Pasir Gudang good old Memories.

Late 1974 I was assigned to commission the newly constructed Palm Oil Bulking Installation of Felda Johore Bulkers Sdn Bhd at the new Port of Pasir Gudang. FJB made up of 70% owned by Felda and the rest 30% made of private sector comprise of Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd 12.5%, Sime Darby, Keck Seng, KLK, Agaliem etc. Prior to the assignment I spent six months at Palm Oil Bulking Co in Singapore to understudy the palm oil bulking and shipment operations. A month later before the PG assignment I had to lead the newly recruited workers of FJB for training at Felda Palm Oil Installation at Port Klang. I put up the workers at Ambassador Hotel Port Klang and I stayed at Jayapuri Hotel Petaling Jaya (now PJ Hilton).

In mid November 1974 we all move to the newly completed 32500 Metric ton storage tanks complex of FJB Pasir Gudang. The first few days at PG I stayed at Orchid Hotel Johore Baharu. Since May I had been staying in a Hotel. Later I rented terrace houses at Masai for the workers and arranged hire purchase with the Furniture Shop for the workers convenient. I occupied one of the terrace houses with Encik Maarof Kasman the other Superintendent and the Chief Clerk, Zainal Abidin Aksa. Masai was a cowboy town. The shops still roofed with attap with wooden walling. For food we have to make do with the one or two Indian Muslim Restaurants available. I monthly rented TV set and I personally was fined RM100 at JB Magistrate Court for operating a TV without a license. To kill the boredom in Masai, sometimes we would walk in into the Musical Bar and had cheap fun. The only road to Pasir Gudang from Johore Baharu was via Plentong and Masai. Rubber trees spanned the two lane roadway and at night it was dark and lonely.

Pasir Gudang Port – everything was new and barren. Most of the Port staff was recruited from Klang Port and they were idling around as the port was not operational. FJB was independent by itself and we were the busiest lot to prepare for the first intake of palm oil by road tankers and coastal vessels. There were plenty of cleaning and test run of the various machineries. We had to test run the generator as power often broke down. Water was a problem as FJB did not have personalized water supply tank. For transportation we depended on personal car and the Company Volkswagen combi. Once we were trapped overnight at the Installation when the Combi broke down in Masai. There was no power and the mosquitoes had a gala time.

I recruited and took along to Pasir Gudang two of the best Jetty Handyman of Esso Port Dickson where I previously worked, Ratnam and Ali. Their presence and capabilities make my job easier. I remember the first day the stock Clerks reported to work, I made them writing and rewriting the numerical 1 to 10 the whole day. I justified to them that their work would deal by numbers and figures and they must present the stock figures well read by those concern that had to address it. During later years I heard both the Stock Clerks came out successful within the FJB organization structure.

During one test run of the pigging system I was rushed to the nearest Clinic in Masai when the valve long handle hit me on my chest. It was so hard that momentarily I was out of breath and collapsed. Thank God nothing happened but soon after the mishap I organized a khenduri for the Installation and requested the local Imam to perform the doa selamat. After that all went well with no minor or major accident happened within the compound.

The first coastal vessel “Tutong” docked at the Oil Jetty. There was excitement throughout the port. The unfortunate incident happened. The administrative aspect of the coastal vessel arrival was neglected and we were only operational people. There was no appointed Shipping Agent for this coastal vessel and the Marine, Custom and Immigration formalities was not adhered to. Operation could not commence. Though the “Tutong” came from Jeranggau Trengganu, the Immigration still had to countercheck. The Custom has to get involve as palm oil is a taxable commodity. The Marine Department, of course was the major player as all vessels within Malaysia territories was under the Marine Dept jurisdiction. None of the three Government Dept was in Pasir Gudang, they were all based at JB. These entire three Departments were not aware of the arrival of “Tutong”. I panicked and I had to answer to all the hiccups but I could not be blame entirely as I was only trained on the operational aspect. I still had to carry the bug as I was the Leader of the commissioning team. The Marine and the Immigration problem were solved. However we came to a confrontation with the Custom Department. The Custom personnel worked on shift and they had to be interchanged and transported to JB Custom complex. It was Custom first experience handling bulk liquid in coastal vessels and the method of calculating liquid was alien to them. I had to give brief lecture on the technical aspect to determine liquid quantities. Every new Custom Officer that came to FJB from there on, the same thing repeated. Once the unloading operation completed I had to run to JB Marine Department to get the port clearance for “Tutong” to sail away for next destination. Phew! That was an experience that I would not forget.

It did not stop there. I faced a major conflict with the Port Traffic Officer. We were all tired with the hassle of “Tutong” administrative and operational aspect when yhe Traffic Officer immediately summoned us to remove the hose pipes back to the Installation. Since we were the only User I requested to leave the hoses at the jetty for time being but he insisted. I was terribly mad with his inconsideration to the extent that I uttered the four letter word to him. FJB Consultant (an Englishman, name forgotten) was smiling but he would not back me up. That was the trouble, the first job the Traffic Officer did at Pasir Gudang and they wanted to show their power.

I wanted to maintain environmental hygiene and cleanliness and I saw warong sprouting in front of the Installation. Without knowing that permission was granted by the General Manager of the Port Authority, I wrote for their attention. To my surprise the GM was not happy with my complaint and referred to the Manager. The Manager who was a Singaporean Chinese was playing diplomacy politic, I got the shelling instead. On top of that he asked me to provide water facilities to the warong operators.

One fine morning the received stock and the stock in storage did not tally, a shortage of 16 metric tons. I cracked my head where it went missing and it took me hours to crack the mystery. Suddenly it came to my mind the duplicate roll at the back of the weighbridge indicator. When I scrutinized the roll there was two similar weight reading running consecutively. It would not happen under normal circumstances. I suspected out of the three 16 tonner road tankers only two discharged its cargo and one went missing. On paper, the palm oil was bulked in but physically it was not. The next morning I called the Police Inspector and the weighbridge Clerk was called in. Within two minutes all the story came out and he with two other workers were dumped into the police lock up. What I suspected was true but I was very sad to see the workers I trusted betrayed me.

During weekend when I did not go back to Port Dickson (my family was still residing in PD) I caught a few guys and we just drove to nowhere for a spin just to kill the cowboy town boredom. Somehow Singapore was not on my list as I was bored with Singapore having stayed there for six months.

Somehow on 1.1.1976, I was promoted as Assistant Manager. The Manager was seconded from Guthrie Management Services Singapore. That Chinaman commuted from Ponggol Singapore to PG by boat. I encountered problem with three personnel, the Engineering Assistant, the Lab Assistant and one of the Clerk. The Engineering Assistant was an India graduate Automobile Engineer, the Lab Assistant was a science student dropout from University Malaya and the Clerk was a screwed up air condition Salesman. Two Bumis and the Clerk was Chinaman. The Clerk was the Watchdog for the Manager and he kept track all my movement in a special diary. They were not happy with my promotion and I also think the Manager was also not happy too. My promotion came from Guthrie Management Services Malaysia and at that time the Managing Director was a Mat Salleh, Lewis Bryan. Those three goons were having the impression that I was not suitable for the post but what they didn’t know I had eight years working experience in a Petroleum Refinery and my expertise was on liquid movement and storage operations. FJB operation is merely the movement and storage of palm oil products. Further to that I was an Executive of GMS Malaysia of which GMS were the Secretary and Managing Agent of FJB. I was merely on assignment to FJB.

It was during one of the busy day with my new position, on 14 January 1976 Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak passed away in London. I like this guy and I fully respect his vision. Pasir Gudang Port and FJB existence was due to him. Felda was his brainchild. Like a son losing his father, I shed my tears. I don’t know why, I have not even met him personally. Thank you Tun, with his “Dasar Ekonomi Baru” (DEB or NEP) policy, a Bumiputera like me was able to obtain an Executive job in a private sector run Companies.

One day the big boss in Kuala Lumpur requested me to fetch him at JB. As usual he normally came by flight and I waited like a bloody fool at Senai Airport. When the plane landed he was nowhere to be seen and I went back to the office in PG. To my surprise he was already in the Office of which he came vide the Causeway from Singapore, took the taxi to PG. I was reprimanded for not double checking and taking things for granted. I learnt my lesson.

During one Board Meeting, I overheard one Singaporean Malay Chauffer commented that the development of Pasir Gudang was very slow. Politely I told him, in Singapore you plant one telephone pole, two million people can see and I walked off. I understand later he asked who I was and someone told him, that was the Assistant Manager. Melayu? Never happen in Singapore.

For the first time in my life I gave a briefing to a Malaysian Cabinet Minister. The late Dato Asri, the Minister of Rural Development made a surprise visit to the Installation. I briefed him about the function and operation of FJB in the Meeting Room. Luckily he was in a hurry to go to Singapore and there were not much questions asked. I sighed with relief.

One night while watching TV at my residence in Masai I had an uninvited guest. A Chinaman tried to deal term with me to remove a tanker load of palm oil. Politely, I told him that I was the number two man and the Big Boss is residing in Singapore. Please refer to him and if he said ok, then I would do it for him. I was being polite and diplomatic but within me I was very scared. I was dealing with a mafia. There was no sign of him after that but when I walked the street I always looked at my shoulders.

One fine morning on the way to work I saw a commotion by the roadside and it was a car accident. Further investigation it was the Superintendent’s car ditched four wheel up to the sky in the drain. I personally recommended employment of this Superintendent, happened to be my former working colleague at Esso PD. The accident happened during the night when they came back from Masai town after dinner. I collected all his belongings in the car and took to the Office. I got to answer a lot of questions from my Boss regarding the accident and I managed to evade and destroy certain evidence pertaining to the accident. (The accident was more than a dinner in Masai and let it remain classified). I saved someone neck, that’s all I can say.

I was driving back to Port Dickson on one Friday evening that I met with a nasty car accident at Simpang Renggam. I put on my brake when I saw an oncoming spinning car and a Mercedes Taxi knocked my rear. The sudden jerk made me accidentally swung the steering wheel to the right and I landed into the ditch. Both the front and the rear of the Volvo 144 were badly damaged but I survived. Though it was not yet a ruling to wear safety belt then but somehow I put it on and that saved me. Perhaps my kind of working environment instilled my conscious to be always aware of safety.

The Security Guard was infatuatedly crazy in love with one of the young Lab Assistant and declared to his wife that he was going to marry her. All hell broke loose and the wife came charging to the Office. I had to explain to her nicely it was a case of one way traffic, only the husband was madly in love but there was no response from the young lass. That night a group of us visited the family house to explain the fact of the misconception. It was very difficult for me to explain to a typical kampong lady but somehow I managed to convince her. Problem solved. I became a marriage Counseller.

Early 1977 I moved to stay in Taman Seri Tebrau in Johore Baharu.

On 31 July 1977 I was transferred out from FJB Pasir Gudang to take another commissioning assignment at Port Klang. Guthrie Berhad Malaysia took me back to assist the big brother Kumpulan Guthrie Ltd.

I was the permanent resident of Pasir Gudang Johore for 2 years and 8 months.