Official Press Statement by the Committee

A very well-written explaination by Miss Ng Kwee Noi. Kudos to Miss Ng

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My dear colleagues,

You would, no doubt, have heard details of our adventure when the Humanities Department (& Explorers’ Club of SAM) took 72 students on an expedition to scale Mt. Angsi on Saturday, 22 March. Here is our brief account of this first excursion of 2008 which was “prominent” enough to get press attention from the local print media. [Check out Sunday night’s edition of the Nanyang Siang Pau. Sin Chew Jit Poh and China Press, but don’t believe everything you read there!]

The 72 students were transported in two buses which left the College at 7:40 a.m. to arrive at the Ulu Bendul Recreational Forest which is a part of the Angsi Forest Reserve before 10:00 a.m. Accompanying them were Yap Keat Leong, Yap Yuen Kiat, Tong Jin Chong, Madhavan, Wan Zokhri and I. On the climb, the students were split into two groups, each having a lecturer at its head, in the midst of the pack and at the rear, to monitor their progress and to ensure no one was left behind. In all, 68 students succeeded in scaling the summit while only four (4) of the lecturers did so.


The ascent up to the 825 m mountain took roughly 3 ~ 3½ hours for the majority of the climbers. Several female students experienced minor difficulties in the upper reaches of the trail where the gradient was steeper than along the lower portion which meandered through secondary forest which used to be part of a rubber estate. Most merely required frequent stops along the trail to catch their breath before proceeding upward. However, two (2) among them had more serious problems as they are asthmatic and had not seen fit to bring along any medication for their condition. Moreover, in the Indemnity Form they had had completed and returned to us, they had failed to inform us of their condition &/or that they were on long-term medication. As a result, each of these girls had to be closely monitored at all times by a lecturer and a classmate as we made the laboured progress up the mountain. After covering about 80% of the trail, they were finally persuaded to turn back, resulting in these six (6) persons being unable to reach the peak. To complicate matters, one of the girls had surrendered her backpack to a boy who had offered to carry it after seeing how she had been struggling to keep up with the rest of the climbers. That backpack did not make it down the mountain even after the last of the 68 successful climbers returned to the starting point!


Partly because the slow progress of the weaker students had delayed the descent from the summit until about 2:00 p.m. and the rain that fell soon after caused the conditions on the trail to rapidly deteriorate, the journey was hampered when the climbers attempted to ford the river at two points along the trail. The last group of 24 students and two (2) lecturers were the most severely affected as they had already trudged so far in the miserable, cold and wet conditions but worked selflessly as a team to get everyone across. At the first point, despite the (normally) ankle-deep waters having risen to mid-thigh level, the males formed a human chain across the breath of the river to slow down the force of the current to allow the females to inch their way across first before, they, too, one by one, made it safely to the opposite bank. However, they were not so lucky at the second. By the time they arrived at the left bank of Sungai Batang Terachi, where the waters had been at mid-calf depth earlier that day, the river had risen to hip level and was now raging even more powerfully. Fearing for the safety of the entire group, they, together with Keat Leong who had been waiting there for these last 26, made the decision to stay put on the far bank of the now impassable river. After passing his torchlight and the last of this food supplies to the stranded members, he quickly made his way down to the park Office to alert the officer-in-charge there of the situation. By that time, it was already after 6:00 p.m.


Meanwhile, in the car park, another decision was made for 43 of the 48 students already safely ensconced in the two buses to get into one bus and make the journey back to Subang Jaya while Keat Leong, Yuen Kiat and Tong were to wait with the other bus to accompany the remaining 28 students, Madhavan and Zokhri back to the College. I took the last seat on the 44-seater bus that left about about 7:00 p.m. and arrived outside the College gates at 8:40 p.m. Along the way, Mrs. Hoe and Zaidah both called on the handphone to inform me that the press had been alerted to our situation and that the Civil Defence Department had dispatched a 13-member rescue team to help lead our members out.


On returning to the College, we found parents already there to collect their children, including a couple whose son was one of the stranded 24. After explaining the situation to them, I went to the Staffroom to get the Indemnity Forms so we could begin calling the parents of the affected students to allay their fears and concern since their children could not be contacted (there being no phone reception on the mountain). Mrs. Hoe and Mrs. Quek had returned to the College expressly to deal with this situation and together with them and Ms. Prema (who was hard at work on the March-intake timetables), we phoned each of the parents of the stranded students; by the time we talked to the last few parents, they informed us that they had already received news from their children that they were, indeed, safe and sound. What a relief that was to us! It was after 10:30 p.m. when we could relax and think of feeding our thirst and hunger at Asia Café.


From what I have been told, our students and lecturers kept calm throughout the time they had to wait, not for the rescuers to arrive but, for the waters to recede sufficiently. When they deemed it safe to attempt crossing Sungai Batang Terachi, again they linked arms to form a human chain to enable each member to scramble to safety on the other side. From then on, darkness was the biggest impediment; however, with seven torchlights amongst them, they could light up their way sufficiently to make out the trail and head in the direction of the park’s entrance. When that final leg was more than halfway completed, they were met by the Civil Defence rescue team who had been utterly surprised that our climbers had not suffered any injuries and were in good condition to walk out of the forest unaided. It took them another half-an-hour before they were thrust, literally, into the glare of publicity by the press photographers who lit up the night with an explosion of flashes as soon as the once-stranded group of 26 arrived at the head of the trail. They were treated like celebrities and some of them interviewed about their experiences. Even the State Assemblyman for Seri Menanti, En. Abdul Samad Ibrahim, was present to talk to the students who, by now, were ravenous and parched and only wanted ice cold-Coca Cola and 100 Plus to wash down their burgers and chips.


Once they had satisfied their hunger and thirst, and changed into drier clothes, the 26 got on board the bus with the waiting four (4) students and three (3) lecturers. It was close to 11:30 p.m. when the bus left the Ulu Bendul Recreational Forest and it arrived at our starting point a little past 1:00 a.m. Those students were quickly bundled into their parents’ cars, soon after, all six lecturers also dispersed. The only “casualty” that night was the backpack that seemed to have been left behind in the midst of all the unexpected turn of events. However, like all “fairy tales” that deserve a happy ending, I am happy to report that early yesterday (Monday) afternoon, a ranger from the park called the owner’s family to say that the missing backpack had been found. Moreover, the contents, including the student’s handphone, were intact!


There is much we have learnt from this experience and both the students and lecturers will surely remember how their sense of esprit de corps had saved the day. We have learnt that life has a way of throwing challenges at us when we least expect it but that with calmness, patience and fortitude, and faith in ourselves, we can overcome almost any adversity and, more importantly, emerge stronger and better individuals. However, before we get carried away clapping ourselves on the back, I would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following persons without whom the success of our expedition would have been impossible:


(a) Yap Keat Leong, whose leadership, fitness and experience of jungle-trekking resulted in him being the one having to traverse the length of the trail, back and forth several times, to ensure that climbers from both groups were able to reach the peak and return safely down. His was the most physically demanding task on the entire expedition. He also ensured that the environment was protected by threatening “bodily harm” to anyone who took more than photographs and left behind more than their footprints


(b) Yap Yuen Kiat, whose patience, quiet calmness and sensitivity enabled him to deal with the students’ many requests (reasonable as well as ridiculous) and parents’ frantic phone enquiries make him a candidate for automatic sainthood, and for his sacrifice ~ he did not make it to the summit through no fault of his own!


(c) Tong Jin Chong, whose tenacity and perseverance were an example to the youngsters that age and (outward) physical condition are not impediments to great physical achievements, and for his sense of humour and positive outlook. He was the first lecturer to reach the peak!


(d) Madhavan and Zokhri, whose quick action, cool-headedness (despite their lack of experience in the jungle) and perfect judgment were responsible for the stranded making it out of the jungle without a scratch on them and for getting strangers to bond into a team formidable enough to defeat even the forces of nature! They were the most reliable and amiable of companions along the trail and Madhavan makes the most sumptuous’s tuna fish sandwiches.


You are all first class colleagues and team members: I cannot ask for a more co-operative, selfless and reliable set of individuals to be stuck on a mountain with and, I believe, I can trust you with my life!


(e) Zaidah, for your constant help, support and offers of assistance, especially, with your expertise with Bahasa Malaysia, in the numerous arrangements prior to the expedition


(f) Angelene, Azreena, Banu, Geetha, Kevin, Indra, Prem, Rajani, Rachel, Santha, (Ting) Mee Kean and Yong Poo Ling, for being ready to help and assist (at short notice) in disseminating information, collecting money and forms and checking students’ personal particulars, etc. Without you, we would not have had such overwhelming response to our very first excursion nor would we have had such orderly conduct from students before and during the expedition


(g) Amarjeet and Adelina, for the orderly collection and safe-keeping of the Indemnity Forms, and for the constant enquiries from the students concerning the expedition


(h) Mrs. Hoe, Mrs. Quek and Ms. Prema, for your confidence in us, for giving us the freedom and opportunity to decide and execute plans our way and for your support ~ the safety net without which no first step would have been taken. Thank you, also, for rushing to our aid, at the drop of a hat, when ”damage control” was required.


There are, or course, others we need to thank but they are from outside the Programme. Rest assured, they and their contributions will be suitably acknowledged in due course. I apologise if I have inadvertently left out any deserving individual(s).



With much gratitude,
Kwee Noi
Chairperson,
Excursions, Trips & Visits Committee


P.S. If you wish to view some photographs and videp clips from the expedition, you may do so at tfile/SAM Academic/Photos/20080322 Mount Angsi. Also posted there are the press reports on “rescue” by the Civil Defence Department personnel. Enjoy!