Receiving the c (From left) The author, Ken Armstrong, Sanin Pandin, Abdul Rahim Musally, Raphael Anchita, Tun Haji Ahmad Raffae, Hamid Merican and Ben Stephens.
MY departure on transfer to Lahad Datu in June 1966 was a rather hasty affair. A chartered six-seater Cessna aircraft piloted by an American, Herbert McWilliam, flew me and four other passengers directly to Lahad Datu from Kudat.
I was allowed only one suitcase. My family arrived by boat two weeks later. The reason for the haste was the retirement of Kee Mohd Harun bin OKK Kee Abu Bakar. OKK Abu Bakar, we may recall, was the third son of Kee Kim Swee whom he succeeded as the Tawau OKK, retiring in 1953.
Harun rose from the position of Customs Clerk to become one of the first local officers ever to be promoted to the rank of superintendent. In his young days, he was a sportsman excelling in football (playing as a right-winger in the government team for Tawau), badminton and high board diving.
He served with distinction, and I inherited from him a well-run station with few outstanding problems. Although my substantive rank was that of an ASC, the Public Service Commission, still under the chairmanship of McCartney, had approved my appointment as an acting superintendent, prevailing over 12 other candidates who were all senior to me in service, to enable me to assume the post as the officer-in-charge.
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As soon as the handing over was completed, Harun returned to Tawau and led a happy retired life. He passed away during the 1990s. The Lahad Datu that I returned to after an absence of five years was altogether a different place.
Kennedy Bay Timbers, although still using the town as a staging place, had largely phased out their Bakapit base and shifted their main operations of saw-milling and veneer manufacturing to Silam, some 20 miles to the west at the head of Darvel Bay.
Local tycoons now controlled most of the logging business, and the export trade in timber was thriving. New hotels and nightclubs had sprung up, and other signs of prosperity were apparent everywhere.
The author with Dr Tom and Mrs Pam Gibson at Kota Kinabalu Port in January 2005.
Here on Dec 16, 1967, Lucy gave birth to Alexander; the delivery was presided over by Dr Tom Gibson. Soon afterwards, Dr Gibson was posted to Tawau where he served until 1970 when he left to set up his own practice as a GP near his hometown of Skipton.
He has now retired, and we have maintained contact. Whenever in England, I always make a point of meeting up with them. The Gibsons returned to Sabah for a short visit on board the M.V. Minerva in January 2005. I, and a former colleague and close friend, Ling Kon Pau (a retired Assistant Director of Customs who had known the Gibsons during the Lahad Datu days), had the pleasure of meeting them and taking them around Kota Kinabalu.
They were amazed at the tremendous progress the country has undergone and yet retained its scenic beauty. We enjoyed every minute of their short stay.
The population of Lahad Datu had noticeably increased and the townsfolk were enjoying a boom time. Being a compact little town, one quickly became acquainted with fellow heads of government service through departmental interaction and meetings. So also with the town’s business and social elite around whom the town’s activities revolved.
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A new District Officer, Peter Seck Mun Joun, had just taken over. The OCPD was Mark Hardeker. Ken Armstrong, an old friend, was the air traffic control officer (ACTO), and the PWD chief was Vamadevan.
In charge of the District Hospital was Dr Tom Gibson. The Postmaster was Jewe bin Kioh and Donald Chong was the Clerk-in-Charge of the Marine Office, attached to the Customs.
The most prominent private sector personality was the manager of the Chartered Bank, Mr Alan Gelateley. Mr Joseph Thiagarajah, a retired senior hospital assistant, owned and managed a private clinic which was named after his youngest daughter Genevieve. The Kapitan China was still Mr Tan Piak Kwong. Two more notable personalities were Tan Shu Chu, a very active sportsman, and the colourful stevedore boss Shim Han Cho, a Eurasian of Chinese descent who did not speak a word of English.
Then there were the Rimmers (Tina and Burt) and Hacharan Singh, who was a Muslim convert.
It was my privilege, through departmental interactions and at social functions, to have met and befriended this group of people, some of whom became life-long friends and with whom I have kept in touch to this day.
The DO, Peter Seck, though born in Singapore, grew up in Lahad Datu and was educated in Singapore. His first government job was that of chief supervisor of population census at Tenom in 1960.
His potential was recognised early by the government and he was selected to attend a diploma course in public and social administration in Torquay, England, graduating in 1965. He held a number of other appointments before he was promoted to DO.
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In 1965, he was posted to Lahad Datu, but stayed for only two years before he was personally selected by Tun Mustapha to become the DO of Kudat, the Tun’s own hometown and constituency.
He enjoyed the complete confidence of the Tun, and coupled with his administrative flair, ran the Kudat District and served the people with distinction until he resigned from the civil service in December 1970 to venture into the business field.
Peter has built up a commercial empire comprising businesses in livestock rearing, a tyre distributorship and also cocoa and oil palm plantations located in Tawau, Lahad Datu and Kota Kinabalu.