Towards the end of my national service, my bunch of service support group was sent in to the new SyangKong Camp to prepare stores for the in-coming battalion for their reservice.

I was in charge of 20-odd of them. They were on unfamiliar grounds as most of them did not have full basic military training because of their medical condition.

SyangKong Camp is in the middle of reclaimed Tekong. It sits on a sandy/rocky terrain, flank by rubber plantations. The camp was made up of series of single level barracks spread across the field surrounding a center square. Its big enough to house one full infantry battalion. So our first impression when we reach there was, it was a big and empty camp.

Those 20 odd storeman got down doing their stuff, equipping each barrck with the necessities. Foldable beds, Pillows, Blankets the list goes on.

Soon after, once everything is in place, they all got back to their barrack. It was a long barrack with windows on the longer sides and entry at both end. There was a double door and a steel gate on the outside.

It was around 8 and it was already dark. They were all resting. Listening to their MP3s, squinting their eyes on their PSPs. Some rowdies was playing outside. Taking photos on top of a stationary bulldozer, basically just enjoying the time in the middle of the jungle with no officer to scream at them and with only a sergeant who couldn’t care even if they kill each other.

I was too tired to entertain them. After giving them the last instruction for the day, i dozed off on my bed. Weirdly, i dreamt of the exact same barrack that i was in. In my dream i was lying on the exact same bed looking on as my men run around the bunk from end to end in total chaos. They were all terrified. The door was opened but the gate was closed. Soon amidst the chaos, i saw a woman in white cloak with a long hair. The face was horrible but i can never remember how to describe it.

She was a pontianak. A classic blood sucking bitch who is apparently dead and alive again to struck shear fear in every malay life. (I personally she’s over-rated, but she got her credentials.)
So that explains why the guys are running around in chaos. ‘She’ was flying above our barrack, circling the roof top, jumping from each end to the other trying to gain entry into the barrack. Only the gate was in her way.

So that was the dream i had. It sound stupid, didn’t it? But it was scary as it was in the middle of Tekong, and having your brain corrupted by the constant stories of pontianak since you were young. I woke up in sweat. It was barely an hour since i dozed off.

The barrack was still lighted. The guys who were on their PSP and MP3 had already dozed off. Those from outside had came in. There was an unusual silence amongst them. The door were shut. I could sense something was wrong. I turned to my man beside me and told him my dream. He kept quiet and went on to sleep. That night, i tried to put myself to sleep. I managed to after awhile. Unexpectedly, it was a sound sleep.

Next day, my man whom i told the story, told me that while i was sleeping earlier last nite, they sighted a pontianak on top of the bulldozer.

As the battalion came in the next day and continue their training for the week, there were a few other happenings and sightings which was more disturbing. But that first incident was a welcome gesture from the residence of Tekong.