KUALA LUMPUR: Armed Forces Recreational Club members will no longer be able to play at their favourite golf course, in about two months.
The nine-hole serangoon-grass course, which has been their ‘second home’ the past six decades, will be out of bounds for the 650 members.
Better known by its Malay acronym KRAT (for Kelab Rekreasi Angkatan Tentera) the course, will cease operations on March 31 after being served with a notice to vacate by the Defence Ministry.
KRAT, affiliated to 30 other clubs, was originally known as the Armed Forces Golf Club (or KGAT for Kelab Golf Angkatan Tentera) and perhaps had the cheapest entrance fee as low as RM300!
It is the third oldest golf club in the Klang Valley after the Royal Selangor Golf Club (RSGC) and Sentul GC.
KRAT manager Ranjit Singh told The New Straits Times that they were notified recently to vacate the 18.2ha premises, the last operational facility at the Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Sungai Besi.
This follows the RM1.6 billion sale of the base to IMalaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in 2012, to facilitate the construction of the 200.32ha Bandar Malaysia.
The government has since built an estimated new RM16 million, nine-hole golf course and clubhouse - complete with a swimming pool, function room, gymnasium and sports facilities – at the new RMAF base in Sendayan, Negeri Sembilan, about 80km away.
“KRAT’s members comprise armed forces personnel, ex-servicemen, foreign defence advisers and attaches, diplomats and civilians.
“Some of them have been members for five decades, since the golf course started with just three holes in 1960, before being extended to nine holes,” said Ranjit, adding that the course was designed and built in-house by the Royal Engineering Corps.
But more importantly, the closure of the current golf course will destroy a very important green lung in the heart of the federal capital which has turned into a concrete jungle.
“KRAT has not only been the second home for senior golfers and their families for social gatherings and meetings, but a haven for dozens of species of flora and fauna.
“With the course’s demise, the animals, birds, trees and plants will be gone.
“Many of the trees here were diligently planted, first by the British expatriate servicemen in the 1958, and later by the club members,” said Ranjit.
Among the animal species found there are iguana, monitor lizard, cobra, white eagle, mynah, sparrow, magpies, woodpeckers and kingfishers.
The trees include tembusu, jacaranda (native to Zimbabwe that blooms with purple flowers), ficus (its berries attract birds), margosa or neem tree (an insect repellent), pine, mahogany, flame of the forest (red and yellow), pisonioa alba, bunga tanjong, penaga laut, gardennia carinata, saraca, kapur and kasai.
The fruit trees comprise the jambu laut, jambu bol (also known as jambu air) and the poisonous pong pong.
Brig Gen (Rtd) Datuk Soon Lian Cheng, who joined KRAT in 1968, said he would miss having his Thursday weekly game with his regular friends.
“I have been walking and playing a round of nine holes, without using the motorised turfmate, in the hilly and undulating course.
“It provided me and other members the perfect cardio-vascular exercise, burning the calories and helped servicemen like me keep trim, fit and healthy,” said Soon, adding that KRAT were national inter-club champions at one time.
He paid tribute to renowned entomologist the late Dr Nadchatram Muthuvelu, who retired as the founding head of the Institute of Medical Research’s acarology division.
“Dr Nad, as he is fondly known, was instrumental in introducing the ‘Tree Adoption Scheme’ at KRAT in 1991, with members providing sponsorship.
“This enabled more than 1,000 trees of various species being planted there, to attract birds, squirrels, insects and other animals to provide a natural environment for their survival and propagation,” said Soon, adding that one Dr Amir from the Forest Research Institute Malaysia repeated Dr Nad’s effort with a “Tree Plan
ting and Beautification Project’ in 1996.
He added that for his scientific work, Dr Nad was awarded with the prestigious Sandosham Gold Medal in 1980 for biomedical science, while 15 bugs were named in his honour.
Soon said Dr Nad was also instrumental in preventing Bukit Takun in Templer’s Park and Batu Caves from being quarried, thus, preserving the rich botany, animal life and natural resources there.
Lt Col (Rtd) Johan van Geyzel said that he had helped extend the fairways during his tenure as the acting club captain in 1996-97.
“Sadly, all the efforts by the members in keeping the club and its golf course going will now come to nothing.
“The proximity of KRAT to military facilities in the Klang Valley has enabled many to play golf conveniently at a very affordable facility.
“KRAT has brought together a wide spectrum of people, from near and far, as an ideal rendezvous for fellowship,” said van Geyzel, adding that the last three holes had flood-lights to facilitate late-evening finishers.
Ladies’ section golfer Ng Beng Hiang, a member since 1985, said Dr Nad’s efforts helped them put ‘name and year-planted tags’ on each new tree.
“In this way, people became familiar with the species and their age.
“It also helped researchers and varsity students in their studies,” she said.
For the record, KRAT’s first club captain in 1960 was one Wing Commander Doherty from the Royal Air Force, while the late Vimala Arokiasamy was the longest serving Lady’s Captain from 1982 to 2012.
Not to forget is self-made golfer Lim Chin Ee who was the men’s champion for a record 21 years.
Lim, who started as a caddy at the Royal Selangor Golf Club at 17, first won the title at KRAT in 1970.
He went on to win every year until 1992, except for 1982 when he was involved in a motor-vehicle accident that broke his leg.
The golf course also provided a non-directional navigational beacon at ‘Hole Number 6’, which was the highest peak at the air base, known as ‘Sempang’ to aviators.
The base served as the country’s main airport until the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah airport was built in Subang in 1965.
Adjacent to KRAT was the Institute of Aviation Medicine and the RMAF’s air defence bunker, both of which have been relocated to Subang and Kuantan, respectively.