Police officers put the badge on every morning, not knowing for sure if they’ll come home at night to take it off.
–Thomas Bryant Cotton, American politician and former military officer
In March 1967, my father John Ritchie was sent to Sarawak by Tunku Abdul Rahman to reform the British Constabulary and establish the new Royal Malaysian Police force.
Taking over from Englishman Datuk Roy Henry as Commissioner, his task was to promote the locals to take over from many Europeans, some of whom served in Malaya.
Arriving with my mother and Eurasian valet John Everistus Doral, they occupied the Constabulary Commandant’s residence behind Fort Margherita who married Bidayuh Catherine Dimin from Singai and had five children Joseph, Elizabeth, Martin, Shelly and Margaret.
The commandant’s residence was haunted as it was adjacent to Fort Margherita where executions had been carried out in the courtyard during the Brooke era.
Often, footsteps could be heard on the creaking wood stairways of our home and once, a policeman on sentry duty at the guardhouse, was slapped on the face by an unseen force.
Two year’s into our stay next to the fort, my father summoned a ‘bomoh’ (shaman) PC Gobilt to exorcise spirits and he successfully removed two white cobras and released them in the nearby forest.
As the new commissioner, my father handpicked Supt Hamdan Sirat, a relative of Governor Tun Datuk Abang Openg Abang Sapiee to take over.
Other senior officers in line were Datuk Alli Kawi who rose to become Special Branch chief and was involved in the 1973 surrender of Bong Kee Chok of the North Kalimantan Communist Party together with 570 armed CTs.
Another potential was Tan Sri Koo Chong Kong who was assassinated in Ipoh in 1975.
Tan Sri Hamdan served for 10 years and became an acting governor for a term and remained family friends until today; two of the former’s sons joined the police and the older brother Captain Zainuddin was the pilot for Governor Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud for several years.
During his Sarawak stint, the Tunku gave Ritchie two additional jobs — to keep an eye on opposition leader Tan Sri Kalong Ningkan and repentant revolutionary Tun Ahmad Zaidi whose memoir I helped write.
My father wrote: “Sarawak was another challenging position for me under an entirely new set of circumstances for not very much was known about the Sarawak people in the peninsula at that time. I was virtually stepping into unknown territory.
“Even though it was tough at the beginning of the Sarawak Insurgency (1962-1990), Kuching was a delightful place to live in with friends such as Datuk Wee Kheng Chiang, his son Datuk Amar Wee Hood Teck and Tan Sri Wee Boon Ping.
Ritchie served under acting Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and Penghulu Tawie Sli and became close friends with Ningkan and Tun Jugah, the Minister for Sarawak Affairs.
As commissioner, he built the first seven-hole Bukit Siol police golf course in the foothills of Fort Margherita — where I honed my golfing skills winning the Malaysian Intermediate (1978) in Seremban, Malaysian Mass Media (1980) in Petaling Jaya and Tun Rahman Challenge (1982) in Petra Jaya.
An incident worthy of mention was when the commissioner flew to Bario armed with letters of termination of service for about 300 police border scouts under the leadership of Inspector Raja Sewa.
“Confrontation had ended and the Malaysian government decided to demobilise the rural-based native Border Scouts not realising that Sarawak was facing another threat from the North Kalimantan Communist Party across the border.
“I was sent to Bario with a batch of termination letters and enthusiastic group of Kelabits turned up to welcome me and slaughtered a buffalo in honour of my visit.
“I did not have the heart to sack them, and held back the letters. Thus, I returned with the notices of dismissal and was quite prepared to face a reprimand from the authorities in Kuala Lumpur,” said Ritchie.
As luck would have it, on his return to Kuching he received orders from the federal police headquarters not to serve the dismissal notices because their services were still needed.
After 31 years of service in the police force, Ritchie retired in January 1970 and moved to Sematan, a quiet beach in northwest Sarawak, and built a four-door ‘longhouse’ with the help of local Selakau native chief Pemanca Mina and his family.
Among his regular police visitors were his aide de camp Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar who later became Law Minister, and Sarawak PFF commander Datuk Amar Johnny Mustapha who later died in a communist ambush in Sibu in April 1975.
In another incident, my mother welcomed a group of six pale-looking Chinese visitors into our Sematan home when my father was away in Kuching.
The six, suspected CTs from a group operating in Lundu, were treated to a meal of homemade rice, belacan prawn paster, salt fish and home-grown melons.
Before they left, my generous mother gave the friendly ‘guests’ a large stock of salted fish and laughed when told they were communists.
Our parents moved to Petaling Jaya in 1974, two years after I became a crime reporter.
When my mother passed away on August 13, 1978, Ritchie remained in Petaling Jaya before moving to Penang.
There, he married Datuk Mary Jayadeva in 1984 and lived at her home in Tanjung Bungah — his favourite haunt in his younger days where he first met Mary, a former Special Branch officer.
Through the years, he received federal and state awards, namely Johan Mangku Negara (JMN), Paduka Mangku Perlis (SMP), Paduka Kelantan (PMK), Seri Mahkota Kedah (SMK), Seri Mahkota Perlis (SMP), Bintang Cemerlang Kedah (BCK), Order of the White Elephant (Thailand) and Colonial Police Medal.
In 1985, at the age of 70, Ritchie received his 10th award — Panglima Negara Bentara Sarawak (PNBS) which carries the title Datuk, at the recommendation of the present Governor Taib.
In retrospect, I received eight awards from 1987; one each from the Sultan of Pahang Ahmad Shah in 1999 and the ‘Friendship Award’ from Inspector General Of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar in 2012 and five from the Sarawak government.
In 2020, I was awarded the ‘Tokoh Wartawan Sarawak’ medal by Abang Johari.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
