Malaysians of all races, religions and geographic locations need to believe beyond a shadow of doubt that they have a place under the Malaysian sun.

Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah ibni Sultan Azlan Shah
Raja Muda of Perak

on “Prospects and Challenges for Nation Building”, 3 April 2007

Marsha Tan
The Star 

MALACCA: The 23 national service trainees who went missing while jungle trekking last night returned to their camp at Asahan near here at 8.30am Tuesday.

They were brought back to the camp by some army personnel whom they met while trying to find their way out of the jungle this morning.

They were greeted with joy by their parents who had gathered at the camp early this morning. NS Training Department officials were also present.

Most of the trainees were in good health except for one who had a sprained shoulder and another who suffered from exhaustion.

The trainees said they spent a night in the dark at a jungle clearing and only had some biscuits which they shared.

They huddled together to keep themselves and especially the two trainees who were not feeling well, warm. Each of them took two-hour look-out duties through the night to keep watch over the group.

The group, one of eight which went on the trek as part of their training routine, left at 3.45pm Monday.

The trainees claimed that the team did not include a trainer but was only led by a trainee who was appointed as leader of the team.

They said they were told that their supervisors would be keeping an eye on them in the jungle but they would not be able to see them.

A weak earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale occurred at 5.06am, 42km south-west of Lahad Datu, triggering tremors in Kunak. No damage was reported so far. Aftershocks are being monitored.

Marsha Tan
The Star 

MALACCA: Twenty-three NS trainees from the Asahan training camp in Jasin are missing, after they went on a jungle-trekking exercise yesterday afternoon.

The trainees, all male, were in a group of 190 trainees who were involved in the exercise which began at 3pm at the nearby Gunung Ledang.

Police and the army have launched a search operation for the lost trainees.

State police chief Senior Asst Comm (I) Datuk Ayub Yaakob said the group was divided into several teams during the exercise.

The 23 were in the third last batch that entered the jungle, he added.

“Each group was led by an instructor and when this group failed to turn up at one of their designated checkpoints, camp officials suspected something amiss.

“That was at about 5pm. The camp organised an immediate search but failed to locate them,” he said when contacted last night.

SAC Ayub said the camp commandant lodged a report at the Asahan police station at 9pm.

NS Training Council chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, who was in Malacca earlier in the day to attend a meeting with the state NS monitoring committee, said a truckload of soldiers from the Gemas army camp was involved in the search operation.

“When I received news of the missing trainees shortly after 9pm, I immediately called Datuk Ayub,” said Lee.

Lee said he had also alerted NS Training Department director-general Abdul Hadi Awang Kechik about the matter.

There are 411 trainees enrolled at the Asahan NS training camp, which is one of the four NS training camps in the state.

Wishing all Buddhists a Happy Wesak.