25Apr2001 MALAYSIA:
Big-foot sightings.
By Sager Ahmad.
THERE has been some reported sightings of hantu jarang gigi or big-foot in the vast Endau-Rompin park in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The shy, hairy and harmless creature is said to reside in the 40,197ha park but so far no image of it has been captured.
Orang Asli who live in the forest and officers from the Forestry Department, Rela members and some campers have reported of sightings of the big-foot from a distance or finding its footprint in wet soil.
The "creature" as described has dark brown hair covering its whole body, is about three meters tall and its footprint is about 45cm 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 big-foot 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.
Pahang State Women's Affair, Culture, Arts and Tourism Committee chairman Maznah Mazlan while launching a 4WD event in the forest reserve recently said the big-foot has a keen sense of smell and would run away from humans. She says it is believed that one way of seeing the big-foot is by not taking a bath for two weeks! There has been several sightings in the forest near Lubuk China, Malacca
and locals call the creature Ensut-Ensut. Its foot is inverted. Ghazali Yaacob, a surveyor, says villagers have reported having come face-to-face with the creature. The last sighting is of the creature running
out of a burning jungle with its young one in search of shelter.
In all the sightings, no one has reported of being threatened by big-foot in any way.
(c) 2001 New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad.