PADANG BESAR, Dec 1 — In addition to being vigilant and always on their toes, members of the General Operations Force (GOF) should also have a strong gut feeling that may act as their sixth sense while performing patrol duties and tracking border invaders (smugglers and illegal immigrants), said Sergeant Che Min Anjang of the Third battalion GOF.

Having been in the service for 42 years, Che Min, 58, who is an Orang Asli, said his instincts had oftentimes helped him in the early detection of attempts by smugglers and illegal immigrants’ attempts to sneak into the country’s border.

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 genuinely sincere 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 told Bernama recently.

Che Min said based on his experience, tracking down smugglers or illegal immigrants was easier than tracking down the communist insurgents who were trained in forest knowledge and known for their many tricks and tactics.

Nevertheless, he said, he was always on guard for any imminent danger and risks.

Last Tuesday, a GOF member, Sergeant Baharuddin Ramli, 54, was killed, while his colleague, Norihan a / l 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.

Like Ch, Che Min also hails from the Orang Asli community and they are expert hunters.

However, according to Che Min tracking human beings is not the same as tracking animals as there are different challenges and risks involved.

 "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, Corporal Anjang bin Angah, 56, said that it was his intuition that helped him to accomplish his task.

"To be able to 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.

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 acuity, or sharpness of thought, vision and hearing, while intuitions could only be of help in certain situations.

He also said that the operations to track down communist insurgents and smugglers posed different challenges and that hunting down insurgents was comparably easier as one needed only to identify their way in and way out.  — Bernama