KOTA KINABALU, SABAH – Its not the near death experience or the following trauma that took a Vat 69 Commando out of commission but the fear of never reuniting with his wife and three kids again.
Emotional scars from the 2013 Lahad Datu Standoff still haunts Nursabry Jaya to this day but a physical one on the 33-year-old’s lower lip is daily reminder that life is a gift.
If the the 33-year-old had stood just a little further to one side someone else would have taken home the RM 5,000 Op Daulat Trust Fund donation handed at the Sabah Police Contingent today (April 20).
The Sarawakian at first thought it was shrapnel but he said doctors post-surgery confirmed it was a stray bullet. He says it still hurts to the touch sometimes.
“This is my first time receiving any form of donation relating to that bloody incident since my retirement in 2014.
“I am happy and thankful to receive it from strangers whom I didn’t think knew of my existence. But I am also saddened to vividly recall witnessing my brothers deaths. The mental anguish he carries as long as he lives was carved on the second day of battle in the Tanduo war zone…
“We shared a meal and joked the night before. It is surreal to meet someone for the first time and the next day you’re looking at a casket,” he said holding back tears.
Nursabry was only 29 when he learned one of life’s more heavier lessons. He says every annual commemoration of the standoff relives unpleasant memories which can be triggered by a simple WhatApp message.
“I was back home in Sarawak when my Commanding Officer ordered me to immediately report for duty the following day…
“I packed my gear in Ulu Kinta, Perak and boarded a plane that landed in Tawau. I had no clue of what to expect.”
It wasn’t only after three weeks of being on high alert in the jungle did then Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein briefed them of their fate.
“We were divided into four teams and I was in team Delta who were among the first to arrive and stationed near heat of action. That’s where I saw them die,” he said.
In 2014, just a year after the incident, Nursabry glimpsed a chance at greener pastures and seized it immediately.
He is now a businessman – still related to his old ways – as a tactical gear supplier in Lahad Datu, which line of work he says allows him to confidently return home to his family in one piece.
