The A'X'IAN Files 

making sense of the world we live in

 

Created by Charles Goh

Founder, API

(with a footprint cast given to API by Rick Noll)

 

The Malaysian Bigfoot Enigma

 

A Publication by the 

Asia Paranormal Investigators (API)

1st released on 6th February 2006

Last Updated on 8th Aug 2006

 

With major contributions by our Malaysian Chapter

Maverick, Perak 

(Interpreter)    

Jimmy, Johor 

(Guide)

Angelina, Penang

(Translator) 

          

Bigfoot Discovery Trail II was conducted on 30th July 2006 with US Experts. Led by Maverick Kee, of the Malaysian Chapter (API) 

Details of Expedition members here

                                       

Bigfoot Discovery I - Team Photo shoot at Sand Quarry near Kampung Punjut

 

     Bigfoot Discovery Team: API members who went & their roles

     Photo Credits by Mr Nine

     Back row from left 

     Maverick -  Perak Counterpart, Interpreter & Assist. Guide 

     Alvin         -  Video Man & Relief Driver

     Raymond  -  Background Research & 2nd Car Driver

 

     First Row from left

     Jason        -  Support & Backup Photographer 

     Amethyst  -  Support

     Charles     -  Lead Investigator & 1st Car Driver

     Jimmy       -  Johor Counterpart, Guide & 3rd Car Driver

     Amulet      -  Support

     Huili          -  Support

     Jas            -  Guest Investigator

      

     

    

All contents are owned by API unless otherwise stated. 

Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without prior written permission from the Management is prohibited. You may email us for permission.

FOREWORD

The release of the Malaysian Bigfoot Enigma Publication is the cumulative effort of many of my API team mates and our friends over the Causeway, to whom I am tremendously indebted to.

This Report also showcase the 1st release of the A'X'IAN Files, a term coined by me (pronounced as Asian Files) to represent the Asia's version of the famous 'X' Files series. 

When the December news broke that there was a Bigfoot sighted in Johor, the report ran practically around the globe and to which 1 organization known as The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organisation has dedicated a page to its updates. 

The Asia Paranormal Investigators (API) is a paranormal research based group based in Singapore that strives to systematically analyze any strange occurrences happening in Singapore and around the region. 

API is a relatively new organization founded in July 2005 and is staffed by local people and foreign counterparts both young and old. We are constantly seeking new opportunities to learn from our overseas counterparts when possible.

The purpose of writing this Report was to stem the increasingly erroneous media reports surfacing as a result of lack of information available (see Section 8), and especially to create a clearer understanding for our overseas friends who may be reading it without knowing the geographical and cultural aspect of the case.

This is API 1st attempt in writing such a publication (if it can be called one) and I am sure my written English would surely be appalling to some. I do apologize and I welcome any feedback or comments in API mailbox.    

For the avid readers you may use the Content Page to browse through sections by sections, or just read downwards.

For those who wishes a quick summary you may go straight to Section 9, which will summarized all the findings in all the other sections.

If you would like follow our Bigfoot Discovery Trail where we went into Johor, then go to Section 7, where you can also view the beautiful landscape of Malaysia. To view photos of our Discovery Trail II, visit our Discovery Trail Page 2 here

Clicking on most photos will bring you to a new window. Clicking on certain links will bring you to a bookmark placed in this report. After reading the bookmark, simply click BACK on your explorer browser to go back to the previous page you were reading. 

On 22nd March 2006, API launched a bi-weekly CARTOON STRIPS segment, which will feature the artwork of ThinkComix. and the scripting of API Leader Jason. These cartoon strips is a novel way to introduce the A'X'ian files, showcasing our Research and Investigations in a light-hearted and humorous way.

This is the revloving set of Cartoon Strip.

This has been 1 interesting journey, on the paper research, map reading, interviews with the locals that eventually enable us to arrive at the conclusion that the Bigfoot in Johor has been erroneously reported as many different encounters when it stemmed from just 1. The sightings in Mawai (of the 3 fish farm workers and the sightings in Kahang (of 3 Orang Asli that include Amir and Along on their way into the forests) are the same. We also conclude that the Bigfoot most probably is a specie of Ape known Orang Utan that manage to survive in Peninsular Malaysia for ten thousand years despite being thought as surviving only as the 2 known species that belonged to the Sumatra and Borneo island, there could be a 3rd. This could be supported by recent sightings as well as historical records of such encounters by the early settlers on Mawai. 

The recent confused reporting and erroneous identification of known phenomenon by current groups seeking to look for Bigfoot, highlighted the fact that serious and professional help may be needed if the Real Bigfoot is to be found. 

LATEST! There are many Bigfoot-related Stories coming out from Malaysia, which I sometimes find too many and frequent to include in this Article. You may refer here

If the Malaysian Government wishes to, it could appoint a local Malaysian who is knowledgeable in the ways of how native forest creatures moves about in the forest. This is so because it is important that we first learn to eliminate the signs of known animals, before we can even attempt to look or 'hunt' for the Unknown.

The ability of recognizing the various footprints of Orang Utan, Sunbear, Cow, Wild Boar, Elephant, Rhinoceros; the nesting-making habits of such creatures; their food foraging techniques i.e., the Sunbear; the claw marks that can be found on the trees; the broken branches and torn tree trunks and logs; these are all recognizable traits of individual animals that must be considered and eliminated before we jump to the conclusion it's a 3m tall creature because there are broken branches overhead and a smashed log slightly ahead. 

Malaysia do have such people, people dedicated to the ensuring the survival of other species, made almost extinct by the action of Man. One such person has done extensive research along this field, especially in the study of another Malaysian Pride, the Malayan Sunbear.  

He is Mr Wong Siew Te, a PHD Student currently based in Sabah, a wildlife biologist from Malaysia currently working on his doctorate degree in University of Montana, USA. 

His website is as mentioned below:


http://wongsiewte.org

http://borneanbearpigproject.org
http://borneanbearpigproject.org

http://sunbear.org
http://sunbear.org 

The other person is Mr Edwin Bosi, a Malaysian residing in the State of Sabah. He is presently the Program Officer for SOS Rhino’s Sumatran Rhino Program of Sabah. He was the former chief wildlife veterinarian for the wildlife department Sabah and now has a position as Research fellow at the Institute of Tropical Biology and Conservation (ITBC) of University Malaysia Sabah (UMS). He is also a wildlife consultant. Dr. Bosi has a Diploma in Animal Science (1978) and a Degree in Veterinary Medicine from Universiti Putra Malaysia (1984). He also has a Masters in Philosophy (veterinary clinical science) from Massey University at Palmerston North, New Zealand in 1992. (text taken from website

Dr. Bosi has worked as a large and small animal clinician, veterinary quarantine and public health officer, Group Manager (Livestock) for the Rural Development Corporation Holdings limited and, officer-in-charge of the rhino and wildlife conservation committee responsible for survey, capture and ex-situ management.

The Bigfoot footprint cast found by the foreign media group was made from a print  measuring 19" by 11". This was in fact the distance inside the rotten cavity of a log where the print was found.  This had become the length of the Bigfoot print. 

The discovery of this footprint was led by newly declared Bigfoot Hunter Mr Kong Nam Choy, who led the foreign group into a trail where previously the Bigfoot Trail was seen as emerging. 

Amazing Mr Kong before entering that old trail, was able to disclose to the foreign media, among other details, the exact size of 19" by 11" (which was the size of the print found), and that there are Bigfoot prints inside that trail they are going to make. 

Visit this website and click on the two pictures you see there and judge for yourself  

The Bigfoot print was found along the trail, heavily carpeted with a thick canopy of dead leaves, but which only a select few of the falling leaves fell onto the print. It is obvious that Mr Kong had walked the trail before. It wasn't a search in the forest, it was a trek into a pre-determined path, to which the Bigfoot cast was found. \

Do read these observations from a fellow API member.  

That print could have been a combination of many animals prints including human, (whether by accident or mischief), and looked more like a hand then a foot (as pointed out by Angelina, our Malaysia Charter)  

I do hope my article reach the desk of Johor National Parks Director.

If Bigfoot exists in Malaysia, then having being able to hide from humankind for so long, it can't be found so easily, especially not in a agricultural place like Kampung Lukut, Kota Tinggi. Look towards your 248 million years old forest, Endau Rompin. My interviews showed that Orang Asli had seen giant humanlike prints in those forests. The 1970 hunt by Harold Stephens showed clear trail of identical giant human prints along River Kincin. Along, an Orang Asli lad of 21 years, drew a giant human footprint he saw in Endau Rompin, very similar to the trail Mr Stephens saw.

Granted not all may agree with the findings in this Report, but then again the purpose of any report is the critical analysis of the event it is reporting on. Thus we welcome any feedback or comments in API mailbox and will try to answer all queries and comments. Any fresh evidence or good comments will be updated in the Report and reflected in the Revision Page given due credit to the contributor. If you do not have a email account, you may submit through here

If not, then stroll downwards and begin the API Bigfoot Discovery Trail.

I hope that you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

 

 

Charles Goh

Founder, 

Asia Paranormal Investigators

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A photo of the 'Gorilla' kept a late Johor Sultan. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

              Content

 

Section

Title

-

Foreword

-

Revision

 

 

  1

KING KONG, THE MOVIE THAT STARTED IT ALL?

 2

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE MALAYSIAN BIGFOOT

2.1    Local Names

 

2.2    Location of Bigfoot Sightings

2.3    The Confusing Foot Prints

 

2.3.1 Analysis of the Foot Prints 

2.4    General Appearance of the Malaysian Bigfoot Based on Section 2 Analysis

2.5    Of Apes, Boars and Cows
2.5.1  Contender 1 - The Sunbear
2.5.2  Contender 2 - The Orang Utan
2.5.3  Contender 3 - Of Wild Pigs and Cows
2.5.4  A Revisit to the Original Panti Print
2.6     The Toes tell their Tales 

 

 

3

BIGFOOT AN ORANG UTAN?

 

3.1    Bigfoot Case Study    

3.2    Height of Bigfoot versus Orang Utan

 

3.3    Bigfoot Sightings across Malaysia

3.4    Orang Utan Habitat

 

3.5    The physique of the Orang Utan body

3.6    The Eye Test

3.7    A Clue from the Annals of Kampung Mawai
3.8    The Mawai's Mawas is an Orang Utan

 

 

4

IS BIGFOOT A SURVIVING PREHISTORIC HOMINID?

 

4.1    The 248 Million Years Old Jungle

4.2    It's all in the Teeth
4.3    Gigantopithecus Blacki as a Quadrupedal 
5 THE ORANG ASLI OF MALAYSIA - A RELIABLE WITNESS
5.1    The Aborigines of Peninsular Malaysia
5.2    Social Integration of the Orang Asli
5.3    The Cultural Divide
5.4    Interviewing the Witness - Alan the Village Shaman  
5.5    Interviewing the Witness  - Herman Deraman the Rattan Collector 
5.6    Interviewing the Witness - Amir Md Ali the Fish Catcher 

5.7    Interviewing the Witness  - Evan the Rattan Collector, as told by Pujou  

         Village Tok Batin

6 SUDDEN FLURRY OF BIGFOOT SIGHTINGS
6.1    Human Encroachment
6.2    Loss of Habitat
6.3    Lesson from a Dinosaur Fish
7 API FIELD TRIP TO JOHOR TO VERIFY BIGFOOT SIGHTINGS REPORTS
7.1    Method of Analysis
7.1.1 Collection and Plotting of all known Bigfoot sightings
7.1.2 Mapping of Route to gather local evidence
7.1.3 Chronological Record of Key Notes in Field Trip
Event 1   - Meeting Point at Yew Tee MRT, Singapore
Event 2   - At the Causeway
Event 3   - At Kota Tinggi 
Event 4   - At Mawai Town
Event 5   - At Jemaluang Town
Event 6   - At Keluang District
Event 7   - At the Petrol Station in Keluang
Event 8   - At Kahang 1st Orang Asli Village
Event 9   - At the Sand Quarry
Event 10 - At Batu 25, Kampung Punjut Sungai Nadik
Event 11 - Enroute to Lenggor Forest
Event 12 - At 3 km Stop 
Event 13 - At Batu 25, Kampung Punjut Sungai Nadik
Event 14 - Dinner at Kota Tinggi
Event 15 - The Route back Home 

8

THE NEWS THAT NEVER WERE
8.1    Name Calling
8.2    Misleading Reports
8.3    The Mawai Encounter
8.4    The Kincin Encounter
8.5    The Branch That Was Never Broken
8.6    So What Really happened?
8.7    Getting Out Of Hand
8.8    More Incredible News
8.9   Colony of Bigfoot Turns May Turn Out to Orang Utan After All

9

CONCLUSION - ORANG UTAN OR GIGANTOPITHECUS BLACKI
9.1    Sections Summary
9.2    The Orang Utan Wins
9.3    Orang Utan the Manlike Ape

10

CONCLUSION
10.1    The Naming of Orang Dalam
10.2    To Gather a Specimen
10.2.1 Monitoring Camera with sensor Alert    
10.2.2 Engage the Expert
10.2.3 Aerial Mapping of  Palm Oil Estate Encroachment

11

FINAL WORDS

 

REVISION

Revision Date

Items Revised
25/8/06 Added new page for Bigfoot Discovery Trail II
6/8/06 Added Bigfoot Discovery II Trail Expedition Photo
6/8/06 Changed name from Peninsular Ape to Orang Dalam 
5/6/06 Added new photo analysis of the alleged Johor Bigfoot print cast.
23/4/06 Added link to view uncovered Bigfoot Stories  
23/4/06 Removed BFRO as recommended Bigfoot Hunters for Malaysian Authorities
4/4/06 Added comments on Bigfoot print
4/4/06 Added 1 new Malaysian Tracker for Johor Government to consider
28/3/06 Added new advice to seek Malaysian own Tracker to seek Bigfoot
23/3/06 Added API A'X'IAN Comic Strips
21/3/06 Added new Section 8.9 - Mystery of Colony of Bigfoot solved
7/3/06 Revised Foreword comments
7/3/06 Added new Sections 2.5 and 8.8
6/3/06 Added Interviews of Eye Witness Section 5.6 & 5.7 
21/2/06 Added comments on Amir's Stand-Off with Bigfoot
21/2/06 Added latest comments on new Reports surfacing in Malaysia media 
18/2/06 Added latest News Report on Bigfoot in Foreword
17/2/06 Revised comments in Foreword
17/2/06 Added Interview with Alan and Along in subsection 5.4 and 5.5 
16/2/06 Added subsection 10.2.3 
16/2/06 Added 1 photo in Section 3.6 to show Orang Utan puny leg
16/2/06 Included sub headings in Section 5 of Content Page 
14/2/06 Added caption to all photos 
14/2/06 Added photos of Palm Oil plantations in Section 6.1 
13/2/06 Inserted comments on Along's Interview
11/2/06 Translation of Chinese Press reports into English ( Report One, Two, Three)
11/2/06 Added comments in Section 2.3.1 
11/2/06 Article proofreading by Jason
10/2/06 Revised Section 8.6 to include more conclusion
10/2/06 Revised Foreword page to include new comments on Bigfoot media reports

1st released on 6th February 2006 

SECTION 1: KING KONG, THE MOVIE THAT STARTED IT ALL?

News about Bigfoot sightings in the State of Johor, Malaysia created a stir around the world and received unprecedented coverage in major international newspapers and paranormal-related reporting websites. What sparked the Skeptics' cry of foul was that the sightings came hot on the heels immediately upon the release of the King Kong movie in mid Dec 05, and in-line with the urgency of the Johor State Tourism Board in trying to perk up the industry.

A King Kong movie advertisement that appeared in Singapore's Straits Times newspaper

The Johor State relies heavily on income generated via tourism, and lately tourists arrival rates fell in conjunction with the increase of crime rate. (read news report here). 

The first Bigfoot news article that surfaced in Malaysia was in Dec 23rd, when Malaysia's Bernama News reported that 3 workers building a fish farm in Kampung Mawai village, Kota Tinggi, spotted a family of Bigfoots and later found footprints, some measuring 45cm in length.  

The list of witnesses even included a senior ranking police officer, who had stepped forward to declare he had seen a king kong sized Bigfoot standing about 4 storeys tall (about 12m), with footprints measuring 0.9m in length. Quoting from the report, shown below:

But one man who claimed to have seen the elusive creature is Bentong Deputy OCPD Deputy Supt Mohd Fakri Che Sulaiman, who told Utusan Malaysia about his encounter with Bigfoot.

"It was like a big gorilla about four storeys tall standing about 10m away. Although it was foggy, we could see it was staring at us with its hands on its hips,” said DSP Fakri, adding that it shouted after 10 minutes while pounding its chest."

Expectedly, it was followed shortly by cries of urge to cash in on this high profile sightings. Quoting a newspaper report:

"This is a boon for Johor. The news has put the state on the international tourism radar. We must maximize benefits from the publicity generated," Johor Tourist Guides Association chairman Johnny Leong was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times daily.

In fact, Johor National Park has heeded the call with a cartoon drawings of Bigfoot by Lat (picture below) and a eye-catching slogan that reads: Johore Bigfoot On the Loose on its homepage. 

                           The Cartoon that appeared on Johor National Parks online homepage  

SECTION 2: GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE MALAYSIAN BIGFOOT

Before we start the report proper it would be good to have a general description of the Malaysian Bigfoot.  

2.1  Local Names

In Malaysia, the Bigfoot is known by 3 local names. The first name is Mawas, which incidentally is the Indonesian word for Orang Utan. Local Malaysians generally called Bigfoot as Mawas. 

In Malaysia the word Orang is the Malay word for Man, and the word Utan was derived from the word Hutan, which literally means Forest. It is not known when the word Hutan became Utan, though it is possible that the name was introduced during the time when the primate was being reintroduced back in Malaysia mainland in zoos and recreational parks. 

The second name for the Malaysian Bigfoot is Hantu Jarang Gigi. This name is more commonly used  by the Orang Asli, who sometimes also uses the name Hantu Hutan. The word Hantu means Ghost, Jarang means Rare or Few or Missing, and Gigi means Teeth. The term Jarang Gigi is commonly used as reference to the teeth of an old man who has lost his teeth through old age and decay or a growing kid with milk teeth.  

This literally translates to the Ghost in the Forest that has Few Teeth. In our Bigfoot Discovery Trail held on the 15th Jan 06, we encountered 3 locals who, although gave varying descriptions of the Mawas, all agreed that the Mawas they have heard have some form of 'Jarang' teeth feature. The local at Mawai Village, and the Orang Asli at Kahang said that the teeth might be viewed as having extended molars and might be construed as fangs, much like those found on animals. The locals at Jemaluang said that the teeth cannot be seen without opening the mouth. The locals at Mawai came to know about the description from a friend who claimed to have seen such a Mawas, and added that besides the fangs, it also have spikes protruding from the arms. The local at Jemaluang said that he had seen 2 Mawas a the age of 4 at the Kahang Zoo. But that zoo no longer exist. He describe the Mawas as very large and almost human-like but has golden hair. The Orang Asli at Kahang claimed his brother -in-law has seen it, and described the teeth as similar to the local at Mawai.

                     At Mawai Village                      At Keluang District             At Kampung Nadik

But it is this teeth feature that made a certain prehistoric Ape Man a contender with the Orang Utan for the Malaysian Bigfoot. (See Section 4 on Gigantopithecus Blacki)   

MSN Advsior Mr Vincent Chow was reported as having called it a "Snaggle Tooth Ghost". This led to at least 1 overseas news report calling it the "Great 'snaggle-tooth ghost' hunt begins". However, I would think that it would be an erroneous description as the term Snaggle if you were to refer to the Oxford dictionary would means irregular or projecting teeth. That would make our Bigfoot a possible Carnivore.  

2.2  Location of Bigfoot Sightings

We shall now study the sightings of Bigfoots reported in Malaysia insofar. 

 

Year 

Location 

Height

Description

Source

Dec 2005

 Mawai, Kota Tinggi  

2.4 - 3m

Brown Colored fur, 

smelling of armpit odour

45cm footprint

1.pdf

Nov 2005

Kahang, Kluang 

4m

Human shaped, dark red & black fur

2.pdf

Apr 2001

Sungai Kincin, Endau Rompin

3m

Dark brown haired, Scattered fish bones on river grounds

45 cm footprint

3.pdf

Jan 2000

Kampung Chennah, Jelebu

1.5-1.83m

1.5m -long brownish hair

1..8m -long black shiny hair

Footprint not mentioned

4.pdf

- 2000

Unnamed jungles, Pahang

not mentioned

Huge hairy creature shot dead. No body found later

5.pdf

Jan 1995

Tanjung Piai, Pontian

2.4m

45 cm footprint with 4 toes

6.pdf

- 1979

Pengkakalan Chepa, Kelantan

12m 

Big gorilla with 90cm footprint

7.pdf

Aug 1966

Segamat, Segamat

8.75m

Giant ape with 45 cm footprint

8.pdf

Chart 1: Summary of Bigfoot Sightings in Malaysia

From Chart 1, we can deduce that the average Malaysian Bigfoot ranges from 2.5m to 4m, with the exception of the 2 sightings in Kelantan and Segamat. This is because theoretically speaking, the size of an upright creature should have a corresponding body-parts ratio.

With the average height of 3 meters and a foot size of 45 cm, we can ascertain that for an ape-man or gorilla to reach a height of 8 and 12  meters, it should have a corresponding foot size of  120 cm and 180 cm respectively, in order to ensure a balance of body mass ratio. 

To counter-check this calculation, if I were to calculate my own height of 1.6m, the size of my foot should be 24 cm, which is totally correct!    

Therefore, I would disregard the descriptions of the last 2 sightings of 1979 and 1966 for the purpose of this report..

2.3  The Confusing Foot Prints (Refer to Section 2.5 for more analysis of footprints found after 6th Feb, the date of  release of this article)

I would consider trying to describe the feet of the Malaysian Bigfoot as being the most hardest. Although described by Johor MSN Advsior Vincent Chow that the "description of the creature like height, appearance, physical built and the size of its footmarks are the same," I would like to reserve judgment on the footprint. In fact, based on what available photo evidence that had been leaked out by the Press (Yes, I would use the word 'leaked' due to the secretive nature that the footprints are being reviewed, either in small cropped photos that offers no clue as to estimate its true size, or that it was revealed through different media agencies.)   

Here are the various alleged footprints of Bigfoot as observed from various news media. 

PRINT 1: Baling, 1992. 55cm (est.) Drawn from memory

PRINT 2: Lenggor National Park , Dec 2005

40cm (est.) Drawn from memory

PRINT 3: Kampung Mawai. Dec 2005. Type 1: 45 cm  

PRINT 4: Kampung Mawai. Dec 2005. 

Type 2: 45 cm

PRINT 5: Gunung Panti, Jan 2006. 50 cm

 

 

 

2.3.1  Analysis of the Foot Prints

Prints 1 and 2 are both drawn from memory. Print 1 was taken from a report written in mandarin, but here is the English Translation. In the Print 2 report, it was clarified that there should be 5 toes and they should be rounded and pointed. Assuming that in Print 1, insufficient pressure might not have been exerted by the creature to create a distinct toe-print as it stepped onto the soft soil and made that print, I would say that both prints are similar in nature. 

Prints 3 and 4 are supposedly of the same encounter along Sungai Sedili. yet both photos are released at different times, and both showed seemingly different soil conditions. The peculiarity of both prints was that firstly, two conflicting reports surfaced on the same day. The first report stated that there was one footprint found by a fish researcher, together with sightings of a family of Bigfoot, while the other stated many footprints found without any mention of Bigfoot. The later section of this report will throw some light onto this confusion, but for now, let's examine the print in detail.    

The problem in both Print 3 and Print 4 was that both footprints were cropped so much that no details or measurements could be drawn from the surrounding features. The photographer, besides stating that it was a 45 cm long footprint, did nothing else to prove its length. This is very unlike of any researcher, who would by way of placing something identifiable, sough to instruct the Public on the enormous size of the footprint found, instead of cropping it to such an extent that no inference could be made as to its size.

But not all is lost. As the footprint was found in Sungai Sedili, a check on the internet reveals that Sungai Sedili rivers belongs to the freshwater mangrove swamp class.  A check closer to home reveals the types of trees that can be commonly found in a mangrove swamp.   

Now a blow up of the alleged Bigfootprint. 

An enlargement of PRINT 3: Kampung Mawai. Dec 2005. Type 1: 45 cm  

 

The Rhizophora type mangrove tree, showing similar leaves and roots as shown in the Mawai Print. 

Assume for the purpose of this report, that the type of leaves found in Print 3 is of the Rhizophora type, the average size of the leaves are 5 cm to 15 cm in length. In Print 3 the size of the footprint is measured as 3 times that of the leaf. Thus again by extrapolating based on an average of both 5 cm and 15 cm length we have the numbers of a footprint of either 15cm or 45 cm in length, which coincide with the Fish researcher's own statement that it was a 45cm footprint. 

But look again closely, you will notice that 1 point in the print, the base of the print slides upwards, indicating that the rest of the print could be a result of a feet that needed to drag itself out of a sticky situation, creating sloping surface as it exit the soft ground.

A simple experiment would explain this clearly. Here I became Phua Chu Kang, Singapore's favorite comedian in yellow boots. 

  

 

Now go back and take a closer look at Print 3. Can you actually see that the real depression of the feet is only 2/3 the size of the print? That's only about 30 cm in length, the size attainable by some typical land creatures like the Sunbear. .     

Looking at Print 3, I am guess that it was most probably showing the hind feet of a sunbear.

Sunbears, like most bears have almost similar characteristics. Bears have relatively flat feet (paws) with five toes, except the giant panda, which has six. Hind paws are larger than forepaws and resemble the feet of humans, except the "big toe" is located on the outside of the paw. The fact on the larger hind paw is important, and helps decides if Print 5 is a fake. . 

What about Print 4? Well, firstly, for the 2 prints that allegedly came from the same place and sightings, they could not be more dissimilar. 

Firstly, it did not looked like as if it conformed to any form of animal or human feet. In fact, an enlarged look will revealed that it is most probably formed by natural water currents and earth depression.  

 

Comparism between Print 4 and a natural depression I found 

Print 5 was discovered in the weeks following the Bigfoot sightings and footprints in Kota Tinggi, and at first glance, looked very promising. 

The photo insert remained the only photo circulating around in Malaysia media, but the Singapore's Chinese Press too carried that story with a second photo. The English translation is here

The facts surrounding this footprint was that there was no discernable footprint found, save for this very distinct print. This was admitted by the MNS Advisor Mr Vincent Chow, who said that "We traced the footprints up the hill and found more footprints on the muddy floor of the jungles. However, recent rains have smudged the outlines of the footprints." 

I truly believe that the footprints were not smudged, the pointed toe-prints just wasn't there in the first place. Which was why there was no information stemming from his investigation. 

In other words, I believe that that the one footprint with four pointed toes was forged, possibly by a passer-by who saw the original prints and added his or her own handiwork. 

For one, the only few creatures to exhibit this kind of print would either be a gigantic bird, or if this creature was standing upright - a dinosaur. The nearest dinosaur we have to be able to create such prints would be a giant crocodile. Even a giant croc would have trouble filling into the 'shoe' of this creature. But I do not think it was a giant reptile in this case. 

        

The second issue, was that creatures leave footprints on hard surface, not foot outlines. The outline of any footprint is left in the indent of the absorbing ground condition. The outline in our Print 5, had been drawn upon. Furthermore, based on the corresponding footprint behind the clearly defined Print 5, then the footprint itself is in the wrong order. It should have been the hind feet, not the other way round. Take a look at the shape of both set of footprints and you will know what I meant. 

            Normal foot prints made quadrupedal creature show showed hind foot larger than the front. 

That leaves only Print 1 & Print 2 as without judgment, but simply because they were not the original prints. 

The views of the footprints are based on my assumptions and analysis and different people though agreeing that certain foot prints are hoaxed, i.e., Print 5, they may still have different ideas on how they were hoaxed or formed. 

I further contact Bobbie Short, the owner of a Bigfoot information website who had also came to the same conclusion that Print 5 was hoaxed. Bobbie replied in his email that he knew that the Gunung Panti foot prints was hoaxed via Dr. Joe Watanabi who is a field primatologist, working in Malaysia and the Kalimantan rain forest regions of Borneo tracking unknown primates with his wife, who is a botanist.. He (Dr Watanabi) investigated the tracks, said they were hoaxed.  

With the closure on the discussion of the Foot prints controversy, I can assume the following to be a fair description of the Malaysian Bigfoot.: 

2.4  General Appearance of the Malaysian Bigfoot Based on Section 2 Analysis

 

The Malaysian Bigfoot, also known as Mawas, or Hantu Jarang Gigi, is a 3 meter tall ape-like creature with a human-like face and badly maintained teeth. It has a broad and bulky build, hairy body with spectrum shades of light brown to shiny black, and human-like foot size of 40 cm length. I could not confirm if the Bigfoot walked upright like a Man, or if it was a knuckle walker like the Orang Utan. It is most probably a vegetarian and moves in small family units.

 

2.5 Of Apes, Boars and Cows

 

Picture taken off Channelnewsasia.com 

Picture taken from Cryptomundo.com 

Recent Bigfoot prints found in Kampung Lukut prompted the creation of this new Section to give a balanced view of what those prints really are. 

 

The alleged Bigfoot prints finds by Mr Vincent Chow and Jan MGirk group can be explained away as either Sunbear Prints, or a combination of bar-cow Prints. 

 

2.5.1  Contender 1 - The Sunbear

The 19 inch footprint can actually be explained away as actually the combined print of both the front and hind paws of the Sunbear. Sunbear due to their climbing ability, has a more widely spaced front paw as compared to the rest of the bear species. This is due to the extremely long front claws (sunbear has 6 inches claw, compared with the 1.5 inches claw of black bears, and 4 inches claws of Grizzlies), which caused the paw sole to be spaced out when pressed down hard. Sunbear also has a walking behaviour of the hind paw over-stepping onto the previous track of the front paw. This can in effect, create a larger than normal print. Download this video to watch how a Sunbear walk. 

 

Notice that the both front and hind prints of this Sunbear appears as a single print? 

Below is an illustration of how I think a Sunbear could have created those prints. The larger print found by the Independent Group could also be attributed to Sunbear walking. REMEMBER, Sunbear walked bow-legged, with their feet inclined inwards.

CHARLES NOTE: After going through the photos of the Sunbear paw here, I have come to a conclusion that the print found by the Independent Group was too large to be that of a Sunbear.  

   

 

The print above, found by Mr Vincent Chow may still made by a Sunbear. 

2.5.2  Contender 2 - The Orang Utan

But now with the revelations of more photos, courtesy of BBC, could it also be that of an Orang Utan?

Compare this other panti print with the feet of Ah Meng, Singapore favourite Orang Utan residing in the Singapore Zoo.    

So.. could it be our Elusive Orang Utan at work here? Both the Sunbear and Orang Utan make nests, and eat off the shoots of palm oil. 

2.5.3  Contender 3 - Of Wild Pigs and Cows

I am also perplexed by the photos being released by both reports. Despite claims of footprint trails, they only released 1 print at the point of press release. An analysis of the footprint trail if revealed could had easily reveal how the creature could have walked, on 2 legs or 4. Furthermore, footprint in any soil or mud, can easily be altered by double stamping on same location, sudden jerk due to little movement of paw etc. The footprint in the sand would most probably be more accurate than the plaster cast done in muddy condition. 

 

Kampung Lukut, where both Mr Vincent Chow and the foreign media group found their footprints, is a low-lying agriculture/plantation areas infested with wild pigs and cows. Those of the boars looked remarkable like the double toeprint of the Bigfoot cast. 

There are broken twigs and branches, trails and single hooves footprints that remarkably resembled in some, a 4 or 5 toed Bigfoot prints, depending how you want to arrange the hundreds of pig prints found there. Download this video to find out. 
 
Frankly, I find that the discovery of single print can't be taken as a Bigfoot foot print yet as it can be produced in a number of ways naturally. They will need to find a second set. 

Bigfoot Sample 1 - Giant Human Feet

Examine closely and you will find that the sides have distinct Boar hooves marks

Bigfoot Sample 2 - Distinct rounded toes


I am disappointed that news report did not mention about the animals prints and the many trails and broken branches from the small trees and bushes that can be easily found there.

 

2.5.4  A Revisit to the Original Panti Print 

A clearer photo of the Panti print along a Tar road throws up many interesting conjecture as to what was that creature that made the print that was earlier reported

 

This clearer picture has supported my analysis early last month that the 4-toed footprint was faked. We can now see that there are 2 prints making 1 larger print. 

There are 3 possibilities as to what could have made that print.
 
(1) Rhino, (2) Elephant, and (3) Orangutan (Okay, this is abit far-stretched).
 
The rhino foot is remarkably like those on the road, but rhino walks with each feet further apart from the next. Both hind and front feet do not really overlap due to longer body built and short legs.  The elephant will make a good contender for this print. Kampung Lukut in Kota Tinggi do has wild elephants

 

 

             Both Rhinoceros feet and the Elephant feet have split toes

 
The third  possibility is the Orang Utan. Look at the feet of Ah Meng, Singapore favorite Orang Utan

  

This is a still from my video taken in Singapore zoo. Now say that if Ah Meng feet were dirtied but not its hands, would its print resembled that of the footprint on the tar road?  

Click on the thumbnail to watch the three contenders in motion. The you decide which animal most probably made those Panti prints

Rhinoceros Walk   Elephant Walk   Orangutan Walk

2.6  The Toes tell their Tales                                                                                                       

Perhaps a close up of the toe imprints of the alleged Bigfoot print might shed further light.

Josh Gates seen here carrying his Bigfoot print cast. Notice the peculiar shape of the toes. This 'perculiar-shaped' toe feature is missing in later photos of the Cast. Do Rhino print looked like this? Compare too with the shape of a boar print.   

 

 

A closeup look at the alleged Bigfoot print before it was cast by the International Group. The photo taken from the SPI website. Click here to view the original photo and you will be able to see the distinct 'toe' shape, especially the toe furthest left. Placed in comparism is some boar prints I found near the same area.      

                                THE VERDICT? THE JOHOR BIGFOOT PRINT CAST BY JAN MCGRIK AND JOSH GATES WAS A BLOTCHED JOB. THEY SHOULD HAVE CAST THE ENTIRE GROUND INCLUDING THE WHOLE FOOT, SO THAT WHEN DONE, THE IMPRINT WOULD HAVE THE EXACT PRINT, AND NOT JUST FILL IN THE DEPRESSION, WHICH WAS SUBJECT TO HUMAN OPINION, AMOUNT OF CAST MATERIAL ETC  AT THAT POINT OF TIME. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agricultural signage of Kampung Lukut 

 

Foot of Gunung Panti 

 

Cow dung droppings showing the passing of cows

 

Warning Sign drawn on the track to be wary of passing pigs

 

Track of Lukut

 

Boar/Cow trail

 

Boar/Cow trail

 

Trampled branches

 

Footprints

 

Footprints trail

 

This is a boar print

 

This is a cow print

 

Bigfoot with rounded toes?

 

Giant human feet?

 

More Boar prints

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elephants are often seen in Malaysia. This is MMS of an elephant seen coming out of a bush, submitted to the New Sunday Times recently

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SECTION 3: BIGFOOT AN ORANG UTAN?

Picture 0: THE MAN OF THE FOREST

We shall now examine if it was possible that the sightings of a Bigfoot in Malaysia was perhaps some other known animals sightings like the Orang Utan?

Orang Utans  are two species of great apes with long arms and reddish, sometimes brown hair, native to East Malaysia and Indonesia. Members of the great ape family includes Humans, Orang Utan, Gorilla and Chimpanzee. They are the only extant species in the genus Pongo and the subfamily Ponginae, although that subfamily also includes the extinct Gigantopithecus and Sivapithecus genera. The orang utan is an official state animal of Sabah in Malaysia. (text taken from wikipedia

The Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus (from Borneo) has  a round face and dark red hair. The Pongo pygmaeus abelii (from Sumatra) has a narrow face and paler hair)

3.1  Bigfoot Case Study 

A Bigfoot sighting that occurred in year 2000 seemed to support the case. Below is the article:

 

A villager, Mr Liong Chong Shen, aged 50, from Kampung Chennah, Jelebu, claimed that the incident occurred about noon when he was working in the orchard.
 
"Wild boars had been attacking my durian saplings in the orchard, located about 11km from Kampung Chennah. I went there to chase them away," he said yesterday.
 
Liong said he was busy with the *durian saplings when he suddenly sensed a strong animal scent.
 
"I then heard a grunt near the young rubber trees."
 
"My heart started pounding fast when I saw two mawas standing near the rubber trees as I feared they would attack me," he said.
 
"I was about 10m away from the two mawas and I had a clear view of them," he added.
 
Liong said one was about 1.83m tall with long, black and shiny hair all over its body, including the face.
 
The other was shorter, about 1.52m tall with long and brownish hair all over its body.
 
He said the two just stared at him and later walked away into the jungle.

*durian - It would seemed that Orang Utan are naturally attracted to eating durian, as mentioned also in the CRYPTO report (below) as well as indicated in the ARBEC (Asian Review of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation) website.   

In a scientific report named CRYPTO, published by Patterson Arran Ltd, the researcher Craig Heinselman noted that Malaysia, where the sightings of 2 Mawas in Negeri Sembilan was found, lies between with the belt-range of Borneo and Sumatra, which are the last two places on earth where wild Orang Utans can still be found.

 


Picture 1: map extracted from http://www.orangutan.com *additional caption by API

The researcher also noted that the height of the 2 Mawas are similar to those of the Orang Utan, which he stated to have been ever recorded to reach about 1.8m. 

But a check online would reveal that a typical Orang Utan seldom reaches beyond 1.5m in height, and the usual size of Orang Utan ranges from 0.8m to 1.4m.

OrangUtans Height Weight
Female 2.6-3.5 ft (0.8-1.1 m) 110 lb (50 kg)
Male 3.2-4.5 ft (1-1.4 m) 200 lb (90 kg)

extracted from http://www.enchantedlearning.com 

 

3.2  Height of Bigfoot versus Orang Utan

Furthermore, the sightings at Kampung Chennah remains to be the only cases in Malaysia, where the Bigfoots are reported as below the 2m height limit. Later sightings would report on Bigfoots ranging from 2.4m to over 12m tall! 

Year  Location  Height Source
Dec 2005  Mawai, Kota Tinggi   2.4 - 3m 1.pdf
Nov 2005 Kahang, Kluang  4m 2.pdf
Apr 2001 Sungai Kincin, Endau Rompin 3m 3.pdf
Jan 2000 Kampung Chennah, Jelebu 1.5-1.83m 4.pdf
- 2000 Unnamed jungles, Pahang not mentioned 5.pdf
Jan 1995 Tanjung Piai, Pontian 2.4m 6.pdf
- 1979 Pengkakalan Chepa, Kelantan 12m  7.pdf
Aug 1966

Segamat, Segamat

8.75m

8.pdf

 Sightings Chart

 

3.3  Bigfoot Sightings across Malaysia

A compilation of the Bigfoot sightings can be seen here. 

 

 Picture 2 (Notice the locations of the Bigfoot sightings as compared with Picture 1)

 

3.4  Orang Utan Habitat 

Thus interesting enough, the sightings of Bigfoot in Malaysia falls within the region where Orang Utans might be found.  The Orangutan Foundation International website stated that: 

Ten thousand years ago, Orangutans were found throughout Southeast Asia ranging all the way into southern China. Their populations probably numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Today, however, the few Orangutans left live in the tropical rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.

Indeed, many Orang Utans related websites echoed the same view: Orang Utans can no longer be found anywhere else except Sumatra and Borneo islands, and the adjoining Malaysian land Sabah and Sarawak.  

The state of Johor is Malaysia's fifth largest state with a land mass of 18,984 sq km. It has a population of only 2.7 million (based on year 2000 statistics). That means that there are many areas still not populated by humans, with many vast jungles and rural areas in-between. To get a feel of what I meant by 'vast jungles', compare that with the size of Singapore's 617.1 sq km and a population of over 4 million. 

This means that the state of Johor is more than 14 times that of Singapore, but with only a population-land density ratio of 142 people per sq km, as compared to Singapore's 6483 people per sq km. That's alot of empty land! 

Johor currently has five national parks, with a combined area of more than 700 km (bigger than the whole of Singapore) and several smaller recreational forest. Almost all recreational parks are based around a mountain. This includes the famed Endau Rompin National Park, which is generally accepted to be 248 million years (as highlighted by the Bernama News article titled: Endau-Rompin National Park may be Habitat for Bigfoot), and  large tract of forested land 'connecting from Endau Rompin, Kota Tinggi and Tanjung Piai' (the New Straits Times, 21 Jan 06). 

So, could there still be pockets of forested areas where Orang Utan might have survived? The possibility are high. Researcher Craig Heinselman in his CRYPTO report suggested an 'abhorrent (disgusting) ape' as a possibility. 

But still, the argument would hold that with the relative small size of the Orang Utan, how could it be mistaken as a Bigfoot that walks upright? 

The answers perhaps lies in the way we see the Orang Utan:

3.5  The physique of the Orang Utan body

The average size of a human chest or shoulder is about 1/3 that of his physical height. Using the measurements of an average human (yours truly) - I am a 1.6m tall male with a shoulder width of about 40cm. That translate to roughly about 1/4 of my physical size. Now for an Orang Utan with its bulky built, its shoulder to height ratio is 2/3 that of its physical size, which means that if I am to become an Orang Utan, I would have a shoulder width of 106cm. Or in other words, if I were to have a shoulder width of 106cm, I would have to be 4.24m tall!   In fact, that would make me bigger than Incredible Hulk! Below is an illustration of what I meant:

Picture 3: Me versus the Orang Utan

Now humans generally see and try to put things into perspectives. Meaning that when they try to make something out in the distance, they generally attempt to shape what they saw into something they can identify with. That means if I am a Orang Utan mistaken for a Hominid with a 1.06m chest/shoulder line, if I am seen from afar, or sitting down, or over some obstructions where my whole body could not be seen, I might be construed to having a height of 4.24 m tall. 

To better understand what I have just shown, a classic real life example would be needed.

Mr Jason South is a PHD candidate with the University of Maryland, USA. While doing his research in Borneo on 16th Sep 2003, he recorded his sightings of his Orang Utan encounters as such:

At one point I followed the bending of entire trees for five minutes straight and was rewarded as the large Orangutan came in to view, dangling from a single arm and looking across a clearing directly at me, the strange white ape with the antenna. Not just large, but huge.......... 

.......I realized that it is not difficult to distinguish between individual Orangutans, even when just glanced for a few seconds. Their resemblance to the human form, and our ability to distinguish between individual human beings, diminishes the surprise of this realization.........

Now just remove the word Orang Utan and replace it with Bigfoot or King Kong. Now it reads:

At one point I followed the bending of entire trees for five minutes straight and was rewarded as the large King Kong came in to view, dangling from a single arm and looking across a clearing directly at me, the strange white ape with the antenna. Not just large, but huge..........

In fact, so "broad-chest-ly" built were the Orang Utan (see Section 3.5) that the Europeans in the 1800s were also befooled unto the height of the Orang Utan when they were first introduced to them. An online article named the Malay Archipelago by Alfred R Wallace, wrote towards the end of his report this statement - How easy it is to be deceived as to the height of these animals is well shown in the case of the Sumatran Orang, the skin of which was described by Dr. Clarke Abel. The captain and crew who killed this animal declared that when alive he exceeded the tallest man, and looked so gigantic that they thought he was 7 feet high; but that, when he was killed and lay upon the ground, they found he was only about 6 feet. 

Thus if even an European whose standard height is around 1.8m or 6ft, can mistake the Orang Utan height stature, could the Orang Asli, who are much smaller, who due to their simple lives, if they have never venture out of Peninsular Malaysia, and never encounter a man-like ape like the Orang Utan, could he be mistaken about its size too? 

As an example look at this sightings of an Orang Asli girl:

An Orang Asli girl, Empan a/p Melai, five, who was lost for six days in the Lenggor National Park while searching for rattan with her family early this month, said she had seen a large "King Kong" with huge arms and covered with black fur. (Orang Utan are known to have varying shades of hair color and of course their long arms) 

Would you say that perhaps she too had seen an Orang Utan? 

3.6  The Eye Test

Now try this little experiment. Can you tell the height of these 2 Orang Utan?

 

 

Picture 4: Would you think this is a Bigfoot if you seen this creature doing a river crossing?

 

Picture 5: Besides a broad chest the Orang Utan has a large head as well when compared to the rest of the body. Could you tell the height of this creature just by looking at it? 

Now if I have never told you. would you know that these 2 Orang Utans above, and the Orang Utan in Picture 0, are less than 1.4 m tall?

3.7:  A Clue from the Annals of Kampung Mawai

On the 7th of January year 2006 the New Straits Times published an article named "Bigfoot Sighted in Village in 1900s" In it they tell of the origin of how Kampung Mawai (where the latest Bigfoot encounter took place) came to have its name. The story related how the pioneer settlers of the village named it "Mawai" after seeing hairy creatures which they referred to as "Mawas". Here is the extract of that story:

A group of explorers from Jambi in Indonesia had, in the early 1900s, encountered the hairy creatures where the village now stands.

Their leader, Mohamad Jambi, related that the creature took refuge under a palm tree called daun payung when it rained.

Mohamad Jambi, who was later made the penghulu of Mukim Ulu Sedili by Sultan Ibrahim, decided to build a village using the daun payung and named it Kampung Mawas.

Over time, it became known as Kampung Mawai.

According to the historical account, villagers who went to collect rattan along rivers deep in the jungle often sighted the creatures
.

Further information was found in the Johor National Park website, which also published an article in Malay on the origin of the name "Mawai". (Read the original version here.)

Below is the translation to the best of my knowledge, as I am not well versed in the Malay language:

The Origin of the Name Mawai.

Different people have different version of how Mawai's name came about. 1 story said that the name originate from the villagers of Mawai. They were building their village when they saw a kind of fruit (water apple) that is called Jambu Air Mawar which can be found in abundance in Kota Tinggi and Johor Bahru

Some other people had said that the name originated from a kind of animal that can be found in area of Sedili that can be called Mawas, also known as Orang Utan. The Orang Utan or Mawas has nostrils  that points upwards. During rain or rainy season it will look for shelter under a luscious tree or a plant that has large leaves. Known as Pokok Daun Payong (Ambrella leave tree) The Mawas will take shelter under this tree which give protection against the rain.

In the old Mawai village, there were no proper road, and there were many wild animals. There was 1 mode of transport by river which is actually the river known as Sungai Mupur.

This Sungai Mupur crosses the roads of Mersing, at that time there was a stone bride across the Sungai Semalok, before reaching Sungai Mawai.

Therefore,  the group while traveling by the river to reach Mawai, will read the lagoon that join to Sungai Sedili Besar. Upon reaching there, they seek for a place to built their village. While they were looking for the the Duan Payong, they met a herd of animals whom they called Mawas. And these animals upon seeing the human beings scurried off to the hill.

These villagers followed the animals to the hill where they found a lot of Daun Payong. These leaves were taken and made into roof for their houses. Upon completing their tasks, these villagers sat together for a meeting and decided to give a name to this place where they will build their village. One of the villagers who saw the animals suggested the name mawas and this suggestion received approval by all in the village. From that moment onwards, the old Mawai village was known as kampong Mawas and even the river was named Sungai Mawas. The name Mawas was further changed to Mawai  when development was done during the British period.

3.8  The Mawai's Mawas is an Orang Utan

believe that if the historical records are accurate, then both articles when extracted the necessary information, would tell a simple story of how a village was named after the Orang Utan or Mawas.

Firstly the Kampung Mawai Annals recorded that the early settlers were from Jambi, Indonesia. It also noted that the Mawas took shelter under the big leaves of the Duan Payong during raining period. Using big leaves as a umbrella is a common behavior of the Orang Utan. An article in the Hononulu Zoo website on Orang Utan wrote that "if it is rainy enough, they will fashion a cover to help keep them dry.  It is not uncommon to see them holding a large palm frond over their head if it is raining hard."  

Though the New Straits Times article  left out the reason why the village was named Kampung Mawas, the Johor National Park website mentioned that since the encounter, the villagers sat down and named the village after the Mawas. As the early settlers were from Jami, a province in Sumatra, Indonesia, the term Mawas was already the name they called the Orang Utan. 

Thus, if the story is accurate, then it shows that there was still a small population of Orang Utan in the 1900s of Johor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Map showing the two National Parks in Johor & connecting Forest Reserves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is this Orang Utan sitting down or standing up? 

 

You will never have guessed it but the Orang Utan legs can be so puny...  

both pictures taken from www.primates.com 

 

 

Daun Payung Plant

 

 

 

 

 

Orang Utan nostrils point upwards

 

Land at Sugai Mupur being cleared for Palm Oil planting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SECTION 4: IS BIGFOOT A SURVIVING PREHISTORIC HOMINID?  

Picture 6: Gigantopithecus Blacki

"COULD Bigfoot, believed to have been spotted in the jungles of Johor, actually be a prehistoric animal which had gone extinct hundreds of thousand of years ago?" (Bernama News, 4th Jan 06)

 

So, what is this Gigantopithecus Blacki creature? And why is the Johor sightings so unique as to warrant a consideration in this area?

 

4.1  The 248 Million Years Old Jungle

The Bernama report said that based on "the Bigfoot Giganto theory, researchers claimed that Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, Yeti or Mawas was probably a prehistoric giant ape, which lived during the Middle or Pleistocene age. The animal is believed to have lived in several parts of Asia including China and South-East Asia, as well as in North America before facing extinction some 200,000 to 500,000 years ago... This raises questions of whether the Bigfoot sightings by several individuals, including Orang Asli villagers, in the 248-million-year-old Endau-Rompin National Park may be that of the remnants of the Gigantopithecus Blacki (or giant ape in Latin) species."

  

So we assuming that we have a 248 million year forest that covers 800 sq km in which the host country (Johor) National Park Corporation (JNPC) Director Hashim Yusof had said in a Malay Mail report that they have "information on only half of the flora and fauna in it?. Could the Gigantopithecus still somehow managed to survive there? 

 

A nice article about the Endau-Rompin National Park highlighted the fact that:

 

The Park teems with wildlife - tigers, elephants and wild boar, and the largest surviving population of Sumatran rhinoceros, which is highly protected and endangered. The only ape species of the area, the binturong (Arctictis binturong) and the white-handed gibbon are also found here. Housing the chirping drongos, hornbills and argus pheasant; the forest is also home to butterflies and fruit piercing moths belonging to the "othreis" species. Recent research also found of one of the world's smallest dragonfly named Nannophya Pygmea. 

 

Thus base on the age of the forest, and the relatively undisturbed wild life that can be found there, if the Gigantopithecus were to have any chance of survival in South East Asia, the Endau-Rompin National Park would be the right place.

 

4.2  It's all in the Teeth

Further supporting evidence may also come from the folklore of the Orang Asli. Interestingly the Johor Park website tells of a Orang Asli legend known as the Serjarang Gigi - The Hairy Giant.   

 

In ancient times, the Endau Valley was inhabited by a tribe of hairy giants. They were called Serjarang Gigi because of their huge, widely spaced teeth.

 

 

These giants were well over eight feet tall and had arms the size of a man’s leg. They had the supernatural ability to appear and disappear at will, and were skilled and knowledgeable in the ways of the forest. They were great linguists and could speak any language spoken to them. They also had the ability to tell your name, even if they had never met you before. The Orang Asli claim they still exist, but these days they seem to be rare.

The Serjarang Gigi giants were much feared as they used to catch individuals wandering in the forest and devour them near streams or rivers. Whenever they met a wanderer, the giant would demand that the traveller address it by its proper name. Should he fail to do so, as most wanderers did, the poor fellow would be eaten.

One day, a Serjarang Gigi giant came across a man alone in the forest. The giant promptly demanded that the man call it by name. When the man failed to answer, the giant picked up the hapless fellow and carried him under his arm over hill and dale to the bank of a river, and settled down to feast on him.

Most people would have panicked under these circumstances, but not this man. He remained calm and composed, and instead focused his thoughts on planning his escape. The sight of the giant’s hairy body gave him an idea.

The wanderer reached for his ‘gobek api’ (traditional fire-making device) and set the giant’s hair on fire. Soon the giant was ablaze, and as it struggled the giant dropped the man, who quickly made his escape.

Hence the giant had finally met its match. From that day on, the Serjarang Gigi giants learned to respect man and dread fire of any kind. More importantly, it also gave up the habit of eating people.

In 1935 Palaeontologist Ralph von Koenigswald came across an unusually large molar while looking through fossil teeth in a Hong Kong drugstore, where they were known as ‘dragon’s teeth’ and sold for medicinal purposes. He realized that the tooth belonged to a new primate species, which he named Gigantopithecus blacki. Many hundreds of teeth have since been found, along with 4 jawbones. Gigantopithecus is regarded as the largest primate ever to have existed.

 

Quoting from Section 2 of this report:

 

The second name for the Malaysian Bigfoot is Hantu Jarang Gigi. This name is more commonly used  by the Orang Asli, who sometimes also uses the name Hantu Hutan (forest ghost). The word Hantu means Ghost, Jarang means Rare or Few (missing), and Gigi means Teeth. The term Jarang Gigi is used commonly to refer the teeth of an old man who has has lost his teeth through old age and decay or a growing kid with milk teeth. 

This literally translates to the Ghost in the Forest that has Few Teeth. In our Bigfoot Discovery Trail held on the 15th Jan 06, we found that different towns throughout the state of Johor, although gave varying descriptions of the Mawas, all agree that the Mawas they have heard have this 'Jarang' teeth feature. 

Therefore, the clue may lies in its teeth.  The Gigantopithecus was a herbivore, eating mainly bamboo like the giant panda, and also fruits. They also have a lot of cavities in their teeth,  probably due to the high sugar content of the fruits.( Raymond, API Moblog, Jan 06) 

Incidentally, the Gigantopithecus' main diet consisted primarily of bamboo, and based on the Bamboo Distribution Chart on Peninsular Malaysia, in a Bamboo and Rattan Genetics Resources Workshop held in 1998, The general area of Endau-Rompin, Lenggor and that of the Panti jungles where the Bigfoot sightings were seen consisted of native bamboo forests.    

Picture 7: Comparism of Bamboo plant distribution against the locations of alleged Bigfoot   sightings

 

 

Malaysia is a heavily forested country, and forest products including bamboo are important sources of income.

 

4.3  Gigantopithecus Blacki as a Quadrupedal 

The Gigantopithecus Blacki is thought to have lived in Southeast Asia and to have gone extinct about 300 to 400 thousand years ago. The teeth, though large, have a few similarities to human teeth, and this led some scientists to speculate that the creatures might have been our giant hominid ancestors. However, the scientific consensus today is that Gigantopithecus was a hairy, quadrupedal, vegetarian ape. It is estimated that Gigantopithecus would have been 2.7 to 3.7 m (9 to 12 ft) tall if it stood on its hind legs, and weighed between 270 and 545 kg (600 to 1200 pounds); the largest gorilla is 1.8 m tall and weighs 135 to 180 kg.

Quoting from the article on "Human Origins, the ape-ancestry myth", written by David Pratt, in Feb 2004.

If the report is correct then the Gigantopithecus is a quadrupedal, meaning possessing 4 feet instead of 2 hands and 2 feet. Then, the Gigantopithecus is no longer as depicted as a upright walking creature. Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia gave this picture of what it thought the Gigantopithecus should looked like.

Picture 8: The Other Gigantopithecus Photo. 

 

Suddenly the concept of a King Kong still surviving in a 248 million years forest doesn't seem so remote after all. 

 

Could the Malaysian Bigfoot be actually a subspecies of this primate that survived till today?

 

SECTION 5: THE ORANG ASLI OF MALAYSIA - A RELIABLE WITNESS?

5.1  The Aborigines of Peninsular Malaysia

Most of the sightings on Bigfoot were made by the Orang Asli. The article written by Kirk Endicott and Robert Knox Dentan summarized very well the place of Orang Asli in Malaysia nation building. 

The Orang Asli (Malay for "Original People") are the aborigines of Peninsular Malaysia.¹   Most of them descend from the Hoabinhians, stone tool-using hunter-gatherers who occupied the peninsula as early as 11,000 B.C. (Bellwood 1997: 155-171). Today Orang Asli comprise at least nineteen culturally and linguistically distinct groups. The largest are the Semai, Temiar, Jakun (Orang Hulu), and Temuan. In 1999 they numbered about 105,000, less than 0.5% of the total Malaysian population (Megan 1999). Orang Asli once were thinly scattered throughout the peninsula, but most were pushed back into the interior montane forests as the Malay population grew on the coastal plains and major river valleys. Most Orang Asli still live in rural and remote areas. Until recently they lived by various combinations of hunting, fishing, gathering, swidden farming, aboriculture, and trading forest products. Nowadays land development projects and government programs have turned many into rural peasants or day laborers.

Since 1961 Malaysian officials have expressed a desire to “integrate” Orang Asli into the Malaysian “mainstream.” This has come to mean bringing them into the market economy, asserting political control over them, and assimilating them into the Malay ethnic category. Yet, despite continuous efforts by the federal Department of Aboriginal Affairs (Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli, or JHEOA), most Orang Asli still live on the fringes of Malaysian society, cut off from most social services, poorly educated, making a meager living. A 1993 census showed 80.8% of Orang Asli in poverty, 49.9% among the “poorest of the poor” (rakyat termiskin in Malay) (Ikram Jamaludin 1997; see also Todd 1990: 12; Mohd Tap 1990: 328, 471-472). Their health and nutrition are at about the same level as in 1960 (Khor Geok Lin 1994; Baer 1999).

This report is some years back and I am happy to report base on visual and communication-exchange evidence of our Bigfoot Discovery Trail I am happy to report that the effort of the Malaysian government have largely paid off, with most Orang Asli (at least in Johor) living in government housing than in makeshift jungle huts, although communal living in long houses still exists in Sarawak (East Malaysia). 

5.2  Social Integration of the Orang Asli

Picture 9: Orang Asli Hut belonging to Amir's Mother 

 

 

Picture 10: Orang Asli housing provided by Johor State. Notice the relative small size of Orang Asli, when compared even to me, a 1.6m small Asian frame man. Their concept of 'large creature ' in this case might differ from ours.    

Generally, we found the following paragraphs to be true:

Until recently they lived by various combinations of hunting, fishing, gathering, farming, abori-culture, and trading forest products. Nowadays land development projects and government programs have turned many into rural peasants or day laborers.

In other words, the Orang Asli has become urbanized, learning the concept of money, and living by means of selling their produce instead of harvesting or hunting for their own consumption. 

During our Discovery Trail, when we asked one pump station operator about the Bigfoot sightings, he replied that he was able to get us a couple of Orang Asli who had encounters in the Endau Rompin jungles, and later on during our conversation we learned that he also ran a tour agency that brings people into Endau Rompin jungles. Coincidence?

           

Pict. 11: The petrol pump operator cum tour operator                   Pict 12: Orang Asli Kids         

  

                                     

Pict. 13: Orang Asli Village Head   Pict. 14: Orang Asli Housewife  Pict 15: Alan our  Orang Asli Guide

Could it be then, that the Orang Asli has become tools for the tour operators as story-tellers of fantastic stories and encounters in the Malaysia jungles in order to boost eco-tourism? 

My answer? NO

During the Discovery Trail into Johor we have met and talked to many Orang Asli from different villages. From the impression I gathered I learned that these are a group of proud people, though shy but confident in themselves. Their honesty and earnest in their replies showed they have a certain dignity about them. 

It is of no wonder that "Johor MSN advisor Mr Vincent Chow related the incident on Friday and said he was "convinced Bigfoot existed as claimed by people who had come across the creatures in the jungles of Tanjung Piai, Mersing, Kahang, Endau-Rompin National Park and Kota Tinggi." (Bernama report, 24 Dec 05), and that "there was no element of lies in the claims made by those who claimed to have seen Bigfoot." (Bernama report, 06 Jan 06) 

However, we did learn something very important.  

5.3  The Cultural Divide

Older Orang Asli most probably never went to school. Now, with the social integration effort by the State Government, the younger generations would have received some form of basic education. 

But generally due to the culture divide, the Orang Asli concept of word arrangement and sentence recognition may differ from us who learn correct punctuation, sentence structuring in schools. 

In our 4 hours of conversation with Alan (who we thought then was Awang Jafaar) from the Kampung Punjut (see Report), he  said he was the one of those who showed the way to the State Officials where an alleged Bigfoot encounter occurred: 

Hashim Yusoff, director of Johor National Parks Corp... took a group of park rangers and journalists into the Sungai Madek forest reserve last week in four-wheel-drive vehicles to ask indigenous people in the area about the reported sightings... (Reuters report, 01 Jan 06) 

A similar expedition was organised last week. A team, which included media representatives, however failed to find any evidence of Bigfoot during the day-long trip. (Bernama report, 06 Jan 06)

Alan always answered straight to the point. Or rather, Alan answered according to what you think you are asking. A lot of the  time you would be left having to figure out exactly what he meant.

An example would be when we asked what was Amir Md Ali doing on that day. (Amir was his brother-in-law, who had a alleged stand-off with a bigfoot) (VOA report, 01 Jan 06) (the Star report, 01 Jan 06) Alan replied that he was fishing. But later on during our conversation, we were forced to rethink that maybe he was referring to Amir being a fisherman.. In other words, Alan concept of what was Amir doing was "What does Amir do for a living" 

There are many examples of such misunderstanding and at times, even 3 of our Trail members (of whom 2 are Malaysians) who understood the Malay language, had trouble understanding what he meant. 

A good example would be when we asked him how many Bigfoot did they encounter at the Gunung Panti jungles, for a while we couldn't make out if he meant four people saw one Bigfoot, or three people saw four Bigfoot... Download this clip to know what I mean. 

So, it is possible that though an Orang Asli may not lie, a mis-reporting of facts taken during interviews from the Orang Asli could lead to a myriad of stories and different encounters arising from one single episode. This is made even more possible when an Orang Asli relates to you an encounter with no timeline given, or if the reporter had misunderstood that  a narration meant for an earlier sightings was mistaken as a recent encounter. 

Thus the barrier of different cultures means that they view, and mean different things even when they are talking the same language. The reporter asked a question in a certain way, and the Orang Asli gave the an answer based on what he perceived the question to be, and vice versa. The reporter thought he was asking correctly but actually his question was mis-interpreted wrongly by the Orang Asli.

Thus it is all about culture, and the confusion faced by the Orang Asli community, where previously their lives were so simple, yet now they are facing creatures where previously existed in stories told around bonfires and legends, as told by the their elders. Those chance encounters with such creatures had been few, and the forest, in great abundance. The creatures existed then as ghosts to be spoken in the same breath as the Serjarang Gigi, their monster of ancient past. But right now Bigfoot is the name given to ANYTHING that is found out of the normal day occurrence.  

Now that they are seeing these forest creatures in more and more encounters, they too, are seeking answers. From both their elders, and now, even the western media. Confusion never reared a bigger head than this.

It would be good to refer to the testimony of Amir's, as an example of this confusion. 

Let us now go through the interviews of the various key Witnesses relating to the sighting of the Bigfoot. 

5.4  Interviewing the Witness - Alan the Village Shaman

We were referred purely by chance to Alan, from Kampung Punjut, Kahang, whose villagers had reported sightings of Bigfoot. In our interview with Alan during our Discovery Trail on 15th Jan, we believed during our course of interview that he was Awang Jafaar, based on the fact that he identified Amir as his Brother-in-law, who encountered Bigfoot while going through Lenggor Forest for his daily catch of fish. But later we realised that Alan should be over 60 years of age, while Awang Jafaar was reported as only 48 years old.

 

The following interviews are condensed from the Event 10 and Event 12 of Section 7. 

 

5.4.1  Alan 's Encounter

In November 2005 the three Orang Asli including Along and Amir went as usual into the jungles to do their work. Later they were joined by a fourth person. Amir hunted fish for a living, while Along collected rattans to sell. It was about 10am when they arrived and they have not started work yet. It was then they saw this Bigfoot creature, whom he named as Hantu Hutan. They saw this creature standing about 15 metres away, with his back against a tree. It was performing an action akin to rubbing its back on the tree bark, as if its back was itchy, or it was just bright morning and it was stretching itself for a breath of fresh air. They looked, stood still for a moment and ran off. (We were to learn later that though Alan mentioned that Along and Amir went into the jungle, both Along and Amir actually went in at different times. This is paret of the Orang Asli culture, which we were to learn very soon.) 

 

 

                   Interviewing Alan outside his house            Alan pointing out that Bigfoot they saw resemble

                                                                                               the drawn picture as shown in the press

 

5.4.2  Alan's Description of Bigfoot 

Alan described the Bigfoot as about 3 metres all, with a human face but hairy all over with bright golden hair. It stood upright and had jarang teeth features like canine teeth. Alan said that the encounter with the Bigfoot was just one encounter in which they were all together. When asked to identify the Bigfoot, Alan pointed to the picture of the hand drawn Bigfoot on the cover of my album, which had many pictures of primates put together for easy identification. Alan was not sure if the Bigfoot was a male or female. Though they only saw one, he believed that it could not be the only one and there must be some other nearby. He describe the color of the Bigfoot body hair as red golden and pointed to API Agent Huili hair as an example. Alan said the body was as hairy as an king kong (Alan said this while pointing to a Orang Utan which was standing upright), except that its face was like a human. Alan also describe the Bigfoot as having a huge chest, stretching out both his hands to demonstrate the immense size. It was also very tall but did not have long hands like king kong. He said that the four of them took one look at the Bigfoot and ran. They did not see the back of the creature, just the front. He said he did not see any footprints due to dry weather and hard ground conditions. He repeated again that Amir was his brother-in-law while Along was his son-in-law. It was then that he said that he was not the actual one who saw Bigfoot, but that he was with the group that brought the State Officials to the place of encounter. 

 

 

                            Interviews at Lenggor                                  Alan describing the bulk of the Bigfoot

 

5.4.3  Analysis of Alan's Encounter

That was our 1st lesson in Orang Asli Culture.  All the while we had assumed that Alan was one of those that saw the Bigfoot. But when I replayed back the tape, Alan never said so. How could that be? It would seemed when listening to the playback, his reply to our questions was not a straight answer to our questions.  I realized that when we asked if he had seen Bigfoot, his reply was: "Yes, Bigfoot was seen". When we asked if he was one of the three who went into the forest, he replied: "Yes, there were three that went into the forest.". Thus I gathered later on back in Singapore this important understanding: When talking to an Orang Asli, listen very, very carefully. 

 

The bond of the Malay community is strong, and the bond of the Orang Asli community, even stronger. So strong was the bond in fact whenever 1 Orang Asli saw something, it was as if EVERYONE SAW IT.    

 

But to continue, he said there was four people that went into the forest that day, Amir (the Fisherman), Ah Long (the Rattan Collector), Baha and Bawan. This was the first time that day I heard this two other names of Baha and Bawan

 

Thus ended our 1st interview with Alan on the early evening of Jan 15. 

 

5.5 Interviewing the Witness  - Herman Deraman the Rattan Collector

Herman Deraman other name was Along. We met him during our 2nd visit to Kampung Punjut on 12th Feb. Along was the witness who encountered the Bigfoot rubbing its back against a tree and had his hut shaken during the night by the Bigfoot. 

 

During the course of our interview we realized that Along refer to Alan as Tok-Batin (someone who practice black arts or strong spiritually), thus making Alan the Village Shaman. Along referred to Awang as his younger brother-in-law. Based on the report, Awang Jafaar is 48 years old, and Along, 21 his brother-in-law. Thus as at the article revision date of 17 Feb, the actual identity of Awang is still uncertain. 

 

5.5.1  Along's Encounter

That morning Along and his group of villagers Evan, Ama, Malatin, Bahar and Awang (younger brother-in-law),  went into forest for their daily collection at around 8 or 9 am . They went in a group and split into smaller groups of 2  as they go deeper. Towards nightfall, they had their dinner and stayed in one of the huts in the forest.

After they have eaten at around 8 or 9pm, Along and his village friend slept. It was pitch dark. Along could hear sounds like the wind, but it doesn’t feel like the wind. He can hear voices but couldn't make them out. When he went out to take a look, there was nothing he could see. He could feel his hut shaking as well. He believed the creature was angry with them and it stayed with them (as he could still hear the wind) until around 5am in the morning,  

There were two huts, which they had occupied one. In the morning they found the other hut which was empty had collapsed. They did not find any evidence of the creature that had stayed with them during the night.

They all went back at around 3pm the next day. That was when they encountered the Bigfoot. It was around Sungai Madek.  He say the place where they saw Bigfoot was still in the forest where there were many trees. They had travelled along the trail which was their familiar track, with bushes on both sides. It was then that they saw the top of a tree shaking. They looked up thinking to see some animals like a monkey but they didn't see anything. Then they notice there was a huge creature at the base of the tree. The creature had its back facing them and it was behind a Meranti Tree (with a diameter of about 3 feet) at about 10 meters away. They did not see the front of the creature. Just the two hairy shoulders sticking out from both sides of the Meranti tree, as the creature moved in a way as if rubbing his back against the tree. They were not afraid. If they had see from the front they will be very scared. They saw, and then they ran away. Along believed that had they continued walking along that track they would had met more Bigfoot creatures. 

 

Along said they then had not returned back there until asked by National Parks Officials to bring them to the place of sighting. 3 person went with the National Park Officials, they were Amir, Along and Alan. 

 

Along said he had never heard of any encounter in Kampung Mawai.

     

5.5.2  Along's Description of Bigfoot

The creature was big, had reddish chocolate fur. It had a very broad body and Along estimate the size of its chest to be 7 feet. This was based on assumption that he could see the two shoulders of Bigfoot stuck out about 2 feet from the tree, and adding the 3 feet girth of the tree.

 

Along said that the Bigfoot was in a crouching position and even then, the height of its body measures 6 feet high. Then Along said that had the Bigfoot stood up, it would measure 12 feet in height. 

 

You can download Along's description of Bigfoot here

 

Along said there was no fur or foot prints there because they just ran away then upon seeing the Bigfoot. 

 

Then Along begin to describe that Bigfoot had big teeth (Malay term "Gigi"). But when asked how would he know since he only seen the back. Along replied that had they seen the front of Bigfoot, they would have seen the teeth as if it was generally known in their community that Bigfoot had big teeth. Another lesson in Orang Asli community bonding. Download the video of Along's explanation on the Bigfoot teeth here.

 

Then Along began to describe the feet of Bigfoot.  He then said that he had seen the foot print once in Endau Rompin National Park. He estimated the size of the foot print to be one and a half feet (45.7 cm) in length and 4 inches (10 cm) in breadth.  Alan draw for us how he  recalled the footprint looked like. He then draw a smaller foot to indicate the size of the Bigfoot print. 

Along said that he was going into the National Park on his own, and he saw just 1 footprint near the lake. It was swampy land, very soft. When asked why there was only 1 print. Along said the creature was so huge its footprint were far apart. 

Along then said the Bigfoot feet was totally inverted. He meant when its body was facing the front, the feet would be facing backwards. The overall impression I had of his Bigfoot was that it was a 'ghost' The term Hantu Utan came into my mind.

I then asked the question, if Along had only seen the creature back shoulder, and had seen only 1 foot print in the national Park, how would he knew that Bigfoot had inverted feet?

Along replied that they (meaning the Orang Asli community) had seen it and from the stories they were told, Bigfoot's feet are reversed. Even at this point, Maverick our Interpreter mistaken the "We" said by Alan to be "I" and said that Alan had seen it before. But Alan had said 'Kita' (Malay word for 'We').

Download Along's explanation on the inverted feet here

I then showed him the picture of the Orang Asli's hand-drawed Bigfoot. Along said that this Bigfoot in the drawing he had seen in Endau Rompin National Park (See footprint on right). He said that the Park is a dangerous place, with elephants, tigers and even ghosts. He said to the effect that this was not the Bigfoot he saw. And that these were two different creatures. The drawn Bigfoot belonged to National Park while his Bigfoot was in Madek. But later on he said maybe its the same creature, maybe not, since he had not seen neither the front of the Bigfoot, nor its reversed feet. You can download the video here. Is is another aspect of Orang Asli community bond that prevent him from saying anything that might seem contradictory to another Orang Asli's statement? 

5.5.3  Analysis of Along's Encounter

Thus by interviewing Along we realised that cultural belief played an important part of an Orang Asli life. They lead very simple lives and believed many things that were taught to them through their community. 

 

I learned that the singular person don't really count in the Orang Asli community. So strong are the community bond that many times the answer provided may not be specific to themselves, meaning it may not include the narrator but to a group or a general perception. 

 

Thus the Interviewer should take note of this cultural difference and phrase his questions as precise as possible.

 

Here is one example:

 

Reporter: Did you see it?

Orang Asli: Yes I had seen it.

 

Now if the Reporter was to ask:

 

Reporter: Did you see it when you were with Amir last Friday you both went into the jungle?

Orang Asli: No I did not see it.

 

Now how did this change in answer occur? It happened because in the 1st question, the Orang Asli may interpret it as had he ever seen it before. He may have, and so he answered truthfully. 

 

Similarly, this community bond also dissolves the concept and need of specific numbers, as Orang Asli often refers to themselves as a community than as a singular person. If you were to recall, Alan said that there was 3 Orang Asli that went into the forest, and that the three might hade be mis-reported as the 3 fish farm workers in Kampung Mawai. 

 

So I posed the question to Alan on the group of three Orang Asli that he said earlier who saw Bigfoot on their way to the forest. In the beginning he said they were different group. Then when I asked so who was in that group, he pointed to Along and said it was them! Then where previously Along echoed Alan statement that the group of three was a different group, Along and Alan then afterwards said it was the same group of five that Along had just narrated for that night. Download this interesting exchange here

 

How do we reconcile with this confusing events. 

 

Answer? Orang Asli are simple folks. Alan looked as if he could be over 60 years of age, and he is the Village Shaman, known as 'Batin Alan' even to those Orang Asli living in different kampungs.  

 

It was thus respect to an older member of an community that had Along agreeing along with Alan what he said about the three Orang Asli been from a different encounter. Most probably Alan memory isn't so perfect now and so may not recall events correctly. When cornered by a question of who was in that group of three, Alan had no choice but to admit that the three were part of Along's group. 

 

The size of Bigfoot could not be ascertained through Along's testimony. He had only glimpses of the creature's back. I have demonstrated that the bulk of an Orang Utan can easily deceived a person on its actual height.    

 

Here is another experiment. Look at the huge bulk of this Orang Utan. Can you tell its height from this photo?

 

photo taken from www.dumpstermonkey.com

 

Just click on the photo itself to find out. To an uninitiated person who has never seen an Orang Utan before, or knew of its physique,  a standing Orang Utan could appear to be crouching and could appeared to be 12 ft tall. 

Yet interestingly Along's drawing of a Bigfoot print he saw in Endau Rompin looked similar to the Bigfoot prints found by a Mr Harold Stephens along, coincidentally, River Kincin, the scene of another Bigfoot sighting in the year 2001.  

Thus any serious Bigfoot Researcher interested in looking for Bigfoot should look towards River Kincin as one of the first few location to visit. 

 

5.6 Interviewing the Witness  - Amir Md Ali the Fisherman

Amir (some papers refer to him as Hamid) is a fisherman by trade, catching fishes in the rivers to sell. On occasions when he was not fishing, he would enter the forest to hunt for frogs.

 

Amir does not live in Kampung Punjut with the rest of his relatives, but with his mother in Kampung Pujou (spelling uncertain). Kampung Pujou still have houses that is a throw-back to older days and it has not come under the Government rehousing scheme yet.

 

During our trip to look for Amir, we came across 'Joe', who upon seeing the photo of Amir, said that he is Amir's uncle and that Amir lived in Kampung Pujou, inside Kahang-Kluang forest. 

 

With some persuasion he agreed to bring us to Kampung Pujou to look for Amir. However, he did tell us that Amir is seldom at home in the day until late at night, unless we had made an appointment with Amir. 

 

Thus was started the 2 hr drive from Kahang main road to Amir's Kampung. 

 

We started in via the road into Endau Rompin National Park, and turned left upon reaching the 40km mark.  

 

Then we droved by palm oil plantations, passed by open lands that had been recently cleared, possibly for palm oil planting. 

 

When we reached the kampung,  Amir as expected, wasn't in. So we interviewed the mother, the sister-in-law, as well as the Village Tok Batin (Sharman). 

 

By the time we left it was pass 7pm, and the sky had darkened into night.

 

We learnt that none of the Orang Asli villagers had seen an Orang Utan before. 

 

These are the summary of what we learnt:

 

Amir's Mother

Says Amir never told her anything. She also said she had never seen an Orang Utan before.

 

Amir's Sister-in-law

Says not too long ago (a few months) Amir only told her that he had seen a huge creature. Mention something about a footprint and broken branches. She also said if Amir had seen something, he would keep to himself. At this point I wondered how a person who had a frightening encounter could not have told his family anything.

 

Amir wasn't at home but we were lucky that a village lad had a handphone and we arrange to interview Amir when he returned home later that night via telephone.

 

We didn't manage to get him but the next morning, we managed to interview Amir.  

 

Amir's Village Tok Batin

The Tok Batin was able to describe the Bigfoot encountered by Along and his group, through the story as told to the Tok Batin by Evan, one of the 6 Orang Asli who had seen a Bigfoot creature rubbing its back against a tree. As the Tok Batin narration is quite long, I created a new section for him. 

 

5.6.1  Amir's Encounter

The narration of Amir was recorded over two interviews done over the telephone, as we did not have the opportunity to meet him personally. 

 

On that day of April 2005, Amir went into the forest to look for frogs and encounter an incident at 3pm in the afternoon that changed his life.

 

He did not tell anyone for fear of being ridiculed, and had kept to himself, until his fellow Orang Asli, Along and the rest also encountered something. Then he had the courage to speak about his encounter. He had never been back to that place of encounter until the day he brought the National Park Officials there in December.

 

Amir said that at times when he was not out at sea, he would venture into the forest. That day in April was the first time he went into that part of the forest. The usual time for catching frogs was from 10pm to 7am the next day, so he had left early that morning to reach the location on time. His mode of travel was by motorcycle and by foot.  

 

It was during his journey through the forest when he came upon this creature, standing upright about seventy feet away from him. (The distance is also still a question mark, as during the second interview he said thirty feet. 

 

At that time he was alone, and when asked what the creature doing, he said it was just standing there. The creature start at him, he stare at the creature,. Then he quickly ran away as he was afraid the creature might think of going after him for food, as he was much smaller in size and he was dark looking. Amir said he did not had a stand-off for 15 minutes.

 

In December when he brought the National Park Officials there, he was asked how tall was the Bigfoot. Amir said he didn't know but he could estimate. He then used a branch and pointed upwards to a tree that was there to indicate its height. The Officials then measured the based on his pointing and came up with twelve and a half feet. . 

 

Amir is a fisherman. In December when asked by National Park Director Mr Hashim Yusoff, he, Along and Alan all three went into Sungai Madek to show the National Park Director the place where they saw the Bigfoot. It was then that this photo of Amir pointing to the tree was taken, that mutated to 3 fish farm workers and broken branches found in the non-existent Kampung Mawai sighting. Do refer to Section 8.3

 

5.6.2  Amir's Description of Bigfoot

Amir called the creature he saw an ORANG UTAN. The concept and impact of this statement will be discussed in the next subsection. (Audio records of the 2 interviews are available but at this moment I have trouble transferring them from my LG U8100 handphone to my computer) 

 

Amir described the Bigfoot as having a human-like face, with reddish black hair all over the body including the face and hands. Amir gave the height of the Bigfoot as twelve feet in height, as seen from a distance of 70 feet (approx. twenty-one meters) away. 

 

He said that the creature had eyes that were red, and it had teeth.  The teeth do not jut out like those of animals and it was not oversized either. 

 

Then Amir said something that was not mentioned anywhere else before. He said that the creature's ears, if the face of the creature were liken to a human face, were comparatively larger

 

Could Amir really be talking about an Orang Utan? Could the big ears be actually the cheek flaps of an Orang Utan? The Borneo Orang Utan has reddish black fur, and like all Orang Utans, the males have huge cheek flaps that stands out from the face like huge ears. 

 

Amir said he saw 1 footprint then. But the footprint wasn't there when he went back in December. Amir described the footprint he saw as having a width of 1 feet, and a length that was double his own feet. 

 

I am not sure how he could have seen the footprint, having heard how frightened he was upon seeing the creature and running off after a short while, and since he said he has never went back to the place of encounter until eight months later with the National Parks Officials. Could it be that he was referring to another occasion when he saw the footprint? 

 

Amir said he doesn't know how to draw, and that he was not the one who drew the hand sketched Bigfoot picture. 

 

5.6.3  Analysis of Amir's Encounter

The interview with Amir Md Ali, who had seen a Bigfoot creature in April 2005, was conducted over 2 telephone interviews spread over 2 weekends. 

 

Mr Amir proved to be an honest and practical person. Though he had seen something he had never seen before, for fear of being ridiculed, he had kept to himself until late last year. Amir said that as he had seen the creature alone, he was afraid others would not believe him, and only lately when people started talking about the Bigfoot creature that he accepted the fact that he really saw a Bigfoot. 

What he saw was a 12 ft creature seen from a 70 feet distance. (though in the second interview he said 30 feet. It is possible that time when he saw the creature he was simply afraid and now can only recall from memory after almost 1 year.) 

That means a good 8 months had passed when he brought the National Park Officials there again. When they reached there, he was asked by the officials how tall was the creature. Amir did not know, but he just used a branch to point upwards to a tree to estimate its height. The Johor Park Official then measured the height based on where he pointed, and came to a measurement of twelve and a half feet height.

The height is thus debatable. He saw the creature from either a distance of around 70 feet, and then when asked to indicate its height, he pointed out the height when he was standing just 3 feet away from a tree. 

Thus the true height can only be ascertain from an on site investigation. We would need try to simulate the conditions where Amir had seen the creature and try to ascertain its height by putting up a dummy against an extendable ruler and asking Amir to point out the height of the creature from a distance of seventy feet.

Amir mentioned about seeing a footprint. But based on the storyline, it wasn't really possible for Amir to have time to notice any footprint that might had been there. He had simply saw the creature, freeze, and ran. Thus could he be referring to another encounter? Like the way Along described his?

But the most interesting part was that Amir referred to the Bigfoot Creature he saw, as an Orang Utan. From our interview with his kampung folks, they have never seen an Orang Utan before when I showed them photos of Orang Utan. It is possible that Amir when he called his Bigfoot Orang Utan, he meant it literally, that he had seen a Manlike-Creature of the forest. 

In our 2nd telephone interview, Amir appeared confused and he said that then that the creature he saw was not an Orang Utan, as his relatives had told him that the Orang Utan has fangs and was taller than twelve and a half feet. Amir's village is now confusing the details of the western Bigfoot and their legendary Serjarang Gigi.     

Even educated Malaysians, living in the only other country in the world where Orang Utan still can be found in the wild, can call the typical 1.4 meters tall ape to be a friendly giant.   

Mr Francis Nartha, a local Malaysian writer cum leading Tour Guide of a company offering ghost tours, said in a candid debate on Bigfoot in the New Sunday Times that 'the discovery of a giant footprint in Johor has the world swarming to our shores to establish the existence of Bigfoot. For all you know, Bigfoot could easily turn out to be a lost gorilla or orang utan, you know, a friendly giant'. (Do read Section xx to read how this Footprint proved to be a a Boar-Cow print)

Overall, I am reminded of the statement I made in Section 5.3

Thus it is all about culture, and the confusion faced by the Orang Asli community, where previously their lives were so simple, yet now they are facing creatures where previously existed in stories told around bonfires and legends, as told by the their elders. Those chance encounters with such creatures had been few, and the forest, in great abundance. The creatures existed then as ghosts to be spoken in the same breath as the Serjarang Gigi, their monster of ancient past. But right now Bigfoot is the name given to ANYTHING that is found out of the normal day occurrence.  

Now that they are seeing these forest creatures in more and more encounters, they too, are seeking answers. From both their elders, and now, even the western media. Confusion never reared a bigger head than this.

I have not yet met with Amir face to face, nor has Amir seen any of the photos I have prepared for him. 

 

Audio records of Amir's Testimony on his encounter with his Bigfoot would be out soon. 

 

5.7  Interviewing the Witness  - Evan the Rattan Collector, as told by Pujou Village Tok Batin

The Tok Batin interview proved to be the narration of Evan's story, when I asked about Amir's encounter. The village shaman, true to the Orang Asli culture, switched from one encounter of Amir to another encounter by Alan's son, Evan, and to his own sighting while he was in Pahang visiting another Orang Asli village.  His revelations however, had also helped us better understand the fury of news report that has been coming in these few days. 

 

To make sense of his narration, I am writing it down in point form, exactly how it was spoken by the Tok Batin. 

  1. Evan (Alan son) told him a story before of a creature he had seen that was human like, and it was seen in Madek. 

  2. That was the time was when Amir went with Alan into the forest. Amir had just recently told them he had seen a human-like creature after plucking his courage, as a lot of people now saw the same thing.

  3. Evan was especially scared when the creature was pulling the tree near the hut that night. The creature had been there disturbing the peace by pulling trees. The creature had never harmed or disturb anyone. If the creature had wanted to disturb people, it would had disturbed them a long time ago.

  4. Evan said the creature was humanlike, but he didn’t know how the face looked like, only that it had alot of hair. 

  5. The creature did look humanlike, had a lot of hair, was very big and twelve feet tall and stood upright

  6. Tok Batin then said the creature was very tall, around twelve feet. They have never gone there before. After they had passed by the place where the creature had sat before. There were marks at where the creature sat there. (I believe that this is Tok Batin own encounter)

  7. When they (Along's group, including Evan) saw the Bigfoot, it was sitting down. When they went with Alan, they saw marks that the creature sat down and there were broken branch indicating its height.

  8. He said that at that time the creature was sitting down (reaches a height of 1.2 metres), and there was mark of broken branches, and at the place where the creature was sitting, there were footprints there as well.

  9. Tok Batin said that a lot of people went that day. When I rattled out the list of names that was in Along's group, he said that it was that group. 

  10. Then the Tok Batin said something striking. He said that they actually saw the marks and the creature that they saw, only walks at night. During the day it sat down. (Was he referring to the Sunbear? Even though he didn't know it?)

  11. Tok Batin repeated again that they saw the creature together,. And that these people saw the mark where it sat, and the creature body as well as it was sitting there. He repeated again that the creature only walked at night.

  12. Tok Batin said that the creature that Amir saw, could actually break branches. If the creature was standing up, it will be much taller. Tok Batin estimated that the creature was approximately twelve feet tall. When they (Along's group) saw the creature it was just sitting down. If it were to stand up, it should be much taller because it was already so big even when sitting down.

  13. Tok Batin then said that the creature was not only found in Johor, but it could actually be found in Pahang. He said that about 2-3 month ago, he was there in Pahang, and he was told of the the signs of the creature, the same creature as the one seen in Madek, he (Tok Batin) had seen near the river whose name he had temporally forgotten. 

  14. Tok Batin then said that the Hantu Serjarang Gigi was not a myth. It really existed. This hantu usually goes near the river,. Rarely can people see it, but they can only see it's marks. (That would means the marks of it having sat down) The creature just follows the river. 

  15. The Serjarang Gigi had feet measureing 1 and 1/2 feet in length and was inverted, The creature was hairy as well.

  16. Tok Batin believed that the Seranggi Gigi he mentioned that goes by the river is different from what they (Amir and Along's group) saw in the forest.

  17. Tok Batin's creature which he knew in Pahang, ate fish, that was why it was always near the river. 

  18. Tok Batin said that different people who had seen the Sejarang Gigi may give it different names.

  19. Lastly when asked if the overall fur colour of the Sejarang Gigi was the same, he said that it wasn't, and that there was a patch of grey colour in front of its chest. 

Interestingly, my interview with Amir's Tok Batin was conducted on the 19th of February 2006, one day before Tok Batin Sati from Pahang was interviewed on Bernama News, and spoke of his villagers seeing three kinds of 'Bigfoots'. 

Could Tok Batin Sati's people had mistaken the Sunbear, among other creatures, as the Hantu Serjarang Gigi? Our Tok Batin had described the Pahang creature as liking to sit down, and signs of broken branches, and of it sitting down during the day and venturing out only at night. 

Video records of Tok Batin's testimony on the Pahang's Bigfoot would be out soon. 

 

 

 

Map of Orang Asli groups in Malaysia, extracted from the website of www.keene.edu 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Along showing how his hut was shaken in the night

 

 

Along showing how the tree was shaken by Bigfoot 

 

 

Along showing the size of the Meranti Tree

 

 

Along indicating he only saw the shoulder of Bigfoot

 

 

Along showing how Bigfoot was crouching behind the tree

 

 

Along showing how Bigfoot rubbed its back

 

 

Along indicating height of Bigfoot when it was crouching

 

 

Along drawing the Bigfoot Print he believed he saw in Endau Rompin

 

 

Along drawing his feet as  comparism to Bigfoot print

 

 

Bigfoot Print drawn by Along. The smaller foot is his own

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe, Amir's uncle, who tried to sketch out the route to Amir's kampung

 

Following Joe on his motorbike

 

 

River crossing along the way

 

We pass through a gate, meant to keep out ELEPHANTS 

 

We passed a huge area cleared for Oil Palm

 

Amir's Mother

 

Amir's Sister-In-Law

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A male Orang Utan with cheek flaps. (photo taken from www.webshots.com)

 

Photo of an Orang Asli drawing a Bigfoot. Photo taken from the Malay Mail

 

Photo taken BFRO. There is an uncanny resemblance between the 2. If Amir, who was the sole eye witness to have seen the creature face to face (at the time the hand sketch was released) didn't draw it, who then was the Orang Asli in the photo?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tok Batin indicating that the height of the Bigfoot when sitting down was 1.2m tall

 

Tok Batin showing that branches were broken above where the creature sat

 

 

 

 

 

Could the Sunbear be the Bigfoot mentioned by the Pahang Tok Batin?

 

 

 

SECTION 6: SUDDEN FLURRY OF BIGFOOT SIGHTINGS

 

So, no matter if the Malaysia Bigfoot is an Orang Utan or a Gigantopithecus, the layman would ask: "why is it only now that there are so many sightings?

 

6.1  Human Encroachment 

The answer? The encroachment of human activities into their habitats, and the destruction of their usual food supply. 

The state of Johor is Malaysia's 5th largest state with a land mass of 18,984 sq km. It has a population of only 2.7 million (based on year 2000 statistics). Johor currently has five national parks, with a combined area of more than 700 km? and several smaller recreational forest. Almost all recreational parks are based around a mountain. This includes the famed 248 million year old Endau Rompin National Park, and  large tract of forested land 'connecting from Endau Rompin, Kota Tinggi and Tanjung Piai' (the New Straits Times, 21 Jan 06). 

So, if there is an surviving Hominid species (whether Bigfoot or Orang Utan), then there are definitely plenty of forested areas where it might have survived and hid. But large tracts of forests remain outside the protected zones.   

Statistically both the Bigfoot creature and the Orang Utan survived mainly on a diet of fruits, plants and insects and so I will equate the loss of habitat for the Bigfoot as great a loss of habitat for the Orang Utan.

To understand how this loss of habitat drove the Bigfoot out, we now look towards East Malaysia, across the South China Sea to the Island of Borneo.

6.2  Loss of Habitat    

The New Straits Times reported that the population of Orang Utan population in East Malaysia is declining. A report written in Jan 2004 quoted the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as saying that the Deforestation and hunting are progressing so swiftly that, within two decades, the orangutan is likely to vanish from the wild in the only two places it still lives - the island of Sumatra, which is part of Indonesia, and the island of Borneo, which is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

In Sabah, a report highlighted on the sad plight of a declining and helpless Orang Utan population clinging onto survival:

The plight of the orang utan is a familiar one. Human pressures have pushed the species into the endangered list. Forests felled for settlements, plantations and timber have left them marooned on small patches of degraded forests. Natives hunt them for their meat and purported medicinal value. Farmers shoot them for raiding crops. Poachers trap them for the pet trade.  

Orang utan numbers in Sabah have dropped by 35% over the past 15 years, reveals Ancrenaz, who has studied orang utans in Sabah since 1998. If their numbers continue to plunge, there is a high chance that we will not see orang utans in the wild in 20 years' time.  ...........................

As it is, orang utans have been hunted to extinction in northern and western Sabah. Eastern Sabah remains the species' last stronghold in the state. Of the 13,000 that remains, most are trapped in pockets of forests too small to assure long-term survival of the species. What is more troubling is that 70% of the orang utans are found outside protected areas. They are in commercial forests earmarked for logging and tree plantations.  ..............................

Their shrinking habitats have pushed orang utans nearer to human settlements. Inevitably, they raid fruit orchards and oil palm plantations, and get trapped or shot. One orang utan can eat as many as 50 young oil palm shoots in one raid, thus the law provides for "legal killing" in defense of property.  

Now compare this statement with a Malay Mail report quoting a Dr Azahar, a Veterinarian by profession as saying that "as we press forward in the virgin jungles areas with our plantations, the animals could be exposed to new food alternatives, such as oil palm fruits, bananas and coconuts."

"The shy creatures (meaning Bigfoot) could have tasted these foods and acquired a taste for them, so they are now frequently venturing out,"

But unlike Dr Azahar, I would be more conservative and look at it as a warning sign that the creature is being forced out of its natural habitat. Deforestation and rampage use of land for farming or plantations may have started to take its toil. An Animal Planet news feature titled Time Running Out for Malaysian Orangutan dated 26th Jan 06 said that the Malaysian government said it planned to boost palm oil product by up to 25 percent to meet surging demand for the alternative bio-diesel fuel.  

There is a pamphlet being issued by the Sumatran Orangutan Society, that expressed perhaps the most pressing case against Oil Palm plantations, and what fate awaits the Orang Utan population. (I must warn that very graphic photos are shown in this pamphlet.) Certainly the Malaysian Authority must heed the warning signs happening in East Malaysia and not let it happen in Peninsular Malaysia as well.   

Thus we must be mindful of the fact that the sightings of Bigfoot (that has remain largely undetected), to be seen in so many recent encounters in such short a time may not herald good news, if we were to look at another example of a prehistoric creature rediscovery after Man thought it was extinct.

6.3  Lessons from a Dinosaur Fish

While earlier we look eastward, now we look downwards, into the deep sea where the coelacanth (fossil fish) which was thought to be extinct 65 millions ago, was rediscovered in 1938. It lives in 200 m deep caves in the sea, and thus remain hidden till the discovery.  

 

Picture 16: The Coelacanth, the 400 million year old "living fossil" fish

 

According to the Observer, it reported that the Dinosaur fish rediscovered after a absence of million of years may be pushed to the brink by deep-sea trawlers:

It is not every day that you come face to face with a dinosaur dating back 400 million years, but for the fishermen in Kigombe on Tanzania's northern coast it has become almost routine.

In the middle of Kigombe, a village of simple huts on this breathtaking edge of the Indian Ocean, a young fisherman stood proudly before a large green plastic container. Ceremoniously he reached inside and hauled out a monster of a fish, slapping its 60kg (132lb) of flesh on a table, where three children gawped at its almost human-like 'feet'. This is a living fossil, a fish with limbs, a creature once believed extinct: a coelacanth.

Now it seems that man may have discovered the fish just to eradicate it, as ever deeper trawling throws up serious fears for the already dwindling populations of the fish, which lives at depths of between 100 and 300 metres (328ft to 984ft).

 

 

 

 

 

Map showing the two National Parks in Johor & connecting Forest Reserves

 

A drive from Johor bahru to Kahang, you will not pass by a stretch of road for more than 4 minutes without seeing Palm Oil plantations 

 

 

 

Typical land clearing of virgin forest for Palm Oil Trees. Virgin forests are chosen because the land is most fertile. 

 

Young Palm Oil trees. Are palm oil plantations destroying the habitat of our Bigfoot?

 

4 years old Palm Oil trees. Once they reach flowering age at around 4 years, they will  produce palm oil seeds every 8 months. Each seed weigh about 30-40 kg and a ton of seeds would fetch afew hundred dollars. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SECTION 7: API FIELD TRIP TO JOHOR TO VERIFY BIGFOOT SIGHTINGS REPORTS

 

 

7.1:  Method of Analysis

 

7.1.1:  Collection and Plotting of all known Bigfoot sightings. Refer to Picture 2.

 

7.1.2:  Mapping of Route to gather local evidence as shown below:

 

Picture 17: Route Map  

 

7.1.3: Chronological Record of Key Notes in Field Trip

 

Event 1 - Meeting Point at Yew Tee MRT, Singapore

Meeting Time: 7:00am. 

Move Out Time: 7:45am

Location: Yew Tee Mrt, Chu Kang Kang New Town

 

 

Picture 18: Bigfoot Discovery Team Photo shoot Sand Quarry near Kampung Punjut

 

Bigfoot Discovery Team: API members who went & their roles

 

Back row from left 

Maverick -  Interpreter & Path Finder

Alvin         -  Video man & Relief Driver

Raymond  -  Background Research & 2nd Car Driver

 

First Row from left

Jason        -  Support & Backup Photographer 

Amethyst  -  Support

Charles     -  Lead Investigator & 1st Car Driver

Jimmy       -  Johor Counterpart, Asst. Interpreter & 3rd Car Driver

Amulet      -  Support

Huili          -  Support

Jas            -  Guest Investigator


Event 2 - At the Causeway

8:10am - Passed through Customs Checkup and enroute to Kota Tinggi.

 

Event 3 - Point At Kota Tinggi

8:50am - Reach Kota Tinggi and met our Malaysia Counterpart, Jimmy, who also stays in Johor.  

 

9:10am - Proceeded to eat early in preparation of a long journey ahead. 

 

Event 4 - Point At Mawai Town

9:30am - Reached Mawai Town. Interviewed local family. Have not seen Bigfoot and gave fair descriptions based on a friend's sightings. (See Section 2.1). Basically described what he and his family thought was the Bigfoot creature. They said that it was like the creature in the movie King Kong, but when shown the photos of a Orang Utan and a Gorilla in the wild, they could not tell the difference. The man. who called himself as 'Lan' (pronounced as Land) was kind enough to bring us to a Orang Asli village in Mawai.

 

9:50am - Reach Mawai's Orang Asli Village. Recorded no sightings of any Bigfoot by this Indigenous group.

 

10:10am - Realized that Jimmy was a half Orang Asli with maternal grandmother living in a Kampung "Dernai" in Padang Endau (could not find on map), a one and a half hours drive to Endau Rompin.

 

10:20am - Decided against going to Sungai Sedili to take a look as the river winds through a distance of more than 60km tract  with many connecting streams and the news report did not report on specific location (i.e., whether it was in Sungai Sedili Besar or Sungai Sedili Kechil). It was also because the place comprises largely of mangrove swampy areas. 

 

10:25am - After consulting the map we decided to go to either Jimmy's Grandmother's Village at Pandang Endau or Kahang, the place where Orang Asli villagers supposedly had a stand off with Bigfoot. 

 

10:40am - Visited a nearby Police station in Kampung Mawai. The police station's name is called "Pondok Polis Mawai". The reason why we went to the police station was because if there were any unusual sightings of any creature, the most probable person who would know would be the police, as the villagers will want to make a report, or they may be mobilized to help out in case of a sighting. The policeman said he has been working as a Mawai policeman for 5 years but have never got a Bigfoot report. We then asked if he is aware of any Bigfoot sightings in Mawai, as it was reported in the press. Then he pointed out to us that recently there was some sightings of Bigfoot around Sungai Sedili.  He then pointed out to us that the latest report sighting was at the forest where there are many rotan trees for collection and not Kampung Mawai.

 

10:55am - The Policeman used his handphone and enabled us to have a telephone conversation with a person named Man Tapai (name seen on Hp display) who said he worked in Johor National Park. He said on the phone that there are many sightings in Endau Rompin  Park and asked us to go there if we are interested. In closing when we asked he said his name was "Baht-tha-ru". He said that he had been interviewed by local press like TV3, other local news like Utusan Malaysia. We realised then that he was the one who had released the news of Bigfoot sightings to the media people.

 

11:00am - Left Mawai Town

Event 5 - Point At Jemaluang Town

 

11:40am - Reach Jemaluang Town. Crossroads between route to Pandang Edau and Kahang 

 

11:45am - Sought direction from a Chinese elder in his sixties who informed us that the route to Kahang and the Orang Asli village is much nearer and easier to reach. Concurred with the elder. When asked, the elderly man said he has never seen a Bigfoot in his life, but he said it was always the Orang Asli that had seen them.  

 

11:55am - Enroute to Kahang. 

 

 

Event 6 - Point  At Keluang District 

12:30am - Reached Keluang. Approached coffee shop owner to ask for direction to Orang Asli village (Batu 25, Kampung Punjut Sungai Nadik). Proved to be a talkative person who claimed to have seen the Bigfoot when he was 4 years old in the Kahang Zoo. Said the zoo no longer exists but he described the Bigfoot as very large and tall, hairy with fiery golden hairs and with a face and shape like a giant human. He said it was not like a gorilla which is hunchbacked, but upright like a human. He pointed out that the Bigfoot drawn by the Orang Asli as what he saw when he was 4 years old. After that he gave us the general direction to one Orang Asli village and told us to ask again from there.

 

 

Event 7 - At the Petrol Station in Keluang

12:55am - Refueling petrol and ask station assistants on locations of any Orang Asli villages nearby.

 

1:10pm - Met the petrol station owner, a Chinese man in his forties.  Was friendly and gave us direction to one Orang Asli village. When told that we were trying to interview the Orang Asli about Bigfoot, he exclaimed that if he had known it earlier, he would have contacted some Orang Asli to come here (the petrol station) so that we can hear their encounters in Endau Rompin.  He said it was too short a period then to contact the Orang Asli, unless we wait another day. He then showed us a beautiful placard showing the activities Endau Rompin Park has for visitors. The station owner then continued to say that Endau Rompin Park is a protected forest land and permission will be needed if we wish to enter it. He further said that the Endau Rompin park welcomes anyone who wishes to enter and have fun like trekking, fishing etc. But they will not welcome anyone, especially Singaporeans who wants to go in there just to 'catch Bigfoot'. Towards the end of the conversation he said he belongs to an organization that are trained as Guides (Park rule no. 6) to bring us into Endau Rompin Park for a fee. Just before we left he said when the news came out about the Mawai Bigfoot sightings, other Orang Asli also came forward and the State Officials then came here on motorbikes to look for the Bigfoot. But he said they only spent one day so the trip was not fruitful.    

 

1:25pm - Left petrol station for Orang Asli Village pointed out by him. 

 

 

Event 8 - Kahang Orang Asli Village

1:35pm - Arrived at Orang Asli village (name uncertain). Asked a young adult who was laying some cement if he had seen a Bigfoot before but the reply was negative and he seemed kind of amused. When asked if he knew where was Sungai Nadik, he said he did not know, but he knew where Sungai Madek was, and he pointed to a direction. For a while we thought that maybe the newspaper reports gave the wrong village name, as it was common (for example, Kampung  Punjut was reported as Punjat and Puyut in different reports). When asked if he knew anyone who might have seen one he referred us to his village head.

 

1:40pm -  Met and asked the village head, a 50+ year old man. He said he has not seen the Bigfoot either. He called Bigfoot Hantu Hutan. When asked on the location of Sungai Madek, he replied that we were already in Sungai Madek. Then he told us that he knew of one Orang Asli village at Batu 25, where a Orang Asli by the name of ' Batin Alan' (pronounced as Ah-Lang) had seen it. (So purely by chance and referral we were guided to Batu 25, Kampung Punjut Sungai Nadik, even though at that time we did not know it yet).

 

1:50pm - We departed following the instructions given by the village head. 

 

 

Event 9 - At the Sand Quarry

2:05pm - We were captivated by the beautiful scenery that we rested there for 20 minutes and also posed for a group shot.

 

2:25pm - We continued on our journey. 

 

 

Event 10 - At Batu 25, Kampung Punjut Sungai Nadik

2:40pm - Upon reaching the village we asked some local Orang Asli and were referred to one house. A young lady carrying a child (later we know her as Alan's daughter-in-law) said that Alan has not come home yet. So we waited.

 

2:50pm - Alan came home with his wife on a motorbike with vegetables in several plastic bags. 

 

2:55pm - Interview with Alan. We learnt that this was the village mentioned in the "Close Encounter with Bigfoot" report, and that he was the Awang Jaafar mentioned in the Bigfoot Sighted in Johor report, and the man who had a 'staring incident' with a Bigfoot, Amir Md Ali, was his brother-in-law. We also learned that the Orang Asli who saw the Bigfoot rubbing his back against a tree, Along (pronounced as Ah Long), was his son-in-law. Alan's narration thereafter was not very clear due to the heavy kampung slang and there was some confusion but basically this was what we found out. (Correction: Alan is not Awang Jafaar. Seems that Orang Asli community has close family ties and many of the Orang Asli are related to each other.) 

 

In November 2005 the three of them including Along and Amir went as usual into the jungles to do their work. (Correction: Later interviews confirmed that Amir was not part of the 3) Later they were joined by a fourth person. Amir hunted fish for a living, while Along collected rattans to sell. It was about 10am when they arrived and they have not started work yet. It was then they saw this Bigfoot creature, whom he named as Hantu Hutan. They saw this creature standing about 15 metres away, with his back against a tree. It was performing an action akin to rubbing its back on the tree bark, as if its back was itchy, or it was just bright morning and it was stretching itself for a breath of fresh air. They looked, stood still for a moment and ran off. Alan described the Bigfoot as about 3 metres all, with a human face but hairy all over with bright golden hair. It stood upright and had jarang teeth features like canine teeth. Alan said that the encounter with the Bigfoot was just one encounter in which they were all together. When asked to identify the Bigfoot, Alan pointed to the picture of the hand drawn Bigfoot on the cover of my album, which had many pictures of primates put together for easy identification.. 

 

Alan said that the encounter took place 30 km into the jungles from his village and when asked to bring us there, said he can only bring us in a short distance as our cars are not 4-wheelers. Usually he takes one and a half hours by motorbike. Before we left we posed for a group shot

 

 

Event 11 - Enroute to Lenggor Forest

3:35pm - Alan tried to bring us through his usual track but our first path through a palm tree plantation was impassable for a normal saloon car, so we had to back-track to the standard route used by loggers. During the ride Alan revealed further that the Bigfoot must have been standing there for quite awhile, rubbing itself. He said that possibly the Bigfoot was emerging out to take in the fresh air. Alan said it was very bright and so they could see it clearly. He said they only saw the thing, got frightened and ran away. The Bigfoot was still standing there. 

 

Event 12 - At 3km Stop

4:00pm - We reached a point where the road got too rocky and we had to pull to one side. It was about 4km into the 30 km in-route to the Madek forest where the encounter took place. There we met a logger's 4-wheeler who was just driving out. He did not own the 4-wheeler so he could not bring us in.   

 

4:15pm - We continued with our queries. The summary of that interview is as follows:-

 

Alan was not sure if the Bigfoot was a male or female. Though they only saw one, he believed that it could not be the only one and there must be some other nearby. He describe the color of the Bigfoot body hair as red golden and pointed to API Agent Huili hair as an example. Alan said the body was as hairy as an king kong (Alan said this while pointing to a Orang Utan which was standing upright), except that its face was like a human. Alan also describe the Bigfoot as having a huge chest, stretching out both his hands to demonstrate the immense size. It was also very tall but did not have long hands like king kong. He said that the four of them took one look at the Bigfoot and ran. They did not see the back of the creature, just the front. He said he did not see any footprints due to dry weather and hard ground conditions. He repeated again that Amir was his brother-in-law while Along was his son-in-law. It was then that he said that he was not the actual one who saw Bigfoot, but that he was with the group that brought the State Officials to the place of encounter. 

 

That was when we realized our great error. All the while we had assumed that Alan was one of those that saw the Bigfoot. But when I replayed back the tape, Alan never said so. How could that be? It would seemed that when we played back our tape, his reply to our questions was not a straight answer to our questions.  I realized that when we asked if he had seen Bigfoot, his reply was: "Yes, Bigfoot was seen". When we asked if he was one of the three who went into the forest, he replied: "Yes, there were three that went into the forest.". Thus I gathered later on back in Singapore this important understanding: When talking to an Orang Asli, listen very, very carefully.

 

But to continue, he said there was four people that went into the forest that day, Amir (the Fisherman), Ah Long (the Rattan Collector), Baha and Bawan. This was the first time that day I heard this two other names of Baha and Bawan

 

4:45pm - We finished our interview and proceeded back to Alan village.

 

 

Event 13 At Batu 25, Kampung Punjut Sungai Nadik

5:10pm - Having dropped off Alan, we established telephone contact and made arrangement for another visit.

 

 

Event 14 - Dinner at Kota Tinggi

7:30pm - The restaurant we had our dinner also conduct guided tours to see fireflies. 

 

 

Event 15 - The Road back to Singapore. 

     

     

 

 

 

 

 

Route taken on our Bigfoot Discovery Trail

 

Meetup at Yew Tee MRT, Singapore

 

Enroute to Kota Tinggi

 

Meeting with our Johor Counterpart

 

Interviewing the Locals at Mawai

 

Mawai's Locals trying to tell the difference between an Orang Utan & a Gorilla

 

Orang Asli kids at Mawai

 

Map showing the long stretch of Sungai Sedili

 

At the Mawai Police Station

 

Conversing with a National Parks Official over the phone  

 

Enroute to Jemaluang

 

Jemaluang is the crossroad to decide to go towards Endau Rompin or Kahang

 

Old Chinese Man at Jemaluang

 

Coffee Shop owner at Kahang

 

Kahang Local said he saw the Bigfoot as drawn by Orang Asli when he was 4 years old in a local zoo. 

 

Kahang Petrol Station owner showing us the attractions of Endau Rompin Park

 

1st Kahang Orang Asli village we visited

 

Village Head gave us the direction to Kampung Punjut

 

Beautiful scenery at sand quarry

 

Our Cars posing

 

API Discovery Team groupshot

 

Arriving at Batu 25, Kampung Punjut

 

Arrival of Alan, our key informant. 

 

Interviewing Alan outside his house 

 

Alan daughter-in-law

 

Alan pointing out that Bigfoot they saw resemble the drawn picture as shown in the press

 

Posing outside Alan's house

 

Scenery enroute to Lenggor Forest

 

Scenery enroute to Lenggor Forest

 

Entering Lenggor logging track

 

Palm Oil trees lining on both side of road

 

We stopped at 3km in-route due to rough terrain 

 

Logging contractor

 

More interviews at Lenggor

 

Alan describing the bulk of the Bigfoot

 

Driving back to Kampung Punjut

 

Signboard outside restaurant at Kota Tinggi

 

Group shot at the end of our Discovery Trail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SECTION 8 - THE NEWS THAT NEVER WERE

 

This section deals with perhaps the most controversial part of this report. I shall now attempt to study in detail the recent sightings that was reported after the Kampung Mawai sighting in Dec 2005.  I stand corrected and apologizes if anyone or any organization has any evidence to show me otherwise that I have erred in my assumption.  

 

The scarce data provided by the interviewees and Bigfoot resource available had led to the reports with assumed information 'filled in', and re-visits to past reports of Bigfoot sightings.

 

8.1:  Name calling

Moreover, names of locations of alleged sightings often differs, especially in the way it is shown in the national maps and how the locals prefer to call it.  A lot depends on which version the reporter would follow and who the interviewee was, as indicated earlier. River names like Sungai Kincin where the fish bones were found was reported earlier in year 2001 using the name Sungai Kencin

 

Johor has large tract of forested lands that are usually named according to the names given by early settlers, thus a single tract of forest may be subdivided into different 'Hutan' or forest. Given this scenario, it was no wonder that for the sightings at Kahang, it was referred to by no less than three different names.

          

 

8.2:  Misleading Reports - The Location of Bigfoot Encounter

From Event 10 of Section 7 , we learnt from Alan (Kampung Punjut Shaman) that there was one encounter with a Bigfoot creature some 30km from his village at Batu 25, which involved allegedly three individuals (we realized later that the 'three' referred to by Alan actually meant a group, not necessary three.),  who went there together. Among them was an Orang Asli named Herman Deraman, whom Alan and the press article called Along. The article by Bernama News cited Alan's account of his brother-in-law's (Along) encounter with a Bigfoot while driving along a logging track in Lenggor Forest. In an article by The Star, Amir Md Ali was reported to have met his Bigfoot while on his way to the Gunung Panti jungles. The same report also recounted Along's encounter with the Bigfoot at the usual place where he collected bamboo. In a Reuters' article, Hashim Yusoff, the Director of Johor National Parks Corporation had driven into Sungai Madek Forest Reserve to ask indigenous people of reported sightings of a 10 feet tall ape standing on two legs besides a river in a heavy rainforest in Johor State. 

 

Through my analysis of geographical maps and through the interviews with Alan (see Event 10 and Event 12) on our Discovery Trail, I am very sure that all these reports resulted from one single location, which was coincidentally, the same location of April sighting by Amir, and the November sighting by Along's group. 

 

Let us examine the locations -

 

Picture 19: Location of 3 Major Bigfoot Sightings      

 

In reference to Picture 19, you will find that from Alan's Kampung (denoted by a ), Alan had said that the forest where Amir and Along both saw Bigfoot, was about 30 km inwards. Through scaling I find that it passes through Sungai Madek, Lenggor Forest, into Sedili Forests and if they had carried on inwards, towards Panti Forest. Thus depending how the report is written, different names for the same location might be given, and each would be factually correct. They had to travel through Lenggor Forest, pass by Sungai Madek, move along Sungai Sedili Besar which ends in Mawai, and if nothing untowards happened, the Orang Asli may end up in panti Forest.     

 

 

8.3:  The Mawai Encounter

What about the encounter at Kampung Mawai, where three fish farm workers spotted a family of Bigfoots and found many footprints; one measuring 45 cm and was about 8ft to 10ft tall. Foul smelling fur was also recovered there. Could this be a real sighting?

 

The sighting never occurred. The clue lies in the report itself.

 

Let me reproduce the record of the sighting here -

 

Mr Vincent Chow said the latest sighting occurred last month in Kampung Mawai, Kota Tinggi, when three workers building a fish pond in the village claimed to have seen a Bigfoot family of two adults and a little one.

The workers returned to the area and saw several footprints, some large and others small, including one 45cm long, he said.

"The footprints were proof of what the workers said they saw -- a family of Bigfoot. Their claim is credible," Mr Vincent Chow had said.

He estimated that the creatures were between eight and 10 feet high, judging from the height of the branch of a tree that had been broken at the place. The creatures were believed to have brown-coloured fur, judging from some fur recovered there, and which had the smell of a human armpit.

Chow said that according to the sightings at Endau Rompin, the creatures were not only tall but large too.

Those who claimed to have seen the creatures said the Bigfoot family was walking near the Kincin River, probably in search of fish.

 

To those that do not live in or near Malaysia, this might seemed to be a ordinary account of an unusual encounter. 

 

But actually there is a glaring discrepancy. Immediately after the sentence where smelly fur were collected, the report continued with the statement that according to the sightings at Endau Rompin, the creatures were not only tall but large too ... Those who claimed to have seen the creatures said the Bigfoot family was walking near the Kincin River, probably in search of fish.

 

River Kincin or Sungai Kincin, is a tributary of Sungai Endau, and is some 80 km away from Kampung Mawai

(denoted by ). 

 

Picture 20: Location of River Kincin in relation to Kampung Mawai

 

Furthermore, other reports surfacing around the same time mentioned only the footprint(s), without any mention of the family of Bigfoot being seen. In the New Straits Times report that came out one day after the first report on the 23rd,  it said - In the latest sighting, a fish researcher from the Johor branch of the Malaysian Nature Society claimed he spotted "Bigfoot" footprints at a swamp near Sungai Sedili in Kampung Mawai, Kota Tinggi. 

 

The same report also ended with this paragraph -

 

One of the sightings was at Sungai Kincin, a tributary of the Endau River. Fish bones were found scattered, possibly indicating that a "Bigfoot" family of three had just had their meal there. 

 

Only the fish researcher was mentioned. If the report was accurate, then the footprints was found not at Kampung Mawai itself but at the Sungai Sedili areas, or near Sedili forest (if it was in Sungai Sedili Besar) On the same day, The Star reported that only one footprint was found, and the three workers saw one two and a half m tall furry creature. 

 

But whether one footprint or many, the release of two different kind of footprints allegedly of the same encounter has already been disproved in Section 2.3.1. The footprint released to the public had been closely cropped such that no inference could be drawn as to its size from the surrounding features. The print themselves had been proven to be either been half its size or a naturally occurring water pond. 

 

And what of the family of Bigfoot seen? As mentioned earlier the original article that first carried the story stated had named a river that the family of Bigfoot was seen as at River Kincin. River Kincin is located some 80 km away from the original sighting of mawai. 

 

In the New Straits Times Dec 24th 2005 article the next day, the report only carried the news of a fish researcher (who to date had not been named) who found a giant footprint in Sugai Sedili. The report then added towards the end of the article, some other information of other sighting, which was the finding of fish bones along River Kincin, possibly indicating that a "Bigfoot" family of three had just had their meal there.

 

Since then the possible sighting of a Bigfoot family in year 2001 had became entrenched as the sighting of a Bigfoot family in Mawai.

 

So if the family of Bigfoot never existed, then where did the 3 fish farm workers who saw Bigfoot in December 05 came from? 

 

From both Alan and Along testimony we learnt that in December, upon hearing that the Orang Asli from Kampung Punjut in Kahang had encountered Bigfoot, Johor National Park Director Mr Hashim Yusoff went into the Forest with three of the kampung's Orang Asli. Alan the Tok Batin, Along the Rattan Collector, and Amir, the Fisherman. (Read here)  During the visit there, Amir used a branch to indicate the height of the Bigfoot he saw, using the height of a tree to indicate the Bigfoot height. 

 

Ever since that historic branch wielding gesture, the story grew from three Orang Asli (Alan, Along, and Amir the fisherman) who accompanied the National Parks Director into the forest near Sungai Sedili (to show him their earlier Bigfoot sighting location), to three Fish Farm workers who encountered Bigfoot in (Kampung) Mawai. 

 

Their December visit with the National Parks Director then became the non-existent Mawai encounter that had everyone swarming to a location that did not have any recent Bigfoot sighting, even spinning off Bigfoot prints being found, including one animal print which a foreign group found and declared to be Bigfoot, when closer examination of the surrounding of the place where the print was found, would have easily debunk it as a mixture of cow-boar foot prints. Such is the power of media, confusing everyone, with the social fabric of the Orang Asli being affected most. For they are being thrust upon, foreign ideas and concept that they do not understand. 

 

8.4:  The Kincin Encounter

Let us now examine the Kincin Encounter. A check online revealed that River Kincin was the place of an encounter in year 2001 - 

 

The "creature" as described has dark brown hair covering its whole body, is about three metres tall (three meters = 9.8 ft) and its footprint is about 45 cm (18 inches long) in size - about twice the size of an adult shoeless foot. One area where sightings have taken place is Sungai Kencin, a tributary of the Endau River and reports include fish bones scattered on the ground as if Bigfoot just had its meal. Orang Asli living in the area believe that there are only three of them - a male, a female and their child.

 

From the media record no Bigfoot was seen, only the scattered fish bones were there. The fish bones could have been deposited by any other creature including hungry men! So without actual sightings this at most can only be an assumption, not a fact that it indicated a family of Bigfoot had just had their meal. 

 

But what about the brown colored fur that smelled like a person's armpit, as written in the first report

 

The Kincin encounter also had the answer - 

 

Pahang State Women's Affair, Culture, Arts and Tourism Committee chairperson Maznah Mazlan, while launching a 4 WD event in the forest reserve recently said the Bigfoot has a keen sense of smell and would run away from humans. She says it is believed that one way of seeing the Bigfoot is by not taking a bath for two weeks! 

 

Thus I would believe that the smelly fur was a result of someone's brilliant adaptation of a stinking person not taking a bath for two weeks. Or the fur may be left by some other wild creatures other than the Bigfoot.  There is no definitely proof to say that the fur came from the animal itself, so the credibility of the source is not there.

 

The Kincin encounter also remained the only other Bigfoot sighting besides Amir's that recorded a face to face encounter with a Bigfoot. It wrote:

 

Its foot is inverted. Ghazali Yaacob, a surveyor, says villagers have reported coming face to face with the creature. The last sighting is of the creature running out of the burning jungles with its young in search of shelter. 

 

The inverted feet might means opposing toes, which can be found in Orang Utans as they need the grip to hold on to branches or grip their food. Thus orang Utan feet bends inwards when they walked. Further supporting evidence is that Orang Utans often moves in a family unit of three

 

Could it be that the Bigfoot creature sighted in River Kincin was an Orang Utan?

 

Inverted feet is also the hallmark of a Serjarang Gigi, which is a supernatural giant being who had toes growing out of its heel.

 

Recently I read that some bears have a tendency to walk back on its own tracks. Could the inverted feet be a result of the Orang Asli finding a Malaysian Sunbear trail, which the Sunbear may have used to go retrace its steps through rought terrain?. 

    

 

8.5:  The Branch That Was Never Broken

And what of the broken branch that indicated the height of the Bigfoot creature. Where was the evidence that it did not happen?

 

Upon the sighting of the footprints, why was there no estimation to the height of the creatures supposedly seen based on the estimation of the footprints?  If a footprint measures 45cm long while the average man footprint is perhaps a lot less than that, why was the estimation to the size of the creature not done by the footprint? Instead, they used a broken branch theory to show how tall the creatures were, instead of further studies of it. It is based on the assumption that no other animals went to that same spot which may cause the break of the branches then.  And if the forest is teeming with wildlife, there may be other species of apes and monkeys that may have attributed to the damage.

But a light shone on the horizon when on the 6th of Jan 06 I chanced upon a local Chinese article with a front page that showed this picture.

 

  

Picture 21: The Bigfoot Article that appear on Singapore's Shin Min Daily News

 

The caption (circled) reads - "Orang Asli Hamid Ali uses branch to indicate the creature's height. The next person is National Park Corp. Director Hashim Yusoff."

 

Hamid Ali is Amir Ali. (Chinese translation tend to change a person name a tad bit.)  Thus the case is complete. The Mawai Bigfoot broken branch evidence is in fact... nothing.   

 

 

8.6:  So What Really Happened

If that is the case. Then the Mawai encounter is in fact, the Kahang encounter! The Kahang encounter comprises of 2 Orang Asli group who separately encountered a Bigfoot creature while travelling along Sungai Madek through Lenggor Forest. Geographically, everyone is correct. Those living in Mawai will point towards the left to Sungai Sedili Besar as the rivers run into Sedili forest. Those from Kahang side will point downwards to Lenggor forest. 

 

This has been an interesting journey of piecing together different stories and articles to seek out what really happened. Amazingly from one single eposide sprang a series of sightings that never occurred but were scarce information, meshing of old encounters, and new reports using older inaccurate articles as basis. 

 

I would not discuss other news article that had not been brought up here as there will be many reporting on the same issues.

 

This was what happened:

 

Three Orang Asli accompanied the National parks Director into the forest one morning. Among them, a Fisherman. News reprt would have them to become fish farm workers. 

 

One Fish Researcher allegedly  found a single footprint in the swampy Sungai Sedili area and photographed it. (The identity of this Fish Researcher was never known. Surprising, he was never the focus of any report) The release of that two such footprints has not been completely open, with only a very cropped photograph which gives very little detail. 

 

Therefore, I believe the report JNPC Director Mr Hashim Yusoff was waiting to get on the Bigfoot family seen at Kampung Mawai, will never happen.  

 

Situation has worsen with now more reported sightings of Bigfoot footprints (which I have disproved in Section 2.3).  

 

8.7:  Getting Out of Hand

The foreign news, with so many incomplete variation of Bigfoot sightings, had also 'filled in' the missing parts. 

 

In a TMN Net report, the three fish farm workers had became Wildlife Officers, and added details like 'brown hair snagged on a branch' and both the three officers and the family of Bigfoot ran away from each other in fright.   

 

The Independent Online suggested that by the broken branches overhead, 'if the animal reared on its hind legs, it would measure between 8 and 10ft tall.'

 

Things got interesting when the report added more 'details' like:

Malaysia has been gripped by Bigfoot fever since November when, just weeks before the release of Peter Jackson's epic King Kong in Kuala Lumpur's cinemas, three labourers digging a fish pond said they glimpsed a Bigfoot family of three on a river bank in Kota Tinggi reserve.

They dropped their tools and fled but returned with an educated colleague to inspect and photograph the enormous footprints. A clump of brown fur, drenched with sour-smelling sweat, was also said to be recovered from the site, along with scattered fish bones.

And now we have the dropping of tools (new 'fact') and the scattered fish bones found in Kota Tinggi (taken from the Kincin Encounter

 

Nowhere in any of the Malaysian Reports were any of these 'facts' stated. 

My analysis in Section 8 were based on sketchy evidence available that was written in various press reports, and often where many information are not fully disclosed in either of them. This means that the full or actual story is either not available, or the interview was not conducted properly.

I would suggest an urgent review of all reported cases, and conduct proper interview with a set of prepared questions, so that no part of any encounter or story could be left out.

The Interviewer preferably should have experiences relating to police or other law enforcing duties.

8.8 More Incredible News

The Star and New Straits Times reported that Johor Government has barred Foreigners from searching for Bigfoot in its jungles. 

Quoting from the New Straits Times:-

State Tourism and Environment committee chairman Freddie Long said the foreign groups should not go into the jungle without permission as this was prohibited under the National Forestry Act.... He said these people should only talk to eyewitnesses and check out Bigfoot tracks found on private land.

Further news from The Star News about the Bigfoot Colony found (by the Johor Wildlife Protection Society, who said they had locked up the evidence in a safe) and the 2 strands of hair found (by the Biodiversity Researcher Vincent Chow)  in a search for Bigfoot when they investigate strange howling sounds Kampung Lukut in Gunung Panti has left me bewildered. The shape and size of the foot prints found (reported by the New Straits Times) do coincide with those made by a Sunbear, which incidentally like to feed on young palm oil shoots, and is also mostly probably responsible for making the noise akin to the 'cry of a monkey and a wild pig'. Monkey and wild pigs cries would be higher pitched and the sound most probably match the 'nickering' made by Sunbears. 

Sunbears do break branches to form nest 10 to 20 feet above ground. Thus in essence we can attribute many of the 'evidences' found at Gunung Panti to be that of the Malayan Sunbear. 

All these signs could also be attributed to an Orang Utan too. This is how an Orang Utan cry sounded like. (courtesy of the National Geographic Channel)   

Recent reports showing more photos of Mr Vincent Chow Bigfoot footprints finds also supported the fact that perhaps it was an Orang Utan. Both Orang Utan and Sunbear share similar social and eating behavior.  

Gunung Panti, once a Bird Sanctuary, now suffers from logging, mining, and clearing for oil palm. The Gunung Panti bird sanctuary is now closed to the public. with the Johor Forestry Department has put up signs notifying the public that it is an offence to enter. 

Bernama News had reported earlier on 18 Feb that the Johor Wildlife Protection Society had knew that there were Bigfoot in Lenggor Forest. Quoting from the report: 

Not just one Bigfoot but a whole colony of the giant, hairy creatures which the society named "Orang Lenggor" (Lenggor People) as one was spotted in an area by that name, said the society's secretary Tay Teng Hwa.

"We will make public the evidence soon," he said today.

He said a member of the society had studied the creatures for six years and interacted directly with the colony.

The report further said that "The adult creatures are between 10 and 12 feet tall while their children are 6 to 7 footers. Seventy per cent of the Orang Lenggor have a human appearance but the rest resemble apes," he said...... "The 'Orang Lenggor' had a covering of black hair on their bodies when they were young but the hair gradually turned brown as they grew older.

I do believe the height of the Orang Lenggor has been over emphasized. Orang Utans are known to have varying shades of brown and Orang Utan babies with black or dark down hairs are common. And if what the Johor Wildlife Protection Society claimed is true, then we may have a 3rd Orang Utan Species on our hand. 

Though then the question will arise why if there was a colony of Orang Lenggor, or Orang Dalam (sounds better than API Peninsular Ape) and they knew about it, why they did not report such a find earlier to the authorities?  

I am puzzled by the next response of the Society, which was to "organise an expedition to the "Orang Lenggor" colony in either March or Apr."

If it's Bigfoot they found 6 years ago, then how could the entire forest area not had been protected against all logging and forest clearing activities. I note that the Society member who saw the Bigfoot Colony was a logger.  

But even if they were to report it now, whether it's a 12 ft Bigfoot or a 5 ft Ape, it's the Malaysian Authorities they should be reporting to, not the News Media. Then the Malaysian Authorities should take heed of the suggestion given to undertake aerial mapping of the area boundary pf Madek/Lenggor/Sedili/Panti forests to ensure and stop all illegal forest encroachments and as well as to map out an Orang Dalam Preservation Zone. 

8.9 Colony of Bigfoot Turns May Turn Out to Orang Utan After All

My younger sister was kind enough to keep some of the Chinese newspaper cutting of Bigfoot News. Sometimes for some strange reasons, important news don't get published on the Malaysian side, but could be found here.

The Sin Min Daily published an article on the 25th February that said a former Johor Sultan once reared forty Orang Utans, but released them sometimes in the early 1970s. The Royalty being interviewed called the Orang Utan a gorilla, but the actual animal could be clearly discerned from the attached photograph in the article. 

Could this be where the claim of the colony of Bigfoot originated from? Perhaps there really was seventeen Orang Utans released into the Forest at one time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Johor Bigfoot encounter in relation to location of forest & rivers 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orang Utan walks with opposing toes. Could that be translated as inverted feet?

 

Orang Utan feet are meant for gripping

 

Orang Utan usually moves in a family unit

 

 

 

 

 

 

Singapore's News that carried Amir's photo

 

English Translation of Article 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chinese Newspaper article about a former Johor Sultan's Orang Utans. Click here for the English translated version

SECTION 9 - CONCLUSION - ORANG UTAN OR GIGANTOPITHECUS BLACKI

Having gone through the various methodology of analyzing the Bigfoot Enigma, we have come to various assumptions, based on the findings of this Report:

9.1:  Section Summary

In Section 2 we tried to derive at a description of the Bigfoot, by weeding out the improbable from the possible.    

In Section 3 we gave a compelling case of why it could be an Orang Utan, and how its size, due to its broad and bulky body could easily have fooled people into believing it was much bigger than it really is. Furthermore, historical annals had shown that the early Mawai settlers had seen Orang Utans in the early 1900s, and this fact was echoed by the Myths recorded in Johor National Park website.     

In Section 4 we argue that the Bigfoot might be a Surviving Prehistoric Hominid, a Gigantopithecus Blacki, which is characterized by not only their huge stature, but also by their big cavities in their teeth. This concur with the description of the Bigfoot creature which the Orang Asli claimed had few teeth. Furthermore, The Orang Asli had a legend of a Giant with few teeth and who is well versed in the way of the forest.

In Section 5 we turned our attention to the Orang Asli themselves, who are usually the ones that saw the Bigfoot creature. We found out that though the Orang Asli are truthful and speaks Malay, there is still a barrier created by years of different cultures and upbringing, and communications can go seriously wrong should one try to extract information from them without proper interviewing techniques 

In Section 6 we examine the possibility if the sudden flurry of Bigfoot sightings was the result of economic advancement, resulting in the loss of the natural habitat, by which so many creatures depended on. 

In Section 7 We undertook a field trip to better understand the geographic forest (Bigfoot Habitat) locations and various responses of the local and indigenous people, the Orang Asli to Bigfoot reports and photos. Samples of Gorilla and Orang Utans in the wild were shown to locals we have met with varying results. Those aged 40 years old and higher could easier tell the difference between the Gorilla and the Orang Utan. Those around 20-30 years old, could not differentiate between a Gorilla and a upright standing Orang Utan. We got a fair description from Alan, but could not be conclusive as he did not see the creature either.

In Section 8 we went through the various media reports and found that there was gross inconsistencies and misreporting due to either insufficient information being released, or poor interviewing techniques.  

And now we must attempt to answer this question - Could the creature be an Orang Utan, a Sunbear, or could it be a giant ape man known as the Gigantopithecus Blacki?

9.2  The Orang Utan Wins

Sunbear could account for some of the footprints and trails found, but surely the human eyes, however ancient, could tell the difference between a bear and a man-like face. 

 

First there was the issue of the footprint. What creature could leave 40cm long prints? But as there was no actual footprint to speak of, as the people who claimed to have seen it are drawing it from memory, I cannot put it as accurate evidence in this Report.  

 

Recent alleged footprints found have also been disproved

Now we are left with the height of Bigfoot. Surely the great height of this creature supports the assumption that it could be the Gigantopithecus creature.  

To answer this, we have to revisit the Kahang encounter. What salient feature (beside the height) and trait of the Bigfoot seen could be used to draw a conclusion? 

Along, who saw the creature, described his encounter as thus: I thought I saw a tree shaking and after awhile, I realized there was a huge creature sitting down and rubbing itself against the tree. 

I realized that the Bigfoot creature was not standing up! This means they have judged its height based on his bulk, which I have demonstrated clearly to be very misleading. 

In Amir's case, he believed that he saw a 12 ft creature. But the height is still debatable. He saw the creature from either a distance of around 70 feet, and then when asked to indicate its height, he pointed out the height when he was standing just 3 feet away from a tree. 

Thus the true height can only be ascertain from an on site investigation. We would need try to simulate the conditions where Amir had seen the creature and try to ascertain its height by putting up a dummy against an extendable ruler and asking Amir to point out the height of the creature from a distance of seventy feet.

Thus as of 7th march 2006, I can reasonably conclude that the Malaysian Bigfoot is nothing more than that of an Orang Utan. 

But some may argue that Malaysia is known to be the only two places in the world where wild Orang Utans can still be found. So how could it be an Orang Utan?

First the answer lies in the fact that Orang Utans can only be found in western Sumatra and east Borneo, there are none left in mainland Peninsular Malaysia, not for at least 10 thousand years. 

Peninsular Malaysia may have 248 million years old jungles, teeming with wildlife like elephants, rhinos and tigers, it does not have any species of Great Ape. The only monkeys that can be found in Mainland Malaysia are small monkeys like the Dusky Leaf Monkey and the Long-Tailed Macaque, and all are below even a child's height. These critters with one look, you can tell they do not look anything like a human.

9.3  Orang Utan, the man-Like Ape

In contrast, the Orang Utan when it was first discovered by the Europeans, was called a Man-Ape

Similarly it was surprising that unless they visited Sabah or Sarawak, many Malaysian may have not seen an Orang Utan upfront before. 

The coffee shop owner in Kahang said he saw two Mawas (that's the term he used) when he was just 4 years old in the zoo. Our Penang Counterpart, Angelina, whom I interviewed over the phone staying in Penang said that she saw one man-like ape creature that was very huge and kept in a cage near Penang waterfalls when she was about 10 years old. The rest I have interviewed have either saw the Orang Utan on television or on the internet and magazines, and never in real life.   

And these are the local Malays. What about the Orang Asli, who in the past traveled on foot or by boats and whom may have a generation passed without stepping out of the Mainland. What would they assume it was when they chance upon a huge hairy creature, with a man face and chest so broad that it must belonged to a man three meters tall!      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SECTION 10: THE NEXT STEP

Still the very thought that a small colony of Orang Utans might still survive undetected in the forest of Peninsular Malaysia must surely bring good news to the Johor National Parks. For those apes have lived isolated from both the Pongo pygmaeus (for the Bornean Orangutan), and P. abelii (for the Sumatran Orangutan), and may have been in the forest for 10 thousand years. 

Perhaps we are looking at another species of the great ape, having evolved on its own after being isolated for so long. And if it can dodge Man's efforts to trap it since the early 1900s, then it may possess a level of intelligence greater than the average ape.

10.1  The naming of the Orang Dalam

Thus API would like to christen it the Orang Dalam

The name is in respect to the name given by the Malaysian Government, and that of Harold Stephens, who first founded the footprints in Sungai Kincin. way back in 1972, and called it by the same name in his book, Return to Adventure: Southeast Asia With Thailand as the Hub

Looking for the Orang Dalam should not be carried out by getting trappers and going in droves into the jungles to hunt down this ape (as in the Tanjung Piai encounter). Noise and human presence will only drive it further deeper inwards. 

I am no expert but here are my suggestions: 

10.2  To Gather a Specimen

10.2.1  Monitoring Cameras with Sensor alert

These cameras should be waterproof and tamper-proof, placed at about three meters and one meter above the ground. The motion sensor should be set to trigger at any creature walking pass with a minimum of one meter height. Strategic locations would include near fruit orchards or water holes (drinking spots for the wild). Motion sensors and cameras should be wired to solar panels to make the setup cost effective and simple to maintain, although you might have to place the panels on higher heights to catch the sunlight. Photographic evidence should be collected once a week.

 

10.2.2  Engage the Expert

Engage people who have extensive working relationship with the Orang Utans to assist in the gathering of field evidence, such as Orang Utan nests, body furs, skulls and faeces for DNA analysis.   

The search for the peninsular ape is not a one week search or even a month, it should be an extensive and government prolonged investment undertaken by Nature Conservation organizations like the Orangutan Foundation International, or closer to home, the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre

Perhaps the Malaysian Government might want to consider re-opening  or re-configuring the Endau Rompin Research Center, set up at the cost of RM$6.5 million in year 2000, (and would be restructured to become an Eco-Tourism base) to retain the research laboratories . (The New Straits Times Report, 2 Feb 06)   

10.2.3  Aerial Mapping of  Palm Oil Estate Encroachment

The Malaysian authorities should conduct Aerial surveys of all palm oil plantations for possible encroachment and expansions into other forested lands beyond what they were entitled to. This is especially important for those plantations existing on the fringes of protected forest reserves. Plantation owners may intentionally lease a piece of land next to a prime virgin forested land and then expand further more then their allotment if enforcement of boundaries are slack.   

 

It would be disastrous if the very habitat of our Peninsular Ape is now being destroyed by such encroachment under our very noses!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SECTION 11: FINAL WORDS

As pointed out during our Discovery Trail at Kampung Mawai, we had only then realized that Jimmy our Johor Counterpart is a half-Orang Asli. He now invites us to share two days with his family in their kampung near Endau Rompin. API takes this as a great opportunity to further understand the life and culture of the Orang Asli, and to understand the biodiversity and beauty of the flora and fauna of the Endau Rompin National Park. We are scheduling the 26th of this month (February) to go.

In conclusion, I wonder if the appearance of the Orang Dalam might be due to the negative effects of human urbanization and encroachment into native jungles. I hope not, and if it was so, that it is not too late. The National Parks are well protected, but if the concentration of sightings of the Orang Dalam is anything to go by, then perhaps the Parks Officials should look carefully at the amount of human activity in those forests.  

As an ending I would like to conclude this report with a wonderful passage I found in the New Straits Times article published on the 27 Jan 06.

It wrote:

On the point of "awareness", however, it is poignantly ironic how the natural environment is best at drawing attention to itself. The 2004 tsunami brought home the importance of coastal ecosystems. The recent floods in the north of the peninsula defined the meaning of "watersheds".

And the large softshell terrapin that turned up in a schoolboy's home in Klang, possibly voyaging there during the recent rains and stranded when they stopped, has startled at least one young lad into a deeper personal understanding of with whom and what he shares his world.

A manta ray killed in a fisherman's net; a strange carcass washed up on shore; elephants encroaching on human habitations; the appearance of wild fauna in urban spaces...

...and yes, the very notion of a peninsular Bigfoot? All are mute reminders, real or fanciful, of the commonality of Nature and Man

 

 

Location of Bigfoot sightings in Johor, Malaysia

 

Forest Spine of Johor. The Kahang Village where the Orang Asli had their Bigfoot sightings, lies in the midst of it.