Kampong Aur

Kampong Aur

Kampong Aur is within the State of Pahang located some twenty miles (direct line),approx.forty miles by river,NW of Kuala Rompin (see map) in the centre of,in 1948,a vast area of jungle. Apart from walking the only access was by boat from Kuala Rompin. Kampong Aur had been for many years the trading centre for the purchase of Jungle produce harvested by the surrounding aboriginal tribes.In 1949 it was decided to establish a large Police Post with airstrip to serve as a patrol base.Stewart Wavell,Press Officer,FMP visited in 1951 and wrote:

Flight To Kampong Aur

As I lay wrapped in parachute silk listening to the scurry of rats and pythons across the roof, I thought of the two Police Lieutenants who lay on each side of me - men who had spent more than two years protecting a lonely Kampong deep in the heart of Pahang. Bjorkman and Dale* were their names,and their territory - many miles of river and jungle in the neighbourhood of Kampong Aur.

I spent only one night in that lonely Kampong, flown there over seemingly endless jungle by an RAF Squadron Leader, keeping his hand in with the Air Op Squadron Austers from HQ Malaya. It was too short a time to do more than wonder - but wonder I did at the almost missionary zeal with which these two Police Officers approached their Task.

I believe there are men of action, at heart idealists, who look round upon the miseries and imperfections of the world and feel a tremendous urge to do something about it.They are not always qualified as doctors or religious teachers. The most they can offer is leadership,personal example and the human touch. And I believe there are not a few of these men working on their own for the Police in many remote spots of Malaya. Certainly Bjorkman and Dale fit into this category. Bjorkman - unkempt,unshaven,without shirt,shoes or socks defied all the spit and polish standards of a disciplinary Force. He was a bear,a rugged individualist, and a man with a great love for his job.

I can talk about Bjorkman freely now because he has gone back to England and will not be returning to Malaya. Dale,on the other hand, will be returning to the Police Force after a few months leave. Bjorkman had collected 3 D.C.M's and 2 M.M's in the late war. He fought for Mikhailovitch in Yugoslavia, and against the Communists in Greece. "I've seen enough of Communism first hand," he said,"to make me sick." He was in Popski's Private Army* in the Middle East and at one time he fought under Mike Calvert of Chindit fame.

I'm quite sure that Bjorkman would have found it difficult to settle down to life at Headquarters. He loved the wilderness. He loved to be on his own. And what he wanted most was to help people. "Politics don't matter," he said to me "Governments don't matter. What matters is people,individuals"

The people at Kampong Aur are mostly aboriginals,Semelai. During the occupation they saw very little of the Japanese. Their main source of fear was Chinese bandits. In 1946 Civil Affairs Officers supported by the Army restored law and order. There followed two years of peace then came the Emergency. The Rompin river area, being remote and unprotected by Security Forces became a bandit stronghold. 300 bandits made this inaccessible hideout their home. Owing to the courage of a prominent Malay, who at great personal risk supplied valuable information to the Police, military operations were launched, and in a period of two months the whole gang dispersed, many were killed, some surrendered and others fled. This Malay for his gallantry was awarded the British Empire Medal.

Then began the task of winning the aboriginals co-operation. They feared,of course, that the Police and Military would soon withdraw, leaving them once again to the mercy of the bandits. Their fears vanished when they saw signs that the Police were going to stay. One by one a series of miracles occurred. Parachutes fell from the sky containing food,wireless sets and outboard motors. Dynamite hurled the earth skyward when Sappers set to work preparing an Auster strip.And then out of the sky came a small machine making a great noise.It circled overhead,flew down the river, turned and came into land - on wheels ! Out stepped a man.

It was not long before a Police Station was built on a high bank overlooking the river. This was the final promise of security. Regular Police moved in.

Can you imagine the impact of so many wonders on the minds of these simple and kindly people ? I cannot; I have tried. But I can understand how repetition dulls the edge of wonder. Parachutes and wireless sets and aeroplanes cease to thrill when they become matters of routine. Human beings are never for long bewitched by the magic of machines. They want something more permanent, something deeper, something more human. And that is what Bjorkman sought to provide when he came to Kg.Aur. He knew that he must supply more than protection to be a good Police Officer. He must help these people to build up their own community. They must be taught to grow a greater variety of food instead of relying on the eternal tapioca. He must help them to get their jungle produce - fowls, Jelutong and damar - to market by towing their crudely built sampans and rafts downstream behind his motor boat. There must be a school for the children of the aboriginal and 40 odd Chinese families now resettled at Kg.Aur. They must have a co-operative shop. They must have medicines to cure their many skin diseases. And above all, they must have benevolent leadership, a father to whom they could go in time of trouble.Bjorkman supplied all these things. He was fortunate to have the active support of men like Douglas Young,the District Officer,Pekan who administered the Aboriginal Welfare Fund and took a close personal interest in everything that happened at Aur. Men like Geoffrey Garbett at Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters. T.K.Belton* and C.T.W.Dobree,now OC Crime, did much of the spade work in making Kampong Aur secure. From Johore Police came real help from P.H.D.Jackson,Chief Police Officer. And there were others too not least among them Bjorkman's close colleague Dale who would spend another two and a half years in Aur if the authorities would let him.

Needless to say, the Pahang Government, in providing an initial sum of $2,000/- for aboriginal welfare made an imaginative gesture which they will never regret. Supplies of food,medicines, agricultural tools and seeds have all been a tremendous help. 2,000 dollars is not a lot of money compared with the hundreds of thousands spent on resettlement work, but it represented a real kindness to the aboriginals in this remote region of Pahang. Do not have any doubt as to where the loyalty of the aboriginals now lies. It rests strongly withthe Police and most of all with Police Lieutenant Bjorkman.

I do not think it would be taken amiss if I quoted from "Mad Mike"Calvert of the Malayan Scouts who operated throughout this whole region. He said "More has been accomplished with a handful of men and a few thousand dollars in this area than in any other part of Malaya." That is a tribute of which the entire Police Force can be proud.

* 457 P/Lt.P.C.E.Bjorkman,DCM,MM

41 P/Lt.D.W.Dale

* This claim is not supported by records held by the Popski Private Army Historical Society.

* Extract from Email T.K.Belton, Aug.'03

"I looked up your website re Kg Aur and it relates to 1951, two years after Supt.Charles Dobree and I, with Bjorkman and Dale, had opened it up from scratch.

We took a police party (jungle squads were not yet formed) in 20 open outboard engined boats, escorted by a RN coastal patrol vessel and the ketch Kelana 11, as far up the Rompin River as the big vessels could get. They left us there and we went on unescorted for two days. Our primary function was to build a runway capable of taking Austers and this was done by recruiting hundreds of Malays to clear the jungle and then put down hard core and laterite to form the runway, using their cunkals and flat woven baskets - no explosives for sure. We were supplied by airdrop.

As soon as the runway was big enough to take the first Auster Charles Dobree left and was replaced by Geoffrey Garbett. I also left on completion of three months "...............Ken Belton

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	Kampong Aur Kampong Aur is within the State of Pahang located some twenty miles (direct line),approx.forty miles by river,NW of Kuala Rompin (see map) in the centre of,in 1948,a vast area of jungle. Apart from walking the only access was by boat from Kuala Rompin. Kampong Aur had been for many years the trading centre for the purchase of Jungle produce harvested by the surrounding aboriginal tribes.In 1949 it was decided to establish a large Police Post with airstrip to serve as a patrol base.Stewart Wavell,Press Officer,FMP visited in 1951 and wrote: Flight To Kampong Aur As I lay wrapped in parachute silk listening to the scurry of rats and pythons across the roof, I thought of the two Police Lieutenants who lay on each side of me - men who had spent more than two years protecting a lonely Kampong deep in the heart of Pahang. Bjorkman and Dale* were their names,and their territory - many miles of river and jungle in the neighbourhood of Kampong Aur. I spent only one night in that lonely Kampong, flown there over seemingly endless jungle by an RAF Squadron Leader, keeping his hand in with the Air Op Squadron Austers from HQ Malaya. It was too short a time to do more than wonder - but wonder I did at the almost missionary zeal with which these two Police Officers approached their Task. I believe there are men of action, at heart idealists, who look round upon the miseries and imperfections of the world and feel a tremendous urge to do something about it.They are not always qualified as doctors or religious teachers. The most they can offer is leadership,personal example and the human touch. And I believe there are not a few of these men working on their own for the Police in many remote spots of Malaya. Certainly Bjorkman and Dale fit into this category. Bjorkman - unkempt,unshaven,without shirt,shoes or socks defied all the spit and polish standards of a disciplinary Force. He was a bear,a rugged individualist, and a man with a great love for his job. I can talk about Bjorkman freely now because he has gone back to England and will not be returning to Malaya. Dale,on the other hand, will be returning to the Police Force after a few months leave. Bjorkman had collected 3 D.C.M's and 2 M.M's in the late war. He fought for Mikhailovitch in Yugoslavia, and against the Communists in Greece. "I've seen enough of Communism first hand," he said,"to make me sick." He was in Popski's Private Army* in the Middle East and at one time he fought under Mike Calvert of Chindit fame. I'm quite sure that Bjorkman would have found it difficult to settle down to life at Headquarters. He loved the wilderness. He loved to be on his own. And what he wanted most was to help people. "Politics don't matter," he said to me "Governments don't matter. What matters is people,individuals" The people at Kampong Aur are mostly aboriginals,Semelai. During the occupation they saw very little of the Japanese. Their main source of fear was Chinese bandits. In 1946 Civil Affairs Officers supported by the Army restored law and order. There followed two years of peace then came the Emergency. The Rompin river area, being remote and unprotected by Security Forces became a bandit stronghold. 300 bandits made this inaccessible hideout their home. Owing to the courage of a prominent Malay, who at great personal risk supplied valuable information to the Police, military operations were launched, and in a period of two months the whole gang dispersed, many were killed, some surrendered and others fled. This Malay for his gallantry was awarded the British Empire Medal. Then began the task of winning the aboriginals co-operation. They feared,of course, that the Police and Military would soon withdraw, leaving them once again to the mercy of the bandits. Their fears vanished when they saw signs that the Police were going to stay. One by one a series of miracles occurred. Parachutes fell from the sky containing food,wireless sets and outboard motors. Dynamite hurled the earth skyward when Sappers set to work preparing an Auster strip.And then out of the sky came a small machine making a great noise.It circled overhead,flew down the river, turned and came into land - on wheels ! Out stepped a man. It was not long before a Police Station was built on a high bank overlooking the river. This was the final promise of security. Regular Police moved in. Can you imagine the impact of so many wonders on the minds of these simple and kindly people ? I cannot; I have tried. But I can understand how repetition dulls the edge of wonder. Parachutes and wireless sets and aeroplanes cease to thrill when they become matters of routine. Human beings are never for long bewitched by the magic of machines. They want something more permanent, something deeper, something more human. And that is what Bjorkman sought to provide when he came to Kg.Aur. He knew that he must supply more than protection to be a good Police Officer. He must help these people to build up their own community. They must be taught to grow a greater variety of food instead of relying on the eternal tapioca. He must help them to get their jungle produce - fowls, Jelutong and damar - to market by towing their crudely built sampans and rafts downstream behind his motor boat. There must be a school for the children of the aboriginal and 40 odd Chinese families now resettled at Kg.Aur. They must have a co-operative shop. They must have medicines to cure their many skin diseases. And above all, they must have benevolent leadership, a father to whom they could go in time of trouble.Bjorkman supplied all these things. He was fortunate to have the active support of men like Douglas Young,the District Officer,Pekan who administered the Aboriginal Welfare Fund and took a close personal interest in everything that happened at Aur. Men like Geoffrey Garbett at Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters. T.K.Belton* and C.T.W.Dobree,now OC Crime, did much of the spade work in making Kampong Aur secure. From Johore Police came real help from P.H.D.Jackson,Chief Police Officer. And there were others too not least among them Bjorkman's close colleague Dale who would spend another two and a half years in Aur if the authorities would let him. Needless to say, the Pahang Government, in providing an initial sum of $2,000/- for aboriginal welfare made an imaginative gesture which they will never regret. Supplies of food,medicines, agricultural tools and seeds have all been a tremendous help. 2,000 dollars is not a lot of money compared with the hundreds of thousands spent on resettlement work, but it represented a real kindness to the aboriginals in this remote region of Pahang. Do not have any doubt as to where the loyalty of the aboriginals now lies. It rests strongly withthe Police and most of all with Police Lieutenant Bjorkman. I do not think it would be taken amiss if I quoted from "Mad Mike"Calvert of the Malayan Scouts who operated throughout this whole region. He said "More has been accomplished with a handful of men and a few thousand dollars in this area than in any other part of Malaya." That is a tribute of which the entire Police Force can be proud. * 457 P/Lt.P.C.E.Bjorkman,DCM,MM 41 P/Lt.D.W.Dale * This claim is not supported by records held by the Popski Private Army Historical Society. * Extract from Email T.K.Belton, Aug.'03 "I looked up your website re Kg Aur and it relates to 1951, two years after Supt.Charles Dobree and I, with Bjorkman and Dale, had opened it up from scratch. We took a police party (jungle squads were not yet formed) in 20 open outboard engined boats, escorted by a RN coastal patrol vessel and the ketch Kelana 11, as far up the Rompin River as the big vessels could get. They left us there and we went on unescorted for two days. Our primary function was to build a runway capable of taking Austers and this was done by recruiting hundreds of Malays to clear the jungle and then put down hard core and laterite to form the runway, using their cunkals and flat woven baskets - no explosives for sure. We were supplied by airdrop. As soon as the runway was big enough to take the first Auster Charles Dobree left and was replaced by Geoffrey Garbett. I also left on completion of three months "...............Ken Belton BACK / HOME