Locals who aided PoWs praised
Published on: Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Mardinah Jikur
Vivian, Matt and others present at Sandakan Anzac Day Service 2024 at Sandakan Memorial Park.
SANDAKAN: Australia’s Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite on Thursday paid tribute to Malaysians who assisted Australian and British soldiers during World War II in Sandakan.
They said the war and those who perished should always be remembered. “It is wonderful that we have descendants of locals who showed great bravery and courage and sacrifice to assist Australian soldiers during the war.
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“Each year, 25th April during Anzac Day, we pay tribute to them,” he said, at the Sandakan Anzac Day Service 2024 at Sandakan Memorial Park, Thursday.
Also present were Sandakan Member of Parliament Vivian Wong Shir Yee representing Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor and Sandakan Municipal Council President, Henry Idol.
Among present were veterans, Australian, British and Malaysian descendants of the soldiers who perished in Sandakan as well as the Sandakan Death March.
Matt
Matt thanked the people of Sandakan and Malaysian authorities for allowing Australians to come here every year to pay their respects.
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“We are in deep gratitude to the Malaysian people and the people of Sandakan for preserving this memorial, keeping these beautiful parks and gardens in magnificent state.
“They are a great symbol of the strong bond that exists between our two nations and peoples,” he said.
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He added it’s grown even stronger in recent years with the establishment of the comprehensive economic partnership around around commerce and defence.
In her speech, Vivian said the memory of the prisoners of war who suffered and perished during the infamous Death Marches “is etched into the very soil upon which we stand.”
“We honour their courage, their strength, and their sacrifices,” she said. “The freedoms we enjoy today were paid for with the lives of those who believed in a future they would never see.
“Their legacy is our responsibility; to remember them is to commit to peace, to understanding, and to the safeguarding of the dignity of all humanity,” she said, and expressed gratitude to veterans and representatives of the Australian Government present.
“Your presence ensures that the sacrifices made are never forgotten and the lessons of history are carried forward.”
For the record, some 2,700 Australian and British PoWs, majority of whom were captured at the surrender at Singapore in February 1942, were imprisoned in Sandakan and used as a labour to build a military airstrip.
Early in 1945, the Japanese decided to move the POWs 260km to Ranau. On the three forced marches between January and June, approximately 500 prisoners died.
The remaining prisoners died at the Sandakan and Ranau Camps.
Two of the six survivors escaped into the jungle during the second march in June 1945. Assisted by locals, they were eventually picked up by Allied units.
Another four escaped from Ranau in July and were also fed and hidden from the Japanese by locals until the end of the war.
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