Located in Sandakan Bay, Malaysian state of Sabah, the Berhala island is a small forested island. Before World War II (WWII), the island was used as a layover station for labourers coming from China and the Philippines. There was also a leper colony on the island. Then during WWII, the Japanese used the quarantine station […]
When it comes to prisoner-of-war (POW) camps in Malaysian Borneo, most people immediately think of Batu Lintang in Kuching and Sandakan POW camps. What is less known is that Labuan had a POW camp for some time during World War II (WWII). The purpose of Labuan POW Camp By 1944, the Japanese military decided to […]
The forgotten Javanese forced labourers or romusha of Sandakan during WWII The Allied Prisoners of Wars (POWs) who were taken to Sandakan during World War II (WWII) had one job, to build an airstrip for the Japanese. The site of the Sandakan airstrip was selected during WWII for a United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force (RAF) […]
“In the Sandakan prisoners’ compound, Warrant Officer Hisao Murozumi had his sword raised. It would be the last atrocity in this camp in this backwater of war. Terrible things happen in battle. In the heat and smoke of it, morality enters a strange world. Killing is survival. What Murozumi was about to do was barbarism. […]
Somewhere in a village called Kawang in Sabah, stands an obelisk called the De Fontaine Memorial. It was built by the British North Borneo Company (BNBC) to remember what took place on that spot on May 12, 1885. On that day, a group of British officials from the BNBC and members of the North Borneo […]
Do you know that there was a so-called rescue plan for the Sandakan Death Marches code-named Operation Kingfisher? The death march was a series of forced marches in Borneo from Sandakan to Ranau which resulted to the deaths of 1,047 prisoners-of-war (POWs). Meanwhile, the remaining 1,381 never left the Sandakan camp and died there. If […]
Just like Sarawak, many of North Borneo (present-day Sabah)’s territories were part of the Brunei Sultanate. These territories were slowly annexed by the British North Borneo Chartered Company (BNBC) into the British North Borneo including Sipitang. The people of Sipitang (Sepitong, Sipitong or Si Pitong) So what is it like in Sipitang during those days? […]
Somewhere near the Tanjung Batu Street of Tawau, Sabah there is an old cemetery site. There, Japanese people were laid to rest. One might assume that they died during World War II (WWII) when Sabah was under Japanese occupation. However, a vast majority of them died way before the Second World War. Who were these […]
When a soldier serves in a war for his country, it is out of patriotism. But what happens when soldiers fight in a war for a country that colonised them? After World War II (WWII), many Korean and Taiwanese (Formosan) soldiers were convicted for war crimes alongside Japanese troops. How did they end up fighting […]
On Nov 1, 1881, the British North Borneo Chartered Company (BNBCC) was formed to administer and exploit the resources of North Borneo (present-day Sabah). The territory then became a protectorate of the British Empire in 1888. At that time, BNBCC was lack of funds to develop the territory. Hence, the company started to offer territorial […]
