We were fledglings wanting very much to be accepted by the brood. Seven of us reported to a unit that was based in a far-flung corner of Malaysia. Second Rangers was the resident battalion of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and was one of the two stationed in this East Malaysian state. Our battalion was the guardian of Sabah’s western sea board.

As subalterns we were considered second class. Our lives were being dictated by the whims of our seniors, although we were of the same rank. In the army seniority matters even if you are a day older in service.


One senior who stood out was Nathan. He was already a full-Lieutenant, a two-piper, while the rest were one-pipers. Nathan was from the Ranks and was a corporal in the Signal Corps before joining the military college. He was commissioned in 1967 and had joined Second Rangers as a platoon commander. His stint in the Signals got him the appointment as the Regimental Signal Officer, a coveted post sought after by young officers.

Nathan was friendly and helpful. He was the only senior we could relate to. The rest were aloof. When we joined the battalion in 1970, Nathan was already married. He lived in the married quarters while we stayed in the Officers’ Mess. Our lives revolved around the mess bar. Distance and loneliness were overcome with us banding together for comfort and strength.

Nathan remained in the unit for a number of years. I got promoted and so did he. We later became company commanders serving under a head-strong Commanding Officer, Colonel Zain Daud. Nathan was taken under Zain’s wings and was given the unenviable job as the unit’s Operations Officer. Towards the end of 1972, while operating in the jungles of Jalong in Sungei Siput, the battalion had its first operational success. We got one kill, a notch up on the score board. Nathan was the prime mover.
I called Nathan by his pet name, “Andy” while to the rest he was simply “Anay” (brother in Tamil). He was a big brother, nonetheless although not in stature. When the battalion was deployed at the Thai border in 1974, Nathan’s consistency led us to recover many terrorist bases, arms caches and food dumps.

Our paths crossed again after we retired from service. It was in 1998 when I stumbled into him by chance. I dropped by Yayasan Sultan Idris Shah in Bercham for a visit and was pleasantly surprised by Nathan’s appearance. He was the Chief Executive Officer of the rehabilitation centre. How could a former soldier be managing a place like the Yayasan? His penchant for helping the under privileged could be the reason. Nathan, in his twilight years, was taking care of the handicaps. He remained with the centre for over a decade before calling it quits in 2005.

An active sportsman in his younger days, Nathan played football, rugby and hockey for the battalion. Andy had always been fascinated by the rough and tumble lifestyle of a soldier. He volunteered to attend the rigorous parachute course in order to earn his “wings”. And he did it in splendid fashion by topping the class. Nathan realised his dreams of leading an elite regiment when in 1982, upon his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, was given command of Eighth Rangers, a parachute regiment.

Nathan was diabetic and had been under medication since he was in the army. The debilitating disease impacted his body and soul. When doctors told that his gangrene-riddled right leg had to be amputated he agreed without batting an eyelid. He lost his loving wife, Grace, to cancer in 2005 but soldiered on, nonetheless. Years of medication, however, took its toll. He succumbed to the disease on September 9, 2008 at the age of 68. Nathan left behind three children and seven grandchildren.

By Lt Col (Rtd) Fatholzaman Bukhari in the Ipoh Echo