Lest we forget. Yet I had, as evidenced by my dismal lack of awareness of the Sandakan Death March. A visit to the Kundasang War Memorial in Sabah righted that unforgivable wrong, and should be on the itinerary of anyone visiting the area.
I don’t know whether to blame the Malaysian education system or myself. History is a fascinating subject when brought to life but in the race for academic excellence we forget to see the forest for the trees, and history ends up being no more than a collection of random facts that evaporates upon contact with an exam paper, rather than interconnecting events with a bearing on the present.
Were it not for Hollywood, even my rudimentary rememberings of dates and events surrounding WWII would have been lost in a sea of useless facts and trivia amassed over time. Instead The Bridge Over The River Kwai, Thin Red Line and Railway Man, fictionalised versions of true events of WWII, provided my education with context – how sad and fortunate at the same time.
With so few examples of the war’s impact on Malaysia, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak, it was both a surprise and a blessing to come across the incredibly humbling Kundasang War Memorial.
Set on a hill behind a square of shophouses and row of fruit and vegetable stalls, we discovered it while wandering the town the evening before the big climb up Gunung Kinabalu.
Atop a winding path are three gardens, each quiet sanctuaries dedicated to the allied POWs and locals that died during the Borneo Death March and Japanese Occupation – the grass square of the Australian Garden, the rose bushes and florals of the English Garden, and the wild foliage of the Borneo Garden.
A heart-breaking 2345 soldiers perished in the Sandakan Death March. Captured by the Japanese during the Battle of Singapore, the mostly Australian and Kiwi soldiers were shipped to Sandakan and used as manual labour. When the military airfield they built (now Sandakan airport) was bombed, the POWs were forced to march to Ranau 260 kilometres away.
Sent there in 3 waves, the strongest first to build the camp and carry supplies, each wave of men was progressively weaker and sicker with fewer rations between them. Many perished en route or were shot. The last to go were sent into oblivion with no hope of arriving – they managed only 50 kilometres. You have to wonder to what end they were sent at all.
Even those that made it were not sparred and died from starvation, disease and further brutality by their captors. By the war’s end only 6 survived the ordeal and only because they had escaped. 6. Out of 2345. Sabahans were not sparred either. 16% of the population died during the occupation.
The gravity of this terrible tragedy had not been apparent to me before I visited the Kundasang War Memorial, but I could see it was a fitting tribute.
The final Contemplation Garden is reached after you ascend through the three others and is a series of columns surrounding a reflective pool, hills to its left, the imposing mountain towering over it – Aki Nabalu as it is known locally, the place where dead spirits go to rest. On the right are rows of names, young men, some no more than boys, now interred here on Malaysian soil, forever part of us. They came and never saw their home and families again; it is our duty to ensure their sacrifices are not forgotten.
Kundasang War Memorial is open from 8.30am to 5.30pm. Entrance is RM2 for Malaysians, RM10 for non-Malaysians, and RM1 for students in uniform and children under 12.
In honour of the fallen, you can recreate the final steps of these men by trekking the Sandakan Death March trail. Australian based company Wild Spirit Adventures runs a 10-day trek on average twice a month that as faithfully as possible retraces the steps of these doomed allied POWs. Local outfit TYK Treks also offer a 9- and 12-day trek option. The latter includes a visit to Labuan’s Commonwealth War Groves Cemetery where the POWs are buried.
POKOK KELAPA 