By 1951, Borge Bek-Nielsen (Bek) had completed his engineering degree in Denmark and military service, and was reviewing job prospects. His application to United Plantations (UP) at Ulu Bernam Estate in Perak, caught the eye of Chief Engineer Axel Linquist.
UP had palm oil mills in Ulu Bernam and Jendarata Estate in Teluk Intan, Perak. These were two of 18 palm oil mills in then Malaya. All of them used machinery – and sometimes engineers – supplied by the marine engineering firm Gebr. Stork Apparatenfabriek of Amsterdam, Holland. After World War I, Stork had diversified into the design and manufacture of palm oil mills, many of which were sited along rivers for ease of transporting produce.
Stork’s offshoot expanded rapidly to become a global monopoly. Its customer relations were handled by Jan Olie, a big, genial Dutchman with a great flair for salesmanship. There were no competitors. The world’s big five plantation companies – United Fruit-Central America; Socfin- West Africa; Harrisons and Crosfield; Guthrie; and Barlows-Southeast Asia – were captured one by one.
Unilever Group in West Africa, the Belgian Congo and Malaya was the world’s largest user of crude palm oil – mainly for its soap factories – and provided its own engineering services. But the times were ready for change. UP’s decision to enter the palm oil machinery market was prompted by the retirement of Linquist. His successor as Chief Engineer was Bek, who promptly coined the slogan ‘Made at Ulu Bernam’.
The first company to commission Bek to design and build a palm oil mill was in Kedah. If he left Ulu Bernam by 4pm in his two-seater Citabria plane, he could inspect progress on the ground and return before dark. He designed and erected his second mill near Port Klang with the help of Danish palm oil engineer Worm Sorensen.
Dick Walsh, Senior Assistant at Harrisons and Crosfield’s Sungei Samak Estate, lived on the opposite side of the Bernam River from Bek’s house. Dick resigned from Sungei Samak in 1961 to pioneer an oil palm plantation investment at Tomanggong Estate on Sabah’s Segama River. He sought Bek’s help to build a palm oil mill.
Access to Tomanggong Estate from Sandakan harbour was an overnight journey through the Trusan Duyong, by sea across the delta of the Kinabatangan River, and then up the Segama River. Alternatively, a daily afternoon flight by Borneo Airways Twin Pioneer via Jesselton-Sandakan-Lahad Datu, followed by a short drive to the upper Segama River, allowed one to go down the river for three hours before reaching Tomanggong Estate.
Mill designed in Malaysia
Bek needed to assess the proposed mill requirements through a personal site review. One morning in 1964, he arrived in Jesselton from Kuala Lumpur in time to catch the Borneo Airways’ flight to Lahad Datu. The northeast monsoon was blowing hard down Sabah’s east coast. The weather had somewhat delayed the airline’s schedules, so it was almost dark before he set off downriver.
Tomanggong’s best passenger canoe crew faced rain squalls sweeping up the river. At one point, the canoe rounded a bend to be confronted by a family of wild boar swimming across the river. A passenger grabbed a piglet’s ear and dragged it aboard the canoe. The bowman’s torch reflected continuously off driftwood in the river.
Bek’s fingers grew numb from gripping the side of the canoe as it swerved on its way downstream. The rain didn’t let up. From his seat, Bek periodically bailed the bilge of the canoe’s centre section. He leaned forward out of the canopy to enquire “Berapa jauh lagi, encik?” to be told “Tidak jauh lagi, tuan” and the endless wet journey continued.
At the next bend of the river, the canoe was turned under a large fig tree to answer urgent requests for a relief stop. Everyone stretched stiff limbs. Shortly after, as if by the turn of a switch, the rain died away. Bek’s watch registered almost 10pm. Its luminous paint had all but given up the struggle. The bowman shivered but ventured, “Lima minute lagi, tuan”.
Ghostly shapes of riverside shacks, some with small lamps flickering, showed up in the light of the bowman’s powerful torch. The boat performed a U-turn to tie up at a simple jetty. Passengers scrambled out with wet suitcases and words of thanks. The bowman shook the fuel tank – which swished reassuringly – saying “Satu minute lagi, tuan” before casting off again.
The canoe rounded a final bend, towards a Petromax pressure lamp lighting up a jetty. A figure stood there under an umbrella. The piglet woke up and squealed. “What have you got there, Bek?” called Dick. “Your dinner,” replied Bek. “Next time, can you please make sure I arrive in daylight…”
The next morning, Bek toured Tomanggong’s undulating site comprising fertile volcanic tuff. He collected data on the number of staff and workers’ houses to be served by the mill’s water supply; the electricity and workshop facilities to service the land and tugboat transport services; and the number of palm oil storage tanks required. The situation was not unlike that of a brand-new Ulu Bernam Estate.
Bek’s Tomanggong mill layout would have allowed 5-a-side football to be played around the process floor. It is still there. Bek’s next two factories, at Sabahpalm Estate on the Labuk River and Lai Fook Kim Estate at the Sandakan Peninsula Scheme, were built around modest floor areas.
The Segama mill was Malaysia’s first to be built around two Usine de Wecker, Luxemburg winepresses. These were modified by Bek at Ulu Bernam to double the oil palm fruit throughput of the predecessors, Stork’s 4.5-ton FFB/hour automatic press.
Vickers Hoskins of Perth, Western Australia, provided the smoke tube boilers at half the price of Stork. A Singapore foundry provided the cast steel steriliser dished ends; British factories the compound steam alternator by Belliss Morcom; Switzerland the three-phase gear-motors which powered every machine; Sweden the oil clarification and sludge centrifuges; and Germany the Demag hoists. The Malaysian designed and built palm oil mill had arrived.
The day that Tomanggong’s mill entered service in 1969, Stork closed its Harrisons and Crosfield agency offices, never to sell another boiler, steriliser, automatic press or nutcracker in Malaysia.
In the early 1970s, Bek took over as General Manager of UP from fellow-Danes Ole and Mette Svenssen. He moved into Ole’s newly-completed bungalow at Jendarata Estate, across the road from the UP corporate offices.
He devoted time over the next two decades to design and build another 30 palm oil mills. These included three for UP in Perak. The first was at Seri Pelangi, Bidor, and the final pair – twins, each with a capacity of 100 tons FFB/hour – at UIE, the former Gula Perak, in Tanjung Malim. A replacement unit, six times larger than the original, was built at Ladang Basir, the renamed Ulu Bernam Estate.
‘Made at Ulu Bernam’ – and Malaysia’s first palm oil mill engineer – had come of age!
Moray K Graham
Retired Planter
