Chapter 12 Raging Fire Going To Extinct- Part one

Success after success in that plantation had made Ken to perform with increased ferocity, courage and with pride.He now realized that all those failures in his earlier life had spurred him to perform beyond imagination.What he had experienced lead him to over come all problems in fact were the actually no difficulties adhering to them.No,never those were nothing,he was unstoppable in his progress,the mistakes made in yesteryears always served as a reminder to him,his accomplishment made him a hero at the end.

Thus the fire in him formerly was dying off.Seeking revenge never cross his mind again.For one many of those he seek to demolish had now gone to hell on their own.So the fire was slowly burning away without fuel to fan it, it will surely be extinct in no time.His ulterior motive now was to serve with all his heart and treat with importance as if the plantation as his very own.

Ken having been confirmed went on to prove his worth further.There were plenty of rooms for him to forge forward.For example the Boss had another rubber plantation in Gambang, where only 80 acres were Oil Palm the rest very old rubber and worst of all not in production.

Ken requested permission to clear them.The Boss gave his blessings but with no extra costings.No big deal actually as they had a Bulldozer,but he must planned it in such a way that did hinder any road repairs etc.,in the main plantation.To be frank those fields had no or not much stand of rubber trees.Only the bushy inter rows which were filled with "lallang, brackens" and small shrubs like the Siamese weeds and Straits Rodendrom.Clearing them was simple,just bulldozing was sufficient to clear the fields.

Within a week or two the clearings impressed the Boss very much.The bushes and few stands were set aside in huge stacks to be burnt later.Should there be sufficient rainfall the areas cleared would be planted with Oil Palms.That pleased the Boss very much as Ken was able to convert those bushy land into Oil Palms without incurring much expenses.Within a year or so he had the whole plantation under oil Palms.

Next he targeted another larger plantation in Kuantan,here similarly all the old rubber were neglected.Much of the old rubber stands were not in tapping and many of its trees stolen.Ken took the initiative to clear all those land with the same bulldozer.Hilly areas were also terraced and planted up with Oil Palms.

Some outsiders were critical of his methods,little did they know that those replanting were completed at a limited cost.Only fuels for the Bulldozer and the drivers pay,that was all.Ken just laughed at them,his intention was only to satisfy one man that was the Boss.If the Boss was pleased with his performance all those critics can go to hell.

For all his hard work Ken was given very hefty increments year after year and big bonuses too.Never had the Boss been so generous and lavished his bonuses giving,Ken was the first and only one.So pleased was he that fire in him went extinct.The very unfortunate thing was that all the other staffs never had a share in his glories good tidings especially the assistant.All increments were only to him.

All these forced the poor Assistant to find another job fast for as long as he stayed he will never be promoted.Ken's presence also made him to finalize his departure plans.There was a lesson here,never tried to frighten any new man or immediate superior,he might turned out to be a crouching tiger in disguised.

Going back to the main plantation initially he had problems with the Mill,when Ken showed his mantle and that he was already in the good books of the Boss he relented and was extremely careful when dealing with Ken.Thus their relationship improved with him more friendly.So tertiary education or not it made no difference.It was the performance of the day that really called the shots at the end.

Within his fifteen years in that company after the first Engineer who resigned to venture into his own business cam another jovial Engineer.This man Albert Tey,quite brilliant engineer stayed there for almost three years and he and Ken could get along very fine.

Ken's headache should be the old tractors,it ought to be should all spare parts were new but Ken got a way out for he knew of a second hand shop selling used Ford tractors parts that really cut the costs of running with old tractors.Regular servicing of tractors was another turning point for Ken for monthly changing and checking kept most of the tractors in running order and maintenance down.

Truthfully all were not plain sailing all the ways as the Boss had craftily tested Ken's honesty as he too had heard vicious stories about Ken in his previous jobs.There were offers of cash by contractors and many others but Ken was beaten once ignored all their advances.In payments too he was very careful as all cash in transit and were supported by vouchers and signed,so he made sure no one can framed him.

Ever been given a cheque by a contractor,a blank cheque with only the payee 's signature?All Ken had to do was to filled up the amount wanted,four to five thousand "ringgit"?.Sensing it a trap Ken told the contractor,"I fill the amount and deduct that off from our payments due to you,alright?".The contractor apologized and left with his cheque,never to bother him again.

All existing spare parts shops were also checked,many of them the Boss's old friends,all gave him a frank statement that Ken never asked for or received any commission from them.Ken was too experienced for all these, it was too amateurish.

Ken was new to pest control here,the major pest here were the elephants.The boundary adjacent to the secondary jungle was constantly patrolled by night patrols in the plantation land rover.There was also a shed built there where night patrol rest and fire carbide cannons to frighten those elephants.The pest was so fearful as they destroy all the young palms along the boundaries and beyond so much the palms never had the chance to grow up.

Electrical fencing did not deter them from coming in.Efforts to poisoned them failed.The elephants were too smart for these.They seem well educated to avoid all of them with eased.The cost of maintaining night patrol was costly.

Menaces of these pests kept on increasing.This was so because all captured elephants from elsewhere were transported to the sanctuary in Gunong Tahan further north,but most of these elephants being low land pests thus sorted lowlands in the south.The Lepar valley was their natural habitats so by instincts all of them traveled southward.

Facing all these pests all the planters from those affected plantations,thus got together and decided to finish them off once and for all.They resorted to such drastic measures because all their reports to the relevant Authorities failed to achieve any good results if any.

Thus a bounty hunter was engaged to eradicate the pests once and for.Initially the pests were eradicated by Ken's "jaga" or guard.The guard was apparently not trust worthy so they switched to a Chinese hunter,an excellent hunter very well versed with the Lepar jungle just like the veins of his hands.Agreed bounty was ringgit three thousand per pest shot.

Within his career all in at least fourteen pests were eradicated.As prove of kill all the hunter had to show was only its tail with viewing of the carcass if possible.Most of the tails were buried within the compound of Ken's bungalow.

The Boss by now had full trust in Ken for he paid those bounty without any questioning.