Record 350 Aussies turn out for Anzac Day in Sandakan

Sandakan: A record 350 Australians turned out for the centenary dawn Anzac Day commemoration held at the Sandakan Memorial Park on Friday morning. Leading the pack of attendees were Dr Angela MacDonald, Australian deputy High Commissioner to Malaysia, Paul Rennie, British deputy High Commissioner to Malaysia, Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri, deputy Defence Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun, Culture, Tourism and Environment Minister Sabah and Datuk Ir James Wong, President of the Sandakan Municipal Council.

Dr. MacDonald said centenary Anzac commemorates the 100th anniversary of the first landings on the Gallipoli Peninsular by Australian and New Zealand troops on 25 April 1915 and the subsequent campaign, which is now held across the world and Australia in communities, towns and cities.

The Gallipoli campaign cost Australia 11,500 men killed out of the 60,000 troops and in total, Australia lost 100,000 men in all wars.

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Dr MacDonald said the idea is not only to honour the services and sacrifice of these men and also the families of the fallen soldiers , and cited how she also lost a great uncle, Private Walter MacDonald who was killed in action in Lone Pine, in the Dardanelles campaign.

"It is such spirits that are by their lives, securing the liberty and future peace and safety of the country and Europe," she said, although the campaign remembered at Sandakan centres on a very different war where more than 15,000 of the 20,000 Australian defence personnel who served in Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore were taken prisoners of war and one-third of the POWs died.

She cited Private Leslie Prior, Victor Gordon Brabham, Frank Herbert Robertson and Gerard Alexander Graham.

"War for these men and their mates was not like the theaters of Gallipoli . Here we remember Australian and British soldiers who died following years of imprisonment and almost unimaginable privation, cruelty, torture , starvation and illness," she said.

But the similarities amidst all these differences of experience is in their bravery, sense of duty and their ultimate sacrifice bent of securing liberty and future and peace and safety, Dr MacDonald repeated.

As an Australian, she says she remembers and honour the Sabahan who found the "humanity" to help, shelter and feed the Aussie and British POWS in their dire need.

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"Sabahans had given something even more precious – ongoing friendship among families and understanding between two countries , " said said .

However, she said although all might wish that liberty, peace and safety had been won all time by all these sacrifices, the reality is Australian servicemen and women are still answering the call of duty with their lives at risk with soldier departing for Iraq just last week.

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