Sematan is a town of 600 inhabitants in the First Division of Sarawak. It is about 11 kilometres from the Indonesian border with the jungle between. Pueh is a small kampong (village) 12 kilometres to the west of Sematan. There are 20 houses in the kampong. Across the border and 80 kilometres from it is the Indonesian town of Singkawang. It is known that an Indonesian Army unit known as Border Raiders together with a force of Indonesian Irregulars were stationed there. Both Sematan and Pueh are in an area subject to curfew between the hours 1900 and 0700.

According to information given to the Police the next day by the occupant of a house, two men called at his house at about 2000 hours. One was ex-PC, Lansam, a Sarawakian, the other was an unidentified Chinese. They were in uniform and carried grenades in their belts. They demanded food and got it, the occupants being in fear. The occupant recognised one of the two as a former resident of Pueh who had disappeared about a year ago leaving his family behind. The other man was not known to him. He asked for information about his family as he wished to take them away to Indonesian Borneo. The occupant told him what he knew about the family. Both of them went away into the darkness and spent the night in a basha on the outskirts of the village.

On the 18th January, afternoon according to information given to Special Branch by another occupant of the kampong this same former resident of the kampong called at another house.He was accompanied by three other Dayaks and an unknown Chinese. The Dayaks were identified by the occupant as Indonesian because of their accent. They were all in uniform and one carried a rifle. The man carrying the rifle demanded cooked rice for 20 persons which he wished to take away. They waited for 30 minutes during the cooking of the rice. The man with the rifle ate his portion and they all left in the direction of the coast to the north.

Between 26/28 January, 1964 Singkum Ak Lacen, resident of Pueh, failed to return home after his work on 26 January. He was present in the longhouse on the night of 17/ 18th when On the 28th he reported to the Police at Sematan, one kilometre away to the west from Pueh that a group of men numbering five all in uniform and armed with rifles, invaded his house and forcibly took him to a place about 2 kilometres away in the jungle. There he saw a larger group. There were about fifty of them. They were all in uniform and all armed with rifles. In this group he noticed the two men who had called at his house on the night of 17/1&h. The rest he had never seen or met before.

One of the men who appeared to be the leader demanded that he should lead them to Sematan. This he did walking ahead of them through the jungle. They reached Gunong Tamin about 8 kilometres south of Sematan about 1700 hours on 28 January. He watched for an opportunity to slip away from them into the jungle. This he succeeded in doing on the 28th and one reaching Sematan made the report.

22 and 23 January, 1964
Enemy Activity in the Nibong area. Nibong is a small village of about 200 inhabitants in the First Division of Sarawak. It is situated 4 kilometres from the Sarawak-Indonesian border and is 80 kilometres south-east of Kuching. Directly across the border in mid-January there was known to be an Indonesian force ccntaining elements of 602 Battalion of the Indonesian Regular Army. A platoon of 30 men had been deployed by Malaysian Security Forces at Nibong to watch the frontier in that area. During daylight hours, patrolling was carried out and at night trip-flares and other similar devices were put out to give warning to anyone moving near that position.

A curfew was in operation in this area between the hours of 1900 and 0700. At 0300 hours on the morning of 23 January three and a half hours before dawn, a trip-flare 160 metres to the south of the platoon position was ignited. Five ‘figures in jungle uniform of the type worn by lndonesian Regular soldiers were clearly seen by the light of the flare. They were armed and fire was immediately opened by them and returned by the Security Forces. This continued for about forty minutes. A dawn patrol sent out to investigate found the tracks for five people which led unmistakably to and from the border.