The Star, Sunday, January 30, 2000
By Jacqueline Ann Surin

PETALING JAYA: The millennium jump at the South Pole was known to have been called off as early as Dec 12--more than two weeks before the Fikiran Syndicate eight-member Malaysian team left for its expedition at the end of the month..

E-mail correspondence from the Russian and American organisers and one international participant made available to The Star showed that requests for refunds were being made from as early as Dec 12.

One e-mail from Bob Christ, the American coordinator of the non-Russian participants, to the Russians, requested for a refund of US$196,006 for 10 participants "due to non-completion of the expedition objectives."

Another e-mail dated Dec 13 from British participant Dr Paul L. Borrill to Christ stated a wish to withdraw from the expedition and asked for a refund of US$19,425 because "the jump has been cancelled".

It is learnt that these e-mail messages were carbon copied to Fikiran Syndicate, the Malaysian coordinator for the event.

In a letter dated Jan 16 from Fikiran Syndicate Millennium Jump 2000 organising chairman G. Siva Kumar to Christ, Siva Kumar asked for a refund of US$10,000 per team member because "the trip to the geographical South Pole has been called off".

However, in another letter dated Jan 17 to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Siva Kumar reported that the team had successfully made a jump over the South Pole on Jan 13, and invited Dr Mahathir to receive the team upon their arrival home at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Upon his return last week, Siva Kumar told the press that he only learnt on Jan 18 that the jump had not taken place, and blamed the 45th Russian Antarctic Expedition organisers for the "misleading information".

Siva Kumar also said the Malaysian team was unable to contact him in Punte Arenas, Chile, because the Russians controlled the sole satellite phone that was available.

In an interview in Kuala Lumpur, Dr Kamaruddin M. Isa, spokesman for a splinter group of the expedition, said the Malaysian team in Patriot Hills had daily phone conversations with the Punte Arenas secretariat.

"There were two satellite phones--one belonging to the Russian organiser and another to a French participant of the expedition," he said yesterday, adding the Russians charged US$8 a minute while the French charged US$5 a minute.

Dr Kamaruddin, who kept a diary, said the Malaysian team received one phone call from the secretariat at about 3pm on Jan 13 telling them to go out and take a picture with the Malaysian flag and the snow buggies.

"It is untrue that there was no communication. One of the Malaysians even managed to make a phone call back to Malaysia," Dr Kamaruddin said. He said he submitted a full report to Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ong Tee Keat last week.

Dr Kamaruddin said he felt duty-bound as a Malaysian to lodge a report against the team for misleading the country.