SERIAN: With a Pindad SS-1 rifle trained to his head, Ruby Nyalu was certain he was about to die.
“All I could think about was that I would die. The only thing playing in my head was my family, and how they would be worried if I didn’t come home.
“I remember thinking that I would not be able to see them again, that they would not be seeing me on Christmas.”
Ruby, 30, was among four Malaysians who were kidnapped by Tentera Nasional Indonesia (TNI) soldiers at the Sarawak - West Kalimantan border on Dec 11.
Recalling the incident, Ruby said on that fateful morning, he and his friends were collecting wood at the Wong Rangkai forest near Kampung Danau Melikin, around 400 metres from the Indonesian border. The wood, said Ruby, was to build a house.
Two soldiers, dressed in battle fatigues and armed with rifles, then approached them.
Ruby and his friends were forced into their own vehicle - a four-wheel-drive belonging to Ruby’s father - and drive to the Kalimantan border to the Indonesian command post in Sungai Engkeli.
“One of the soldiers sat in front next to the driver. Another sat behind with his gun trained on us,” he said.
Their nightmare, however, was only just beginning. Ruby said once they arrived at the command post, they were told to strip to their underwear and had their faces covered with black hoods.
The four friends were then brutally assaulted by 12 people, who rained blows on them.
“They kept accusing us of stealing wood from Indonesian territory. Each time I denied it, they would beat me. I would protest my innocence, and a punch would land,” he said.
Ruby and his friends were not only punched but also whipped on their bodies and legs with rotan. Ruby sustained several injuries to the face and body as a result of the beating.
Of the five, three were held overnight by the soldiers, while two were released about 4pm. The two were told to inform the families of the hostages to hand over RM10,000 and two new chainsaws the same night.
The duo instead went straight to the Balai Ringin camp. Following negotiations, the three men were released the next day.
Ruby said despite being safe, the incident still haunts them.
“We’re still traumatised by the event. We didn’t think something like this would happen to us. All we wanted was to collect wood to build a house,” he said.
Ruby said he was grateful to Wisma Putra, the National Security Council, police as well as the army for their role in freeing them.
“Christmas this year will definitely be more meaningful than ever,” he said.
Ruby also hoped that a Malaysian command post would be established in the area to prevent any future incidences.
Members of the community have claimed that over the last seven years, Indonesians as well as TNI soldiers had been crossing the border freely, raising worries among the locals.
Kampung Danau Melikin village head, Nyalu Tampa, 60 said their village appeared to have been “controlled” by foreigners ever since the area was developed into an oil palm plantation.
“We had voiced our disagreement over the plantation as this is Native Customary Right (NCR) land,” he said.
Nyalu accused the plantation owner of working with the TNI to “look after” the site.
“The plantation owner even built an access road so they can transport food supplies to the army. They (TNI) are allowed to move around freely and even threatened us not to interrupt the plantation’s operations,” he claimed.
