Paul Wati

Flag of Sarawak (1870-1973)

Flag of British Sarawak (1946-1963)

Federation of Malaysia (1963-1967)

British Army (1960-1963)

Malaysian Army (1963-1967)

1963-1967 (Malaysian Army)

- Resistance against Japan 1942-1945

- Borneo 1945

Malayan Emergency

- Malay Peninsula 1948-1960

Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation

- Brunei 1962

- Borneo 1963-1966

### Awards

Officer of the Order of the Star of Hornbill SarawakCompanion of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of Sarawak

### Parents

Wati anak Esah (father)Miriam anak Saaliha (mother)

**Paul Joseph anak Wati**, PBK, JBS (April 12, 1919 - June 8, 1988) was a Iban Dayak tracker and soldier who fought in World War II, the Malayan Emergency, and the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation.

## Early life and family

Paul was born was born in the town of Bau in the Kingdom of Sarawak in the north of Borneo in 1919. His family, originally Iban (Sea Dayak) tribesmen, had been faithful soldiers and servants of the White Rajahs dating back to before 1841. Paul's father, Wati anak Esah (1888-1964) was an assistant and translator for an Anglican missionary operating in Kuching.

Paul Wati's upbringing reflected a clash of cultures, between the tribal, animist traditions of the Dayak people and the western, Christian way of life brought by Europeans to Borneo. To help feed the family, Paul worked as an assistant in a mission-run school near his home. In 1939, he enlisted in the Sarawak Constabulary, a rural paramilitary force tasked with policing the interior of the country.

## Military service

### World War II

Although Constable Paul's early duties were more in line with those of a rural policeman than a soldier, this was soon to change. The Empire of Japan had been pursuing a policy of aggressive expansion in the Pacific Ocean for the past quarter century. While Great Britain was technically responsible for the defense of Sarawak, most of their forces were tied up in Europe, and the Raj had to focus on its own defense. As such, Constable Paul and the Ibans of the constabulary had to prepare for conventional warfare against a foreign invasion.

On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States, beginning the Pacific War. In preparation for an attack, the Sarawakans destroyed the local oil fields in a scorched earth policy. Paul and his unit were stationed around Kuching, supplimenting a small contingent of Indian regulars.

Late in December 1941, Japan attacked Sarawak, beginning the Battle of Borneo. Facing a naval landing near Kuching, Paul and the constabulary resisted as long as they could, but were hopelessly outnumbered and outclassed. Leaving Kuching to the enemy, the Sarawakan troops retreated up the Sarawak River, fighting a running battle to hold back the Japanese, eventually abandoning Kuching airfield as well. Paul and his men retreated southwest in the face of the Japanese advance, reaching Singkawang and setting up defenses. However, Singkawang could not be held either and the Allied forces retreated yet again. This time, Paul and the Sarawakans, together with British, Indian, and Dutch forces, were forced to make a long trek through the jungle to reach Sampit in the south of Borneo. They fought a series of actions against the Japanese in January 1942, seeing some limited success but still being forced to abandon Sampit. The Allies then retreated to make their last stand at Pangkalanbun and the Kotawaringin airfield. Pontiwati fell by the end of the month, and Paul and his men were faced with massing Japanese forces in southern Borneo. In February, Paul and the Sarawakans retreated into the mountainous jungle areas in the interior of the island, where their experience as trackers enabled them to mount a successful resistance campaign. However, by April 1942, Borneo was entirely in Japanese hands, and the Sarawakans ceased fighting.

Paul led his men all the way back up to Sarawak in the north of the country, where, due to the nature of Dayal tribal life, the men of the now disbanded constabulary continued their lives almost uninterrupted by the Japanese occupation. Paul, at this point, was most concerned with protecting his family, so he cooperated with the occupying authorities when he had to.

In early 1943, Paul was contacted by a resistance group who had heard of his stand in the jungle and wanted to recruit him for an uprising against the Japanese. Though he was initially reluctant, worrying about Japanese reprisal against his community, he eventually accepted and traveled all the way up the coast to British North Borneo at the head of a group of Iban volunteers. There, he met anti-Japanese fighters from China, the Philippines, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, as well as local resistance members. After covertly arming and preparing for the uprising, the resistance members attacked in October 1943. Paul's men took part in an attack on Jesselton, driving out the Japanese and recapturing the city. Provoking an armed revolt, the resistance successfully cleared the Japanese out of the districts of Tuaran and Kota Belud. However, the fight was far from over. The Japanese were not willing to give up the territory, and launched a counterattack by the end of the year. Paul's men fought hard to hold the liberated areas, but could not prevent the Japanese from taking them back and massacring the population. By January 1944, North Borneo was back in Japanese hands and Paul and his men were forced to return home covertly or face execution.

Following the failure of the Jesselton Revolt, Paul had little hope for resistance against the occupiers. However, it was not long after this that he was contacted by Australian operatives who wanted to recruit him for another native resistance movement. As a part of Operation Python, Paul helped Allied agents to form an Iban resistance cell. The native tribesmen trained with the help of the agents, who supplied them with weapons. Paul's resistance fighters helped the Allied war effort by gathering intelligence on the Japanese garrison and information about their oil fields, in addition to acts of sabotage and occasional attacks on Japanese garrisons and Kepeitai police stations. However, Japanese forces on Borneo were increasingly hostile and active in suppressing the population following the Jesselton Revolt, so Paul's men had to be cautious. As 1944 went on, the ranks of the native resistance swelled, including escaped Allied POWs, and the aid from the Western Allies increased. As time went on, Paul and his men attacked their targets with greater frequency, targeting oil fields, supply dumps, and other infrastructure critical to the Japanese. Their extensive knowledge of the jungles allowed the tribesmen to attack the Japanese almost at will.

By early 1945, the Japanese empire was on the verge of losing the war and the Allies were planning for the liberation of Borneo. The Australian attaches instructed Paul and his men to travel north to Brunei, where they would clear the way for an Allied landing. In Operation Semut, Australian operatives infiltrated Borneo and made contact with Paul and his guerrillas, who were integrated into a task force known as Semut 1. Their objectives were to sabotage Japanese defenses and arm the local tribesmen in the area. Semut 1 carried out their activities in Trusan Valley and the Kelabit highlands in the area around Bario from March on. Paul and the Australians later shifted their base of operations to Belawit in the Bawang Valley. Their main objective was to transmit critical intelligence on the terrain and defenses where the Australian troops would be landing. In June 1945, the Australian 9th Division landed, beginning the Battle of North Borneo. Paul and his men served as scouts and trackers for the Australian regulars, helping them attack the retreating Japanese forces. The Allies retook Brunei, and continued on eastwards to liberate Kuching. Paul's men fought the Japanese throughout June and July, retaking large tracts of territory from the occupiers.

In mid August 1945, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki suspended combat operations, with the surrender of Japan soon to follow. Paul led Australian troops through the jungle to Kuching, which was finally liberated in October 1945, along with many prisoners of war. Except for the occasional Japanese holdout, there was not any more fighting to be done, so Paul returned home to Bau, where he continued his work as a constable.

### Cession of Sarawak

The Raj of Sarawak had been devastated by the war, and the Rajah Brooke did not have the means to repair the damaged infrastructure. In 1946, the rajah abdicated with the intent on ceding Sarawak to the British Empire as a colony. This sparked waves of protests across the country by people who believed that the rajahs would soon grant independence. Paul Wati was active in the anti-cession movement, and took part in a number of protests while not in uniform. Nonetheless, the movement had little effect as authorities cracked down, and the independent kingdom was taken over as the Crown Colony of Sarawak. Paul was not kept on as a police constable by the new administration, so he returned home to help his family.

### Malayan Emergency

In August 1948, just two months after the emergency broke out in Malaya, the government put out a call for Iban volunteers to serve as trackers in the fight against the Communist Malayan National Liberation Army. Paul, who had been struggling since his dismissal from the constabulary, eagerly volunteered. He and several volunteers flew from Kuching to Seginting Camp at Port Dickson in Malaya. From there, the trackers were split up to be assigned to different Commonwealth formations in order to help fight against the Communist Terrorists. Paul was assigned to the 2nd Guards Brigade, then based in the state of Pahang. From October 1948 on to March 1949, he served as a tracker and guide on several sweep operations, leading the British soldiers to ambush and eliminate a number of CTs.

After briefly returning home, Paul returned to Malaya in April 1949, and saw a number of different postings to several British units throughout the states of Johore and Pahang. Under his guidance, the British units Paul was attached to saw numerous successes against MNLA guerrillas. Because of his experience with jungle warfare, he was able to track the insurgents to their base and organize operations which killed or captured many of the enemy before they could escape. The trackers served on six month long tours, after which they returned home, but Paul repeatedly volunteered and so was in Malaya for the duration of the emergency, if not consistently.

In January 1953, the trackers were given full military responsibilities and organized as the Sarawak Rangers, a Malayan Army unit. The rangers were still fully involved in the duties they had undertaken as trackers in British service. Paul continually distinguished himself as a ranger by tracking down and eliminating more and more MNLA cells. From the late 1950s on, however, the MNLA began to lose their support and their presence in Malaya gradually diminished. Paul and the rangers continued to offer their services, and were instrumental in mopping up the last of the guerrillas. Eventually, as the rest of the insurgents surrendered or fled into Thailand, the emergency was soon to be over. In March 1960, the Malayan Sarawak Rangers were disbanded and replaced in April with another Sarawak Rangers unit, this time part of the British Army. The Communist insurgency was declared over in July 1960. Paul Wati returned to his home in Bau.

### Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation

In December 1962, the North Kalimantan National Army, an Indonesian-backed Communist militant group began an uprising in Brunei. The insurgents attacked police stations, oil wells, and other infrastructure, and so forces were quickly called in to suppress the revolt. The Sarawak Rangers were among the first to respond, with Paul and his men crossing into Brunei in support of the 99th Gurkha Infantry Brigade. The rangers helped the Commonwealth forces retake Seria from the rebels, and killed and captured a number of the enemy themselves.

However, another conflict was brewing in northern Borneo which would require the rangers' attention. In Janaury 1963, Indonesia declared a confrontation against Malaya, and soon began sending teams of infiltrators across the border into Sarawak and North Borneo with the intention of sabotaging the Malayan state and provoling a Communist revolt. Paul and his rangers were posted near Kuching, where they guarded the border against Indonesian operatives, occasionally encountering and driving back the enemy forces.

In September 1963, the Federation of Malaysia was established, and Sarawak joined as its own state. The Sarawak Rangers of the British Army were disbanded, and a day later, the 1st Battalion, Malaysian Rangers was established from former Sarawak Rangers. Paul was appointed Captain, and the rangers were deployed to Sarawak to fight the Indonesians. Operations continued throughout 1964, with Captain Paul leading a number of cross-border attacks under Operation Claret in order to disrupt Indonesian plans. The rangers' skill as jungle fighters as well as their experiences fighting the insurgency in Malaya allowed them to foil most of the Indonesians' raids and counterattack successfully. In 1965, Paul and his men also saw action at the Malaysia-Thailand border, fighting the remnants of the CT forces in the area. In 1966, the conflict with Indonesia ended following a coup in that country, and a year later, Paul retired from the Malaysian Army. He briefly considered re-entering the service as the Communist insurgency flared up again in 1968, but decided that he was done with fighting and would let the next generation of Iban warriors do their duty.

## Later life

After retiring, Paul Wati left his longhouse in the jungle outside of Bau and moved to Kuching to find stable work. Adjusting to the city after years of living in the remote jungle was very difficult and took a toll on Paul, but he managed to find work as a store clerk and got on well, living in an apartment on the city's west side. In 1970 he married a Malay woman named Kuning binti Ungu.

In the 1970s, Paul found additional work as a recruiter for the Malaysian Army. Ibans were not enlisting in great numbers as they had previously, so he frequently went to remote longhouses and talked to young men there, telling his stories and encouraging them to sign up. He was noted to be very successful in this endeavor.

Paul Joseph anak Wati died in June 1988 of natural causes.

### Views

Paul Wati's first foray into politics was during the cession years, when he played an active role in the anti-cession movement. He supported Anthony Brooke's claim to the throne of Sarawak and viewed its colonization by Britain as a step back from independence. The movement was eventually broken by 1950, by which time Paul was serving in Malaya.

Paul voted for the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, a right-wing Sarawakan political party, in most elections.

## Equipment

In World War II and the Malayan Emergency, Paul carried the Lee Enfield No.1 Mk.III\* bolt-action rifle and the Webley Mk.VI revolver. In the 1960s, he used an L1A1 SLR in Borneo and southern Thailand.