Buried GOLD at Ayer Lanas, Kelantan

IT is believed that lode gold, gemstones and gold ingots are buried somewhere in Ayer Lanas, Kelantan. I don’t think anyone in Kelantan knows this because it wasn’t buried by the locals.

I don’t know the exact spot but I know how the gold was concealed there.

In 1954, I went to Batu Melintang, the most remote place in Kelantan. My duty was to search and demarcate a piece of land for the state to build a school. My ride was delayed by the poor condition of the roads; it took me eight hours to reach Batu Melintang.

Village head Mat Taib Jusoh took me to an old rest house, built by British gold miners before the World War 2.

Every night, during my week-long stay, Taib recounted the story of the gold mines in Bukit Berching and the French gold mines in Lechor on the Siamese side, a short distance away.

The next day, he led me to

a river, where gold could be mined.

He said it was Sungai Berching, flowing from Gunung Berching, where the British gold mines were operating.

I looked at the river. It had more pebbles than sand, but the water was crystal clear. I had read reports about gold mining in Batu Melintang. These reports were kept in the land office. Taib then related what happened when WW2 broke out in 1941.

He said both gold mines operating in Gunung Berching and Lechor stopped production. The British miners left Batu Melintang on boats through Sungai Pergau to Dabong. From there, they boarded a train to Singapore with their treasure.

However, the French miners were forced to go to Batu Melintang because there was news that the Japanese Imperial Army had assembled in Bangkok and would advance to Malaya any time.

When the French party, escorted by Punjabi guards, arrived in Batu Melintang, they had no boat or sampan to ferry them; and Sungai Pergau was turbulent with strong currents because of the monsoon rain.

Taib said the French party then trekked to Tanah Merah, carrying their lode gold, gold nuggets and gemstones in the hope of reaching their destination in time for the train journey to Singapore.

Taib did not know the fate of the French miners and their escorts once they left Batu Melintang.

Fifteen years after the start of World War Two, in 1956, Ayer Lanas was chosen as the first Federal Land Development Authority scheme, now known as Felda.

Felda didn’t have any staff then, so land officers from the Kelantan districts were deployed to carry out the settlement project. I was one of them. One evening, while resting, two young Punjabi gentlemen came to in Ayer Lanas. One of them said they were from Singapore and were travelling to see places. They took some photographs of our camp and the surroundings, and left.

In 1962, a European befriended me. His name was James and he was a miner in Rompin, Pahang. He had a wife, who was a staff nurse at the then Kota Baru General Hospital.

He asked me about Ayer Lanas. I told him I had done settlement work there between 1956 and 1957. He recounted about the gold that was buried by the French miners in Ayer Lanas. Another interesting piece of information was regarding the Punjabi guards, who had escorted the French miners.

James told me that the French party arrived in Ayer Lanas, tired and weary. They were forced to bury their treasure somewhere along the way, hoping to return after the war.

They then trekked to Tanah Merah before boarding a train to Singapore, where all the Europeans had gathered to sail out from Malaya.

I then told him about the two Punjabis who had come to Ayer Lanas. He jumped to his feet and asked me how old they were and what they were doing there. I told him they were rather young and he said they could be the families of the guards.

James then expressed a desire to go to Ayer Lanas, but he did not know the spot of the treasure.

He was doubtful the treasure would be there as it was a lowland and near a river. I took him to Ayer Lanas and showed him the spot where we had camped.

He scanned the area and told me that the miners would bury their treasure on the highlands. Then, he pointed to the track leading to Legeh. We walked up to the area and suddenly he stopped at a spot not far from the present Ayer Lanas police station. It was newly built then.

He walked around, surveying the area. This was the likely spot, he said, far from the old track and free from floodwaters. “I believed the treasure was hidden somewhere in the area.”

I could not tell if he was joking. Today, Ayer Lanas is a busy and thriving town, with schools, shops, a market and residential houses. Perhaps, someday, when people find the treasure, Ayer Lanas will be known again as the place where gold was hidden. - NST