OUR heading last Sunday said: ‘One picture located long lost Rundum station, rebellion’.
Actually, the picture didn’t do it – but interest, a tireless interest, to track its whereabouts to the end did it!
Pouring all his mind, heart, soul and might into any issue till a breakthrough is characteristic of veteran trekker Tham Yau Kong
For example, he could spend 10 years between 2005-2016 tracking down the long lost 265km Death March route and never rested until he was sure he got it right, based eventually on a 74-year old Australian Army Mud Map.
This time, he again succeeded in pin-pointing the exact spot of the long lost Rundum Station dubbed the First Interior District Office of British North Borneo, based on one single century-old picture of the Station published by British historian, North Borneo civil servant in his book entitled “British North Borneo – An Account of its History, Resources and Native Tribes”.
An attractive architecture and a nasty rebellion
The search success is good for Sabah.
First, the architecture of the District Office looks very attractive and set in such a primeval jungle landscape that the State Government should seriously consider replicating it together with a full conservation of its jungle context.
Rebellion a lesson on how not to govern
Next, its discovery opens a window to a nasty episode called the Rundum Rebellion depicted as “a storm of tremendous violence” which flared up in February-mid April 1915 in which hundreds were killed.
The lesson from this long-forgotten deadly Rundum rebellion remains sharply instructive and relevant to not just Malaysian politicians and governments but also to all the great powers of the world that should be very careful on how not to govern, imposing and enforcing their own codes on peoples they hardly know and understand, triggering turbulent local and world conditions.
Rundum idea planted by teacher 43 years ago
The purpose of this second series is to plot the time sequence which led Tham to unearth the exact site of the Old Rundum Station, believe it or not, starting 1978 and ending on October 20-21, 2021, an incredible span of 43 years!
As Tham had said previously, an Indian teacher at St Anthony Tenom planted that interest when he asked in a Form 4 class in 1978: “Any of you know about the famous Murut Warrior Ontoros Antanom?”
“No one answered, but I kept Antanom and the Rundum Rebellion in my mind,” Tham said.
Forty-three years passed, it looked like nothing had happened.
Logging ramped up urgent recent search events
But the recent spectre of a full-scale logging triggered his alarm and the old flame of interest in Rundum rekindled.
He said: “When logging started in early 2019 because they wanted to build an access road to a mini hydro dam, former Assemblyman for Rundum, Jamawi Jaafar, managed to stop it because he thought tourism is more important for the community.
“I think the logging alarmed the locals because by 2019, they were already promoting Rundum Highland Community Tourism at the new village which is 8km from the uninhabited original old Rundum village.”
Readers may not know New Rundum is distinct from Old Rundum, where our current interest is.
New Rundum versus Old Rundum
Despite its distinguished history, valley and river-bound Old Rundum is abandoned.
The reason?
“In the late 1970s, former Chief Minister Datuk Harris visited it and apparently directed then District Native Chief, Tampisan Ambuh (father of Rosli Tampisan), to shift the settlement to a top of the ridge log pond 8km away, where he encouraged them to plant temperate vegetables and fruits like cabbage, asparagus and apples,” Tham said.
But here is a post 2018 election move that triggered Tham’s old flame on the history of Rundum.
Rundum highland tourism move in 2018 caught Tham’s zeal
“When I heard Assemblyman Jamawi Jaafar started to implement the New Rundum Highland Community Tourism to match that of Kundasang which he pledged in his of 2018 election manifesto, it fired up my old interest on the history of the famous Rundum Rebellion,” Tham recalled.
January 2019 – the frustrating debut trek to Rundum
“I never met Jamawi, but when I saw Rosli Tampisan promoting it in his Facebook, I contacted him. Although I couldn’t reach him until October, I kept it up.
“By early January 2019, I headed for my first trip into Rundum with Rosli and my son, I did not make it to Old Rundum, my son and Rosli did but still, we came back with very limited knowledge of Rundum’s history.
“It was very frustrating so in February 2019, I went to Wisma Merdeka and bought Owen Rutter’s book ‘British North Borneo’, republished by Opus Publications.”
Disappointing story on Rundum Rebellion from Owen Rutter but his picture stuck home!
“Again, I was frustrated because Rutter’s story on the Rundum Rebellion was disappointingly sketchy, but what sparked my imagination was his picture of the old Rundum District Office with a forested hill at the backdrop,” Tham remembered.
December 2019 trek – Rutter picture identified site but did not see the bottles
“That was all I needed to track down the Rundum Station, I said to myself, I got the picture enlarged. Come December 9-12, 2019, I headed out again with son Tham Kin Leng and Rosli for a two-night stay and armed with Rutter’s picture, we identified the site beyond doubt but we did not see the bottles, nor the radio casing, nor the iconic Minimax fire extinguisher then because we did not explore the site in detail,” Tham said.
Nothing happened in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
April 2021: Locals built temporary memorial
“But something did happen on 22-3 April 2021. Having confirmed the site of Rundum Station, I asked Rosli Tampisan to mark the original site with a temporary memorial, and he did.”
“My idea was to get a permanent memorial built and had planned a trip for August 5-6 to bring in a few Sabah Tourism officers to make a decision but further travel restrictions under MCO (Movement Control Order) spoiled that plan.”
Oct 20-21: Spectacular discovery of cache of bottles, radio and iconic Minimax fire extinguisher
“Finally, D-Day October 20-21 this year was a day of spectacular success,” Tham celebrated.
“Not only did I successfully brought Sabah Tourism Products Manager, Edmond Joikinin, Assistant Products Manager, Dexter R’dy and Halinah Hassan, Senior Products Manager, to trek into old Rundum, this time, we stumbled upon a cache of old bottles of all shapes and sizes, a radio casing and a Minimax fire extinguisher that identified the exact site of the original old Rundum Station.”
“We left New Rundum at 3pm and by 7pm, reached Old Rundum where we pitched tent by the river bank,” Tham said. “The morning after, October 21, Rosli walked us 200 metres further in than he used to do and that’s when the amazing sight of the bottles, radio and fire extinguisher caught our eyes,” Tham noted.
“This cache of old bottles, radio casing and the Minimax fire extinguisher are hard proofs of the actual old Rundum District site which will be very valuable attractions for historical tours in the future, “ Tham noted.
When so called ‘British forts’ turned out to be just holes
“But for a long time, I had heard stories of British forts played big in my mind, so I was hoping to see some solid fortress buildings but they turned out to be no more than just holes on the ground with some not so big boulders around the edges,” Tham said.
“But Rosli proved that he could be a good local guide.
“From the disappointing forts, he took us to a site which purportedly housed two Chinese shops but there are no signs of them now, except a lot of Arabica coffee plants.”
Large graveyards and jars
“Lastly, Rosli walked us half a kilometre to see a graveyard where we saw about 10 burial jars strewn and abandoned in the bush.
“But according to Rosli, there is a much bigger graveyard about one kilometre further away with a few hundred jars, including a very large jar but most curiously, a prominent concrete cross marked one of graves which raises a mystery – whose grave is it? An expatriate or a local?” Tham said.
New Rundum Resthouse atop scenic highland
After the great Oct 20-21 breakthrough trip to old Rundum, Tham and Sabah Tourism officers left at 12.30pm October 21 for a walk back to a posh New Rundum Resthouse overlooking a scenic landscape that was meant to be opened by former Chief Minister, Datuk Shafie Apdal, meant to be a touch base for New Rundum Highland Community Tourism.
Sabah Tourism decision: Permanent memorial planned
The good news is – Sabah Tourism Products managers unanimously decided that a permanent memorial will be built to mark the old Rundum Station.
Highland New Rundum village on the ridge top. Note a brand new resthouse at left.
Tham (right), Rosli Tampisan (centre) and Sabah Tourism officers in front of the temporary memorial at the Old Rundum Station.
Former Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh and former District Native Chief of Old Rundum.
‘British forts’ turned out to be just holes with boulders around the edges. Here,Rosli did a mock shooting.
Lone cross at an unmarked graveyard in Old Rundum.
Huge jar at an abandoned graveyard in Old Rundum.
Flat-side bottles found at the Old Rundum District office site.
