of former army chief Shahrom Nordin.

Army intelligence officers also relied on footprints and other markings left by insurgents to detect their movement, he added.

According to Awal, the operation suffered a blow when one of his men was killed, but the troops’ sorrow only served to make them more determined and saw them launch a counter-offensive.

He said the then army chief Hamid Bidin, who was about to retire, visited Sarawak and praised the team for the success of the operation, calling it the “best farewell gift ever”.

Awal vividly recalls how he and three personnel from the Indonesian army disguised themselves as villagers to scout the jungle, eventually arriving at Sambas, a village in Kalimantan.

“When we arrived, the whole place was on fire. Every house had been burnt down by the communists and dozens of dead bodies were scattered everywhere,” he said.

However, the overall success of the operation severely crippled the communist movement and saw it splintered into small groups and scattered.

Eventually, two other operations – Ops Bara and Ops Cili Padi – were launched to hunt the remaining insurgents.