A LAND surveyor plays a crucial role in national development and the smooth running of a government. An authority cannot govern and administer when it does not know the boundaries and physical feature of the country.
When the East India Company came here, they brought a surveyor, John Turnbull Thomson, to survey Penang and Singapore even though they had not yet fully annexed Malaya.
Later, more Europeans came, both surveyors and British civil servants.
When the British finally colonised Malaya, they already knew every inch of the country. They started mapping the boundaries of the Malay peninsula into several states, districts and mukims. The purpose was to hold and extend its authority.
Subsequently, they taught Malayans land surveying.
The first local surveyors were two Singapore-born Malays, Yahya Awaludin and Muhamad Salleh Perang.
Land surveying involves measuring everything — hill, mountain, valley, river and sea. A surveyor also measures the sky, and plays an important role in determining the sighting of the crescent moon, which marks the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadan.
When a survey is carried out, a surveyor will produce an intelligent plan.
There are only three traditional colours used by a land surveyor: blue for water, red for important government buildings and black for railway lines.
All the plans are kept at the Survey Department for future surveyors to make references.
When the Kelantan government expanded the town of Gua Musang in the 1980s, it had to refer to a survey plan compiled in 1925.
Survey plans are important government documents, particularly when countries are in confrontation with one another.
A surveyor can refix lost boundary marks.
The public cannot see the work of a surveyor as they can the work of an engineer.
Nonetheless, an engineer requires the mapping and measurements from a surveyor before constructing a road, building or bridge.
Indeed, in whatever development, the surveyor will be the first to be on the land. The land is normally thick jungle.
This is one of the reasons why the public cannot see the surveyor at work.
Secondly, a surveyor does not use heavy equipment, such as bulldozers, steamrollers or tipper trucks.
A surveyor only has a compass, a tripod to mount the compass, three rolls of steel bands, a 10lb-puller and a team of six professional workers. They carry all the equipment on their backs, just like how a soldier carries his weapon.
The surveyor and his workers traverse the jungle and survey the areas as far as requested.
A large area will require the surveyor and his team to camp in the jungle.
It is hoped that the public can now understand the crucial role of surveyors.
Not only in nation building, but as an important agent in upkeeping the nation’s restricted maps and plans.
Article Source: Abdullah Sani Ismail, ex-Kelantan Settlement Officer
