The Bukit Jenalik operation Zol’aini will never forget

More than 25 years have passed since Sgt Maj Zol’aini Sabar was deployed to Bukit Jenalik, but many details of the operation remain vivid.

The former 69 Commando member was among 20 personnel sent in during Op Subuh in 2000. The special operation was mounted after members of the Al-Maunah militant group stole firearms and ammunition from a territorial army camp in Gerik and retreated to Bukit Jenalik near Sauk.

For Zol’aini, now 68, the danger did not come only from the terrain, even though the area was surrounded by rubber plantations and dense undergrowth, making movement difficult and creating the risk of ambush.

More unsettling, he said, was the knowledge that some of those inside had security-force experience of their own.

“One of them was Zahit Muslim, the right-hand man of the group’s leader, Mohd Amin Razali,” Zol’aini, who is from Kampung Kepayang in Ipoh, told Bernama.

“Zahit was a former colleague of mine in the 69 Commando and was highly skilled in handling heavy weapons and booby traps.”

That familiarity made the operation especially tense. The main and support teams had been given strict instructions to apprehend all 27 members of the group alive and, if possible, avoid bloodshed.

This meant every movement had to be measured: “It required us to act with the utmost caution.”

The operation nevertheless came at a heavy cost. Detective Corporal R Sanghadevan of the Special Branch and Malaysian Armed Forces commando trooper Mathew Medan were killed during the incident.

For Zol’aini, the experience changed the way he understood strength. Difficult situations, he learnt, may require restraint, judgement and a willingness to prioritise human life.

Today, he believes those lessons remain relevant beyond the battlefield. “People may not be able to imagine the tense times we went through. That is why we must never take the peace we have for granted,” he said.

The memories of Bukit Jenalik also remind him how quickly a situation can deteriorate when trust and social cohesion begin to fray.

But rather than dwell on the danger, he prefers to remember the responsibility carried by those involved, including the instruction to bring the operation to an end without unnecessary loss of life.

For the father of four, that remains one of the clearest lessons he carried out of Bukit Jenalik. Protecting a country is not only about confronting threats, but also about knowing when caution, restraint and unity matter just as much as force.

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