Correspondence with Roy Follows, author of The Jungle Beat

Dear Jan,

With having been the commander of Fort (pos) Brooke MR 383 827, way back in 1954/55, the mountains you talk about bring back more than a few memories, of which I have many. Trusting you get back to me.

Thanks
Roy Follows
Newcastle -under -Lyme
Staffordshire
United Kingdom
2/Nov/2008

Dear Jan.

Thanks for getting back to me. How did I come to be in Fort Brooke? I served with the Royal Malaysian Police for over eight years during the emergency. For most of my time I was a platoon commander with No 10 police jungle company and 4Police Field Force engaged on long deep jungle operations mainly in Johore. I was appointed commander of Fort Brooke October 1954 and was there for about 8/9 months ( I was there for four months before I came out for a few days leave ) At the time the mountainous region north of the Camerons where Fort Brooke is situated was not mapped (I have my original map which shows this ) and many of the Orang Asli of who I befriended, were still stranded in a stone age time warp. I was responsible of building the first school at Fort Brooke for the orang Asli children, made out of atap and bamboo. I have a photograph of it somewhere, which shows the date 1st Jan 1955. I understand the school is still there, but no longer a bamboo shack. While in the fort I took a number of photographs of the place and of the orang asli

With Fort Brooke then being so remote and inaccessible all supplies had to air dropped in. The attached shows supply parachutes landing; this one missed the dropping zone to land in the fort itself doing much damage.

Thanks
Best wishes
Roy.

Dear Roy,

Many thanks for your interesting message. Yes, there were many foreign peacekeepers in Malaya during the emergency period especially your country, the United Kingdom helping to stem out the communists insurgents. It was a tumultuous period in Malaya and many unpopular policy was made to cut off the supply route to the communist. It had to be done. Many villages was relocated and new villages were set up for easier monitoring. Eventually the communist dwindled to a few die hard groups who eventually gave up their struggle about ten years ago.

The orang asli people are still around and the government and church bodies do help out the orang asli communities. Their lack of progress is rather evident though they are somewhat modern nowadays, they still rely on farming and hunting gathering for some their necessities. Some of their art works and tools are sold in souvenir shops in Cameron Highlands which hopefully provides them with some income. One thing for sure, they are expert trackers! Especially when trekkers get lost in the jungle, the authorities will seek out their help to locate missing people.

If you want, I could post some of your memoirs at my site. If you have some fond memories about Cameron Highlands and would like to let the world know, you are welcome to it.

Cheers and have a good day!
Jan.
3/Nov/2008

Dear Jan.

Thanks for your quick reply. I've just been looking at my original operations map of the Fort Brooke region. It's Map 2 N/6, and MR 383 827 is that of the Fort. - How's that grap yer ? Fort Brooke was built in 1953 by men of British elite SAS regiment along with men from a Malay Police Jungle company. It was named 'Brooke' after the Commanding officer of the SAS who built it. Fort Brooke, like the other eleven deep jungle forts was in control of the Malay Police and to ward off any communist attack they were all armed stockades , where no one moved without their automatic.

To get to Fort Brooke, myself with a few men would travel in an armoured convoy from Ipoh to the Cameron Highlands, of which then most of the roads were of loose reddish stone. From Brinchang we would proceeded to the Blue Valley until the road /track ended, where we would met by an police escort and Orang Asli guides from the Fort. We would make camp in BV tea estate, then at first light after a quick bite to eat , laden with HEAVY rucksacks, firearm, ammo, etc etc begin the long punishing trek to the Fort . We would cross the Sg Telom and many other Sgs, make our through darkened valleys , struggle up and over high ground , weave our way around the many mountains/ Gunongs, and all the time, on the alert in case of being ambushed by the communists. I understand that a road now goes from the CH to Fort Brooke, may quicker and more comfortable , but not as exciting or adventurous as it was trekking way back then when the area was virtually unknown.

The main reason that Fort Brooke and the other forts were built was. At the time, the Dept of Aborigines had little idea of how many orang asli there was in the county. But with them having been under communist domination for years, forts were established in deep jungle to try and ' win them over' which was my main priority at Fort Brooke, where the Communist had their own Asli department. A senior headman, who was respected by all the Temiar, whose name was Pangoi, and whose landang is on the maps , and only a couple of miles on the river west of Brooke, was one of the joint leaders of the Communist Asli organisation in the region, the other was Ah Ming . Where Ah Ming was kiled during a shootout with an army unit, Pangoi I'm pleased to say surrendered to me personally. Pangois son Uda , who I knew could still be alive. The landang across the river from Fort Brooke, the Headman Menti Awol and I became friends, and when I finally departed the fort he presented me with his personal blowpipe and posion darts of which I still have.

In fact I keep them in my study, so whenever I used my computer I'm reminded of the time -the privileged - I had to be with these jungle people , who taught me a lot. I know takes some believing, but when in Fort Brooke, and after much frustration, I eventually made contact with a tribe of Asli, who had never seen an orang puteh before until they set their eyes on me.

I've had two books published, one 'The Jungle Beat', about my time on operations /Fort Brooke during the emergency , the other about my friend and I driving ALL the way from Malaysia to England. At present I'm tippy tapping away on another book , which is about the little know jungle forts in Malaya and the important role they played in defeating the communists, of which I'll explain more later.

Attached 067 Self with a few Temiar headmen. 119 Air Drop. Makan sapmai. 922 Map, part of the Fort Brooke area shows it was not charted , making it difficult to know your position, and there were no GPs , mobile phones then you had to rely on a just a map and compass . Thanks

Best wishes

Roy.
4/Nov/2008

PS. Should you not mind, could you please tell where you live in Malaysia.

Dear Roy,

You have very intriguing past. I check Amazon.com and found your book, The Jungle Beat. Interesting, may grab one and have a read. The other book sounds like a similar adventure to Evan McGregor bike trip from Scotland to South Africa. Sounds good too!

I tried using Google map to match back with the map you have, but it was near impossible. Probably some of the river names have been changed over the years. I can only guess roughly the location but somehow the rivers don't seem to match. Trust the Malaysian government to change location name every so often. They even tried to change some famous road names in Kuala Lumpur recently but due to public outcry they decided to revert back to the old name. Anyway, Ulu Kelantan refers to the southern part of Kelantan bordering with northern Pahang which is where Cameron Highlands is located. There is a road connecting from Blue Valley, Pahang to Gua Musang, Kelantan. Google maps don't show any road branches from the main route so if there was any smaller road which may branch out to Fort Brooke, I wouldn't know. Besides if the authorities changed the name of Fort Brooke it would be a bit difficult to pin point the location from just general searching. Some research may be needed to dig out the info.

As for me, I'm staying in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. It takes about 3+ hours non-stop driving to reach Cameron Highlands. I'm not a resident of Cameron Highlands but started the web site because I like having holiday to the highlands every year to escape from the tropical heat.

And all the best to your next book published!
Cheers!
Jan.
4/Nov/2008

PS: I plan to write short article based on what we discussed here about your experience and highlight your book too. May I have permission to republish the few photos that you passed? Thanks!

Dear Jan

Selamat Pagi (Sini ) dan banyak sejok lah. Where before, with speaking it all the time, I could carry on an in depth conversation in Malay. Sadly with not now speaking it, I only remember a few words .Sahaya lupa lah! I hope you managed to obtain a copy of 'The Jungle Beat', and should you , there's no way that I can be held responsible, if you catch malaria from reading it, you read it at your own peril . Seriously, I'm sure you will find the jungle operations part interesting. Many of the jungle operation I went on lasted for a month, five weeks being my longest. To keep us and the platoon supplied in deep jungle with food and other things, we would received an Air Drop every 5th/6th day . This where one's jungle navigation had to be more or less spot on, ie To give the correct MR of your position so the pilot of the aircraft could find the small dropping zone that you have hacked out of the jungle with parangs.

Ref The article you are looking to write, about what we've discussed, by all means include what photographs you wish.

While on about photographs. I wonder if you could please help me. I'm eager to obtain a recent taken photograph of my old place Fort Brooke, to compare the old fort, with that of today's , with the intention of including it in book I'm writing about jungle forts . I'm no computer whizz kid, but yesterday while looking at your site , and pressing keys I came across a photograph taken by TS Bok (I Think ) of a few people by the bridge at Fort Brooke, and although I've tried I been unable tp locate it again. This bridge I know only too well, having had to rebuilding several times when in 'Brooke' after the river had swept it away. One of the attached is a photo of that same bridge, of which I have others.

I do have it from somewhere that there's now a road - Jeep track- to Fort Brooke, which is now a centre for the Orang Asli, with modern buildings housing a clinic and school etc ,a far cry to how it was over fifty years ago. Without fail, every morning and evening 'Stand to' was carried out . This meant the forts garrison would go to their pre- arranged defence positions, so if the place was attacked, there would be no confusion (I hope ) every man would know which trench to go .

'Four Wheels and Frontiers' sub titled 'The First Overland '. The great difference between our ( impossible ) journey , to that of Euan McGregor and his friend going from Scotland to S Africa on motor bikes , is to mention a couple of many things that was to their advantage . Is they had proper roads to travel on, and were not venturing off the beaten track. Today there's no such place, except in The Amazon area. With our totally ill-equipped journey having taken place fifty years ago , there no comparison between the two . It took us three months to reach England, of which every day was an adventure. The vehicle we used was a 1943 (15 years old) ex British army Jeep, a decaying wreck that we bought from a scrap yard in JB. And for proper roads, way back then, they were few and far between.

Attached 054 Helicopters at Fort Brooke. 306 The Bridge at Fort Brooke. 900 the area south of Brooke. 112 Rebuilding part of the fort after severe damage by heavy rains and strong winds.

Thanks Jaga Baik, itu Hantu delam utan.
Best wishes
Roy .
5/Nov/2008

Dear Roy,

Ah, your Malay still can tahan lah! Language is like that; have to keep on using it or you will forget. Don't worry about Malaria; we got handy mosquito spray around! Living in the city, the mosquito concern would be Dengue than Malaria. Every once in awhile, we have cases of people getting bitten by the Aedes mosquito which carries the Dengue fever. There is no effective cure for this. Doctors will try to control the symptoms and let the body fight off the ailment naturally. If detected early the prognosis would be good. We got Aedes problem due to stagnant water caught in thrown away cans and containers or anything that creates a pool of water. The authorities will fog an area with insecticide if any person in that area happens to catch the dengue disease. Thankfully it is not a serious problem.

I guess weather in UK is very sejuk now. The usual English weather is rather grey. It is wet here now having rain just about every day. Usually it gets hot than suddenly it rains heavily for an hour or so. I'm sure you remember the weather situation here would be similar when you were here. Trekking in this condition would be tough, mud everywhere, slippery slopes, plus carrying heavy equipment and still need to keep a wary eye on enemy activities...

I looked through TS Bok photos and couldn't find any bridge. Though I have two pictures of bridges but they are located near Tanah Rata following the Parit jungle path so I don't think that matches your description. If it is located in an Orang Asli settlement it could be anyone of those settlements somewhere in Cameron Highlands. If I happen to find it on my next holiday trip, I will get some pictures, but at this moment I haven't the foggiest idea where Fort Brooke is located.

It is interesting to go on an adventure overland (and of course with nobody shooting back at you, but many places is unstable politically what with pirates and all). Seems like the national geographic channel is full of adventurers of various kinds and of course armchair enthusiast like me would tune in once in awhile and hope to do it one day (and if possible, document it and show it to the whole world)!

Good luck to your next book, I'm sure it would be intriguing.
Cheers!
Jan.
6/Nov/2008

Dear Jan.

You mentioned Dengue fever of which I've suffered with on more than one occasion, another name for it is Break Bone fever. Then there's sand fly fever , but it was through dreaded malaria, that after about five years of jungle operations I was force to give it up and and was transferred to the Marine Police. It's bad enough having malaria when being in normal civilised conditions, where you are dry with a proper bed, but to go down with it in deep jungle, without proper medication , wearing tattered slime covered clothes ,cold and damp lying in a little pondok, is wretched , but then again it's all part of trying to beat the jungle, where nature is always dominant Ref the photograph of the bridge at Fort Brooke . I've found the site again. It's on one of those Blogs. I tapped in Fort Brooke Cameron Highlands, and I opened up, one named Tongtanah and amongst other photographs was one of the bridge at Fort Brooke, along with the expedition leader Zaharan Razak. You say you don't know where Fort Brooke actually it is approx 13 miles east of Gn Korbu MR 383 827.

I know of Petaling Jaya where you live but have never been there. I spent most of my time in Johore but I've also operated in the Kuantan area of Pahang and in Kedah, and was with the Marine Police in Penang . You talk about hujan in the hutan. I once did an operation that for the month we were in the jungle, it rained at least once a day or during the night, susa lah! When up to my chest wading in the mangrove swamps in the then uninhabited SE coastal region of Johore , I always wished I was in the mountains, then when amongst the packed Bukits and Gunongs I longed to be in the swamp -you can't win. When we began a month's operation we carried our household on our backs including 5/6 days food, and with all our other equipment we were burden down with there was about 75/80 Ibs on our backs . But it was an expeirence I would not have missed for anything, and at the same time an honour for me to have served with the brave men of the Malaysian Police Force.

Should you manage to come across any photographs of Fort Brooke, please let me know.
Thanks
Best wishes
Roy .
7/Nov/2008

Dear Roy,

I manage to get hold of your book, "The Jungle Beat". A very good read, I've read the first three chapters. I'm a slow reader so hope to finish reading it by the end of the month. Also did some search in the web site and found a handsome picture of you with our Deputy Prime Minister, Najib. Also found more of your maps online, and have some better idea of where Fort Brooke is located. Looks really out of the way from Cameron Highlands. Could be somewhere along the road between Cameron Highlands to Gua Musang or deeper into the interior away from the main roads.

I don't have good topography maps, and I'm not sure where I can get my hands on such kinds of maps. The government don't provide the detailed topographical maps, perhaps for security reasons. Usually, when we go jungle trekking we just follow the beaten path, not using any maps at all. Usually this is ok as the path is well trodden, so staying with the path should get us where we want to go. Many of our intrepid jungle adventurers just go in blind without maps, so every once in awhile, we get lost trekkers who need rescuing by our Government search and rescue teams.

I'm just a city dweller, and seldom go jungle trekking or camping. So my jungle craft is probably as good as what I have read and remembered here and there. My last trek was several years ago to Mount Kinabalu, and that just a piece of cake in comparison to your experience. Gravity was my enemy and halfway up I gave up lugging anything and pass it all to my porter and guide. A fine soldier I would have made, eh? Heh heh.

Anyway, if I ever do come across Fort Brooke, I'll be sure to grab a picture just for you.

I did another quick search online based on your keywords and found the blog you mentioned and saw the 1985 faded photo of the bridge to Fort Brooke. The picture belongs to a Mr Tan Boon Foo. I think he went on a jungle trekking expedition at that time. There were still some communist in the jungle at that time and they entered some restricted area with the army permission. I'll see if I can get in touch with him and get some more info.

Cheers!
Jan.
10/Nov/2008

Dear Jan.

Thanks for splashing out some of your hard earned Ringgits on a copy of 'Jungle Beat', which I hope you find interesting. In your last email you mention about city dweller becoming lost in the hutan. On many a occasion, I could not pin point our position when in deep jungle, but in the end I always managed to do so. Yes I'm sure you are correct when you say Fort Brooke is not too far away from the new road that I understand goes from the Camerons to Gua Musang. I expect there's a Macdonalds hamburger shop in the fort now.

I'm now in contact with Mr Tan Boon Foo , so I hope he will be able to obtain photographs of today's Fort Brooke for me.

Thanks again
Best wishes
Roy.
12/Nov/2008

[Update 27.4.2010]

Finally found out what happened to Fort Brooke, even caught a glimpse of the clearing too! Current Fort Brooke condition and location in Ulu Kelantan

Return to Cameron Highlands History

• The Jungle Beat - Roy Follows, of Fort Brooke and Cameron Highlands
• Correspondence with Jim Smith about Fort Brooke
• Current Fort Brooke condition and location in Ulu Kelantan
• The mysterious dissappearance of Jim Thompson
• Some interesting history about Kellie's Castle

Posted on 11-Dec-2008