KUALA LUMPUR: Assisting the government by continuing to comply with every standard operating procedure (SOP) set to free the country from being 'colonised' by the 'silent enemy' is a struggle that is highly demanded from the people at this time.

Warrant Officer I (R) Ielias Ibrahim said the current pandemic situation was no different from a war situation which required the people to have a high patriotic spirit and fight together against the enemy who had claimed many lives and the freedom that we were enjoying.

"In the past, we fought using firearms to fight the enemy we could see, the communists, but now the war we are facing is completely different because the enemy is more violent and dangerous.

"It cannot be seen with the naked eyes yet it is around us. It can take lives in the blink of an eye. So the shield and fort that we must put up are to continue to abide by the SOPs set and equip ourselves with vaccines," he told Bernama recently.

Ielias was the first individual to be awarded the Panglima Gagah Berani (PGB) medal in the Territorial Army Regiment for his services in fighting the communists while overseeing the construction of the East-West Highway connecting Gerik, Perak and Jeli, Kelantan in 1977.

The courage demonstrated against the enemy through Kota Foxtrot Operation also enabled the Batu Kurau, Taiping, Perak native to be awarded the Pingat Keberanian Handalan (PKH) medal by the then Sultan of Perak, Al-Marhum Sultan Idris Iskandar Al-Mutawakkil Alallahi Shah in the same year, in conjunction with His Highness' birthday.

Ielias said today's generation should be grateful for still living in peace despite being tested by the spread of the pandemic and imposed with the Movement Control Order.

"In the past, anyone who violated the curfew would be shot. Now, we are still free to do anything but within specified boundaries set by the laws.

"...and being confined at home for quite some time actually makes us appreciate the meaning of freedom even more as well as understand the true meaning of national independence," he said.

Recounting his 22 yeas of service in the Malaysian Armed Forces, Ielias said he was eager to eliminate communist terrorists.

At that time, Ielias who was a Private along with his four comrades-in-arms Lance Corporal Zaki Shamsudin who was also the Section Head, Private Abd Halim Hasan, Private Md Ali Hassan and Private Tajuddin Yusof were instructed to take food rations at the Control Post 5 on Aug 15 1977, a day before Ramadan.

According to him, while on the way, they came across a pile of animal skins as if they had just been left there but one of his teammates asked them to ignore it and continue their journey.

"However, I suspected something amiss upon hearing noises made by gibbons from the nearby area. It turned out to be true when we were ambushed by about 30 communist terrorists from the nearby hill after walking about 500 metres," he said.

The loud noise of the gibbons was soon replaced by the sound of gunshots and the rain of bullets from the enemy's weapons causing one of Ielias' colleagues to be injured and killed in the ambush and he himself was seriously injured.

Despite the injuries suffered, the fourth child of seven siblings returned fire and managed to kill three of them.

After the incident, Ielias was transferred to the 14th Battalion of the Territorial Army Regiment (14 MTA) on Nov 12, 1977 and promoted to Lance Corporal in March 1979.

He was later absorbed as a permanent member of the 9th Royal Ranger Regiment on Nov 1, 1979 and completed his service in 1998 in his last unit at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang as a Regiment Sergeant Major for the Reserve Officers Training Team (PALAPES).

-- BERNAMA