KOTA KINABALU: The families of eight people killed during the Japanese Occupation are requesting the state government to set up a separate monument at the Petagas World War 2 Memorial Park to remember their struggle.
The eight, whose names were last year inscribed on a plaque for fallen heroes at the park’s existing monument, are Mohinder Singh Harnam Singh Kalsi, Lothar Wong Manjaji, Vitalianus Joseph Lim @ Ubing, Paul Lee Fook Onn @ Paul Lee Onn, Simon Thien, Bung Ah Tee @ Stephen Pan Tet Liong, Chong Pin Sin and Lim Hock Beng.
They joined 176 others, all of whom were mostly members of the Kinabalu Guerillas led by Albert Kwok.
Dymphna Ubing, 54, said the eight, including her grandfather Vitalianus, were not part of Kinabalu Guerillas.
“After the Albert Kwok situation, they (the eight people in question) continued the fight against the Japanese along with other locals. We are requesting for a separate memorial wall because the existing one is dedicated to the Kinabalu Guerillas.
“At the end of last year, we met with the state secretary to discuss this matter and we hope we were able to persuade them. The response was quite positive,” she said, adding that the families have also identified an area for the monument within the Petagas WW2 Park.
Her 60-year-old brother Wilfred said Vitalianus, along with Lothar, were last seen at St Michael Church in Penampang on May 19, 1945, when they were captured by Japanese soldiers.
“When a (Catholic) Monsignor was taken away, he had asked our grandfather along with others to look after the church property. On May 19, they were captured and they were never heard from.
“The families didn’t know what happen to them until two years ago, we got evidence from war trials at Changi, Singapore,” he said.
The families had gained access to information from the United Kingdom’s National Archives in Kew, England, 70 years after the war crime trials in Changi ended.
According to trial documents, during Stage 3 of the Japanese Army’s Defence Corps Battle Plan (of May 1945), a Kempeitai (Japanese military police) captain by the name of Harada Kensei issued three orders of “Senjo” or “eradication” of “eight civilians” identified as “detrimental elements” on the Kempeitai Blacklist for participating in anti-Japanese “subversive activities”.
According to historical records, Vitalianus and Lothar were arrested by the Nishijima-Tai Unit based at Penampang for allegedly actively instructing the local people to attack Japanese communications from the rear in the event of an Allied landing.
They were also suspected of making parang and spears in preparation for an uprising and also of engaging in activities to prevent the Japanese from hiring coolies.
An eyewitness reported how the veins of the men’s arms were slashed before they were beheaded between 8pm and 10pm on June 13, 1945. Their bodies have never been found.
Earlier this morning, a memorial service was held before a crowd comprising family members of the WW2 fallen heroes, State government representative Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Christina Liew, the armed forces, as well as dignitaries from the Australian High Commission, Indonesian Consulate and Kota Kinabalu Chinese Consulate-General Office.
Speaking to reporters, Liew, who is also Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, said the annual memorial service was significant and she would look into having the Tourism Department study ways make Petagas WW2 a tourism hotspot.
“Since the memorial park is near the city, I’m going to bring this up to my ministry to see if we can improve and transform it into a historical site in memory of the people who were killed in defending our state,” she said.