“Oh nononono! I don’t do heights; or water, for that matter! This is all wrongggg!” a silent wail of despair wells from within and threatens to escape as I listen in horror as a stout-looking man clad in military-black ensemble in front of me rambles on about what’s contained in the day’s agenda.
With his sharp crew cut and the words “Capt. K. Bala” emblazoned on a patch on his vest, the man looks like he means business. Standing around him, arms folded grimly, are his “soldiers”, complete with helmets, goggles, padded vests and contraptions hanging from their belts.
Seated around me in this modest room at the Code Red Academy in KL, the HQ for Malaysia International Search and Rescue (MISAR), a non-governmental and non-profit organisation set up by Balasupramaniam Krishnan aka Capt. K. Bala as a platform for individuals with the passion to serve in search and rescue missions and humanitarian field, are my fellow media practitioners, all here for the Luminox Code Red Survival Course.
The one-day course, involving more than 18 participants from Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia, and conducted by Bala, the founder of Malaysian Volunteer Fire & Rescue Association (MVFRA), the President of Road Safety Marshal Club (RSMC) and the Director of Code Red Survival Academy, is aimed at educating participants about the different scenarios that can happen during various emergencies and equipping them with the necessary skills to overcome those situations. The emphasis, as Bala keeps reiterating, is on the importance of teamwork and communication.
“So I will assign you all into four groups, which are named after Luminox timepieces – Navy SEAL, ICE SAR, Commando Frogman and Sea Wolves,” barks the stocky captain, before elaborating: “Each group will have between four and five members. Before we start, everyone put on a Luminox watch; we have to synchronise the time on your watches to the seconds.”
Satisfied that everyone has completed his request, the genial safety activist and emergency survival trainer instructs: “You’re going to have a time limit - 30 minutes for each activity which are based on simulated emergency situations. Let me emphasise again – every second counts during a rescue operation. You’ll also be graded on several factors throughout the activities, such as teamwork and communication skills.”
As the bustle continues, with everyone checking their watches and wondering who they’ll get to team up with, I allow my gaze to wander towards a line of timepieces arranged on the table in front of Bala. A big fan of Luminox timepieces anyway, I’m taken by its latest collections – ICE SAR Arctic 1200 Series, Navy SEAL 3600 Series, 30th Anniversary Sport Timer 0900 Series Limited Edition, as well as the special edition Malaysian International Search and Rescue (MISAR) collaborative timepiece.
Luminox, the watch of choice for U.S. Navy SEALs, F117 NighthawkTM stealth jet pilots, other elite forces and professional divers, uses tiny tritium gas tubes, which provides illumination for up to 25 years. Unlike other luminosity systems, which depend on exterior light sources to charge luminous paint or a pushbutton to illuminate the watch, the luminosity is built right into Luminox watches.
“These are really suitable for us because the Luminox Light Technology allows us to keep track of the time in any light conditions during our missions,” Bala’s gruff voice cuts into my concentration, whipping me back swiftly to the present as I note a steady procession already making its way out of the door and into the bright morning sunlight outside.
EVERY SECOND COUNTS
“No. Way.” And suddenly that all-familiar feeling of panic begins to spread within. Apprehensively, I cast my eyes towards the sky, where the top of the tall steel structure rests. A single rope dangles from what looks like a pulley. I suddenly feel faint. It doesn’t help that I have acrophobia (fear of heights).
“Come on, we can do this! Go up and then just abseil down. We need to complete this, or else we won’t get the points!” The rousing words from the captain of Sea Wolf (my team) jolt me from my state of dread and suddenly I feel my shoulders being squeezed in encouragement. “Conquer your fear,” I mumble furiously to myself before acquiescing to being strapped with the necessary safety equipment and making a dash for the top of the platform where one of Bala’s men is patiently waiting. “Don’t worry! We’ve got you,” someone hollers from above.
Somewhere on the slightly sodden ground, a dummy (representing a casualty) lies comatose on a stretcher. “Guys, don’t forget, you’re going to need to get this up to the top. Ensure that everything is balanced so you don’t drop the patient,” barks another MISAR member.
Working like a well-oiled machine, despite us meeting only for the first time today, Team Sea Wolf is able to execute the task at hand with plenty of time to spare. A collective whoop of delight pierces the air as we discover that we’d attained full marks on the various categories.
Rescue missions often entail extraction of casualties from different terrains and environments. This particular activity, which teaches participants how to abseil down a tall structure and to work together when handling casualties, help participants overcome their fear of heights and to understand the importance of teamwork in such operations.
There are a total of six stations to get through, including a simulated road traffic accident, a search and rescue operation where rescuers would have to locate survivors among rubbles and debris using the ResQ17, a wide-angle rescue system with carbon dioxide (CO2) sensor, and a flood operation simulation exercise conducted in the pool where participants learn about how to rescue civilians during a flood.
Having conquered my fear of heights, I couldn’t wait to move onto the next challenge – fire fighting. From the corner of my eye, I spy another team battling with a water hose as the members attempt to douse angry flames from a burning vehicle. Now that looks exciting, I muse as I amble over to a stationary fire truck with the rest of my jubilant team members.
Gingerly donning my heavy firefighter’s protection suit, the thermal lining making me sweat profusely, I curse silently at the discomfort. This is further exacerbated by the weight of the tank (of breathable air) strapped on my back, which only serves to weigh me down further.
Due to the strong surge of water from the hose, two team members are needed to handle it – one to aim the hose towards the burning vehicle; the other to assist with the recoil. I can feel the air thicken with the smell of smoke and heat blanketing us like a thermal cocoon. “So this is what it feels like!” I exclaim into my partner’s ear as he makes his move towards the fire, with me behind him, attached like a leech for any possible recoil. Not too far away from this dramatic scene, Bala stands watch, his arms folded across his strapping chest, an expression of pride etched on his face.
OF PASSION AND MISSION
“From small I’ve always wanted to help people,” confides Bala, whom I’d managed to corner having completed my spell in the pool for the flood operation simulation exercise. Hair still damp from the experience, I manoeuvre myself near the oversized fan in the pantry as Bala stirs his coffee. Continuing, Bala, whose father was a policeman, and mum, a housewife, says: “I wanted to be a policeman initially but when I got older, the interest dissipated. What did grow was my desire to help people so I thought, perhaps I should be a fireman.”
Asked where the passion to help people comes from, he replies: “There was this interesting Chinese movie that I recall watching when I was younger. The mother had 10 children and those 10 kids had different talents. One child could run far, one had extraordinary hearing, one had the gift of amazing sight. They were like super heroes. So I said to myself that if I wanted to help people, I need to have extra talent, or skills.”
Continuing, Bala, whose day job is in crime intervention, confides that he decided to go for fire and rescue training. “I wanted to do something in the field of search and rescue.” He went on to create a children’s programme on Children’s Safety in 1994 where he trained small children on how to escape during a fire.
He offered the programme free for the kids but made corporate companies pay for it. And the money he made from them he channelled towards the purchase of his many vehicles, which include big bikes and a number of Land Rovers. “Search and rescue is an expensive game,” remarks Bala, whose background is in behavioural science. “Those vehicles that I bought were vehicles tendered by the government. They wanted to throw so I bought.”
Over the years, he decided that for him to carry out his life mission, he needed to have the right people around him. A team. The members would be trained in the relevant skills and go out there where they were needed.
All his members have a day job. Shares the youthful-looking 45-year-old: “Some have adventure background, some are from the corporate line. There are accountants and I even have writers among us. I required professionals and rescuers that could go on the ground – know how to swim, how to climb, etc. We started with local operations; for example, we were there during the Highland Towers tragedy and for the many flood disasters around the country.”
He began venturing into international operations when his counterparts from China and Thailand questioned why he didn’t consider spreading his expertise further. Recalls the self-confessed tech geek: “They said to me, when our country needs help, why don’t you come. And if your country needs help, we can come. And that’s when we decided to form MISAR and our focus turned to saving lives as well as search and rescue relief.”
Bala and his team were at the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, and were also part of the search and rescue team when disasters hit Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand and Bandar Aceh. “We’re not a big organisation,” adds Bala, continuing: “MISAR has been around since 1992 but under a different name. It was called Malaysian Volunteer Fire & Rescue Association (MVFRA) and it was established to help people. It’s not our thing to go out there and get publicity for ourselves. We want to follow the Muslim concept - when this hand gives, this hand shouldn’t know!”
BORN FOR A REASON
Everybody wants to help, muses Bala, the youngest of four siblings, but they don’t have the platform. So he created one. “I want to keep Malaysians safe. It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
Is this your dream? I ask. And his expression turns thoughtful. “I don’t think I’ll have enough time to fulfil everything I want,” he replies. “I always say that time is my biggest enemy. I want to do more. I hope I can change the standard of safety. I don’t want to see children die in the pool or in road accidents, or anywhere.”
His biggest dream, confides the happily single Bala, is to set up a children’s safety academy. “Through play, they’ll learn all about flood safety, recreational safety, hygiene, laws of the jungle. If there’s ever a big disaster in Malaysia one day, I want our children to survive it!”
Does he have any other passion, I ask, my eyes travelling to the time on my watch. It’s almost rush hour. He nods, noting my furtive action. His smile wide, Bala, who used to sell newspapers when he was small to help his parents make ends meet, replies: “This life I’ve dedicated to saving others. Maybe in my next life I can be a farmer! Do you know I’m a whizz at planting brinjals? I have like 20 brinjals in my backyard!”
Chuckling heartily at my bemused expression, he continues: “My mum loved gardening. And my grandma had a green thumb. We’re Melaka Chetty. My grandma is a medicine woman, a bidan, so she plants a lot of things. When I was small, I used to be fascinated by her garden.”
As we both guffaw at the image of Bala as a gardener, I decide to pose him a final question: Does he have a motto in life? Eyes twinkling, he points to some words on his T-shirt. “Live for nothing; die for something. Born for a reason. That’s basically it! I’m born for a reason!” concludes Bala, the twinkle never leaving his eyes.
Details at www.luminox.com and facebook.com/LuminoxSingapore.