Two Untold Stories of the Segari Forest Reserve
The Segari Forest Reserve and the Dinding district straits hold many stories and unique histories. It is well-known, and most locals are familiar with the tales concerning the Segari Forest Reserve area.
Beyond the various tales and stories surrounding the Segari Forest Reserve, there are hidden accounts that many people may not be aware of at all. In this regard, a friend of the orangperak.com editor named Lordman Kerol has shared these stories for public knowledge, highlighting untold events that once took place in the Segari Forest Reserve.
Lordman Kerol during an expedition to uncover stories in Segari
Segari was the site of an Indonesian transport plane crash
On December 14, 1947, a transport plane belonging to the Indonesian government crashed off the coast of Segari, located near Tanjung Hantu. The incident claimed the lives of two personnel: Air Commodore Halim Perdanakusuma and Air Commodore Iswahyudi. The Avro Anson aircraft, with the registration number RI-003, originally belonged to an Australian named Paul H. Keegan. The plane was purchased for 13 kilograms of gold, which was raised through contributions from local citizens. Keegan was also a former World War II pilot.
Air Commodore Halim Perdanakusuma
The crash off the coast of Segari was likely caused by bad weather or mechanical failure as the plane arrived in the coastal area. They were actually en route to Singapore after picking up a cargo of weapons in Songkla, Thailand, to fight the Dutch colonizers in Indonesia. The first report regarding the crash was made by two Chinese loggers named Wong Fatt and Wong Kwang around 4:30 PM on the day of the incident. A British police officer named Burras rushed to the scene around 6:00 PM but could not see anything as the tide had already risen.
The next morning, the Lumut police chief, Che Wan, along with a British police officer named Samson, went to the scene at approximately 9:00 AM. The wreckage was found when the tide receded, not far from the shore. Che Wan reported that the victim's body had been found a few hundred meters from the site by fishermen and had already been brought to land.
Only the body of Air Commodore Halim Perdanakusuma was recovered, while Air Commodore Iswahjudi went missing and has not been found to this day. The body of Air Commodore Halim Perdanakusuma was buried in Kampung Gunung Mesah, Gopeng. On November 10, 1975, the Indonesian government exhumed the remains and reburied them at the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta.
Segari witnessed secret meetings
The Segari Forest Reserve also served as a witness to
OPERATION GUSTAVUS 1 - OPERATION GUSTAVUS 5
. For the information of our loyal orangperak.com readers, these were secret meetings between British agents and agents of the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) during the World War II era.
This operation involved two Dutch submarines, O-23 and O-24, serving the Royal Navy. They surfaced at least five times or more off the coast of Segari and Pulau Sembilan on missions to deliver British agents, spies, and various supplies such as radios and weapons to the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) to assist and strengthen the position of Force 136.
Lim Bo Seng
Lim Bo Seng was one of the Force 136 members involved as an intermediary agent. He boarded the O-24 from the port of Trincomalee, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), heading to the waters of North Segari, Tanjung Hantu, on November 6, 1943, as part of Operation Gustavus 5. All these British agents also took shelter at a basecamp in the Segari Forest Reserve before being picked up by members of the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) to be taken to another location.
