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A Bisaya legend of how a sago tree came into existence

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A Bisaya legend of how a sago tree came into existence

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Every culture has its unique legends and most of these legends were used to explain things surrounding them.

These legends usually circle around how certain plants or animals were discovered or came into being.

Sometimes, they also explain why some creatures or plants are not found in the area.

For example here in Borneo, we have a legend of how paddy was discovered or why there are no tigers on this island.

Here is a Bisaya legend of how a sago tree was discovered as recorded by Benedict Sandin in his paper The Bisayah and Indigenous Peoples of Limbang (1972):

One day, there was a very poor Bisaya man who went into the jungle to look for anything to eat, as no one in the village would give him food.

After he had wandered for about 10 days in the jungle, he nearly died of starvation until he came across a woman who spoke kindly to him.

After staying with her for sometime, they got married.

(Now here is where things in their marriage get somewhat bizarre.)

When it was time to eat, the man was served sago pellets by his wife which came out from her private parts.

On seeing this, the man asked his wife, “Why do you give me dirty stuff?”

To this the woman answered, “You may kill me if you wish.” Furious, the man killed her with his knife.

But before she died, she advised him that whenever he wished to eat sago, he should make a small hole in the ground so that the sago pellets could easily come out from the earth.

After she had finished giving her advice, she died instantly in the hands of her husband.

Immediately after she had died, a small sago tree grew from that spot, becoming the first sago tree to grow in that part of Limbang region.

Think about this legend the next time you are having your sago.

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Get to know the three principal sources of Iban augury

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Where were omens believed to have come from? Get to know the three principal sources of Iban augury

In Iban augury, believers rely on different ways to receive indicative omens when making a decision or taking an action.

The omens can be deliberately sought or accidentally encountered.

According to Clifford Sather in his paper Iban Agriculture Augury (1985), the Ibans viewed augury as a form of spiritual communication.

Animals such as birds are what the Iban described as the earthly manifestations of gods and spiritual heroes.

“In entering the physical world, they assume the outward form of natural species, always appearing to mankind the same form whenever they present themselves. Thus, each species has a specific connection with the spiritual world, and it is largely in terms of these connections that individual omens are interpreted and function, from the Iban point of view, as media of communications,” Sather stated.

But where do these omens come from? Here are what Sather pointed out as the three principal sources of Iban augury:

1.Singalang Burong

The first and most important is Singalang Burong. In the world of Iban mythology, he is the most powerful of the Iban deities, the god of war and male prowess.

He used seven omen birds to give warnings and guidance for his people.

The seven omen birds are rufous piculet (ketupong), banded kingfisher (embuas), scarlet-rumped trogon (beragai), Diard’s trogon (papau or kalabu), crested jay (bejampong), maroon woodpecker (pangkas) and white-rumped shama (nendak).

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Kingfisher

These seven birds are the crucial omens in Iban augury.

Each of the seven bird omens has its own meaning. For example, the appearance of beragai during clearing of field when farming is considered auspicious.

2.Orang Panggau

Another major source of Iban augury are reptiles associated with the spiritual heroes or Orang Panggau.

Sather stated, “The world of the Orang Panggau represents an ideal image of the traditional society of the Iban themselves; its inhabitants are conceptualised as dwelling in a riverine land (menoa Panggau), present in this world but invisible to man except in dreams.”

Moreover, they frequently act through dream revelations.

Orang Panggau are often associated with knowledge of useful plants and traditional skills. Through dreams, they come to aid of craftsmen and warriors giving their helpful advise.

In the meantime as omens, they appear as snakes to become the guardian of the Iban people.

Sather listed four snake omens which are sent by Orang Panggau. These are cobra (tedong), python (sawa), coral snake (kendawang) and king cobra (belalang).

The presence of these augury snake means danger to humans hence it is advisable to return home and take a day off.

Overall, the appearance of snake omens are generally inauspicious. It forewarns of a family death, serious illness and a sign to choose a new farms it.

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3.Simpulang Gana

Like Singalang Burong, Simpulang Gana is a major deity in Iban mythology. He is the god of agriculture and custodian of the earth.

He presides over rice-farming on top of sending farming omens.

Sather stated, “The earth is Simpulang Gana’s personal domain. Thus he has a special connection with rice fields and associated with him are a number of animals and insects especially linked with the earth.”

His principal augural emissaries are belangkiang lizard, hairy caterpillar (ulat bulu), tarsier (ingkat), loris (bengkang), monitor lizard (menarat), mouse deer (pelandok), porcupine (landak), barking deer (kijang), bear (beruang), wild boar (jani) and sambar deer (rusa).

For instance, it is generally considered auspicious to discover either loris, tarsier or belangkiang lizard when clearing a new farm site.

Interestingly, Sather pointed out, “The belangkiang lizard should be cut open, and is acknowledged, as a rule, only if eggs are found inside its stomach. The number of eggs is said to equal the number of paddy bins the farmer can expect to fill at the time of harvest.”

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What happened to the 300 prisoners of Labuan POW camp during WW2?

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Batu Lintang Camp FOSM
Flying over the prisoner of war camp (POW) in Batu Lintang at a low height, RAAF Beaufighter pilots reported sighting white POWs, clad in khaki shorts, who excitedly waved as the RAAF aircraft flew over to drop leaflets announcing Japan’s surrender. Credits: Public Domain (Copyright expired). https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C242106

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 build an airstrip on Labuan to give additional air cover for Brunei Bay.

Captain Nagai Hirawa was appointed to command the Labuan POW Camp. He arrived in Labuan with 300 British POWs from Sandakan on June 16, 1944.

Another 200 POWs arrived from Kuching on Aug 15, 1944.

According to post-war investigation report, the camp was originally sited on the grounds of the Victoria Golf Club.

However due to the constant air raids by Allied forces over the waterfront area, the campsite was moved to a new compound 3 miles north of the harbour.

It was here that the POWs were kept until they departed for Brunei on Mar 7, 1945.

Tracing the steps of the prisoners

Agnes McEwan and Campbell Thompson summarised briefly the footsteps of POWS in Labuan.

“In August 1944, Tom Tadman, Charles Shun, John Parker and Frederick Wain were among a group of 300 sent to Labuan to construct an airfield intended for the defence of a fleet anchorage planned for Brunei Bay,” they stated.

Reportedly, life was not too bad for the POWs. Things changed in October that year when the Allies began bombing airfields in the region, including Labuan.

The Japanese started to reduce rations for the prisoners and then the death tolls began to increase significantly.

On Jan 23, 1945 Captain Nagai left for Ranau and his place was taken by Sergeant Major Sugino.

McEwan and Thompson wrote, “By March 1945, 188 of the prisoners taken to Labuan had died. Due to the proximity of Allied shipping, the remainder began the move back to Kuching.”

On their way to meet deaths

Captain Nagai claimed that POWs were given quinine for their malaria. Even so, with the lack of food combined with heavy labour that they were forced to do, it came as no surprise why many of them did not survive.

The group arrived in Brunei on Mar 8, 1945 and remained there until the beginning of May.

By this time, only 82 men arrived from the initial 300.

From there, the remaining 82 men were taken to Kuala Belait and on to Miri on May 28.

Then on June 8, the POWs had now been reduced to 46. The Japanese ordered them to make their way into the jungle along a rough track where they rested for two days.

McEwan and Thompson stated, “There the Japanese officer in charge, Sergeant Major Sugino, received news that the Australian 9th Division had landed at Brunei Bay, only 125 miles away. As a precaution against the prisoners being rescued, Sugino decided to put into operation the Final Disposition – the murder of all POWs.”

They were shot to death and their bodies buried by the guards.

In search of one of the soldiers continues

In 2017, the Telegraph reported on how a retiree living in London had spent much of the past 75 years looking for his brother’s grave.

Len Tadman talked about how he and his two sisters had visited Singapore and Borneo five times trying to retrace his brother’s steps.

So what happened to Len’s brother, Tom Tadman?

McEwan and Thompson in their book revealed some of the fates of these prisoners of Labuan POWs camp, including Tom’s.

Tom, or Lance Bombardier Thomas Tadman, died in Brunei on Apr 3, 1945. His cause of death is unknown.

Meanwhile, others who were part of the Labuan group like Gunner Charles Shun, Staff Sergeant John Parker and Gunner Frederick Wain who died in Labuan at different times throughout 1944 to 1945 were also never recovered.

What happened to Labuan POW camp?

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Military police guard four Japanese officers of the Borneo Prisoners of War and Internees Guard Unit, outside the Australian 9th Division Headquarters where they were to appear at a war crimes trial, Labuan Island, December 1945. AWM 123170

Soldiers of the Australian 24th Brigade landed in Labuan on June 10, 1945. They quickly captured the harbour and main airfield.

Meanwhile, the Japanese offered little resistance as they were greatly outnumbered.

When the Australian forces arrived at the abandoned Labuan POW camp in June, they only found unmarked graves.

After the Allied forces liberated POW camps in Batu Lintang and Sandakan, they started to round up the Japanese soldiers and their Formosan guards responsible for abuses and killings.

They housed them in the former Labuan POW camp site and turned the site into a military court.

Labuan became one of the 16 locations of the war crime trials held between December 1945 and January 1946.

During one of the trials, Sugino was charged with having ‘caused to be killed 46 POWs at Miri on June 10, 1945’. He was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Of the 300 POWs who had left for Labuan in 1944, not even one was left alive. Hence, none was left to tell their stories of what really happened at Labuan POW camp.

Formosan Guards

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The cession of Sipitang by Brunei Sultanate to British North Borneo

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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? Owen Rutter in his book British North Borneo: an account of its history, resources and native tribes (1922) had some answers.

Describing the little town, Rutter wrote, “Sipitong, the headquarters of the district, is near the mouth of the Sipitong river, which flows into Brunei Bay. It is a lonely little station; although the district is the centre of the native sago industry it has never been developed by European enterprise, chiefly owing to the transport difficulties, an although it has been partially opened up with bridle-paths it is one of the least-known districts in the country.”

Rutter also pointed out there was Bruneians settlement found in Sipitang. While they were mainly farmers, the Bruneians were more known as boat builders. He wrote, “The Sipitong Bruneis being especially famous. They are of course immigrants pure and simple, but have firmly established themselves in the country of their adoption.”

“… they are noted in particular for the pakerangan, a canoe-shaped boat, but wide of beam and about thirty feet long, with a single square sail, or paddles for river work.”

The treaty to cede Sipitang to North Borneo Chartered Company

The annex took place on Nov 5, 1884 through an agreement between the Sultan of Brunei and BNBC.

Here are some of the contents of the treaty:

“His Highness Abdul Mumin, Sultan of Brunei and the Pangeran Bandhara and the Pangeran di Gadong for themselves, their heirs, successors and assigns hereby certify that the whole country from and including Si Pitong (Sipitang) and the whole country from and including Si Pitong and the country drained by it, on the South, to and including Kwala Paniow (Kuala Penyu) and the country drained by it, on the North, is hereby ceded to the British North Borneo Company, its successors and assigns, for so long as they choose to hold the same, as also the rivers Bangawan and Tawaran and the districts drained by them. Padas Damit is not included.”

The treaty which was signed by British North Borneo first governor William Hood Treacher from BNBC, also stated its terms.

“The Company and its representatives to pay annually to the Sultan or his heirs of $3,000 – five years’ cession money viz- fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) being paid in advance on the completion, of this agreement of which seven thousand dollars ($7,000) shall be received in copper coin at par.”

Governor Treacher also shared about the annex in his book British Borneo: Sketches of Brunai, Sarawak, Labuan and North Borneo (1891).

“In 1884, after prolonged negotiations, I was also enable to obtain the cession of an important province on the West Coast, to the South of the original boundary, to which the name of Dent Province has been given, and which includes the Padas and Kalias rivers, and in the same deed of cession were also included two rivers which had been excepted in the first grant – the Tawaran and the Bangawan. The annual tribute under this cession is $3,100.”

BNBC’s expansion in North Borneo

While there is a little detail on what were the reasons Brunei Sultanate was willing to cede her territories to the company (besides the annual tribute paid to the Sultanate), one thing for sure; Sipitang was not the last area annexed by the BNBC.

After Sipitang, the company also acquired Mantanani (1885), Padas (1889) and Mengalong as well as Merantaman areas in 1901.

By 1901, an administrative office was set up in Sipitang called the Province Clarke, named after Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Clarke.

Sipitang
Sipitang Esplanade in 2016.

Today, Sipitang town is known to be the closest town in Sabah to the Sarawak border.

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How the human races were formed according to a Sihan legend

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The Sihan people are among the few tribes in Sarawak that are vulnerable to extinction along with smaller tribes such as the Ukit and Kejaman peoples.

According to the Borneo Post in 2012, there are less than 300 Sihan people left in Sarawak.

Unfortunately, they have been assimilated into other Orang Ulu groups such as the Kayans and Kenyahs.

Their only unique legacy now is their own language and mythology which are different from other tribes.

Here is a folklore on how human races were formed according to a Sihan legend:

Long time ago, all human beings came from only one race.

At Ulu Kajang river, many groups of people wished to cross the river.

However, none of them were able to swim.

Therefore, they decided to build a huge bridge out of rattan.

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The groups of people started to build a bridge in order to get to the other side of the Ulu Kajang river. Credits: Pixabay.

After they built it, each group of people began to walk across the bridge.

The Punan, Kayan, Kejaman, Sekapan, Lahanan and the Sihan walked first.

After too many people crossing the river, the bridge broke.

The rest of these people such as the Iban, Malay, Chinese and the Europeans flowed down the river instead of using a bridge.

The Sihan people believed that the European who flowed furthest down the river became white, their hair silvery and their eyes blushed due to the coldness of the water.

The Sihan and the other groups who walked first who had already reached the other side of the river before the bridge was broken, remained in the upper part of the river to this day.

The source of this Sihan legend

The late Iban ethnologist Benedict Sandin recorded this particular legend on Feb 27, 1961 when he was working as the Sarawak Museum’s Research Assistant.

His informant for this legend was Salik Gawit, a Sihan headman from Menamang stream. Salik was 56 years-old when he was interviewed by Sandin.

According to Salik, he is not sure why his race is called Sihan (sometimes spelled as Sian).

He told Sandin, “There is no river of that name that had been inhabited by our ancestors. I can assure that my race are not foreigners. We are the people who are the origins of this place.”

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7 things Kayan women were forbidden to do when the men left for headhunting trips

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In the olden days, Kayan men were renowned as notorious headhunters. Their reputation as fierce warriors spread so wide and wild that they were often mistaken as cannibals.

Whenever the men went for headhunting trips, the women were left in the longhouses fending for themselves.

These headhunting trips usually took months before they could return to their loved ones.

In the meantime, the Kayan women would take care of the household and their farms, making sure their families had enough to eat.

Back in those days, the Kayan people also had their own traditional beliefs and shamanism.

Besides commencing their usual chores, the Kayan women were forbidden to do certain things due to their beliefs.

7 things Kayan women were forbidden to do when the men left for headhunting trips:

Ethnologist Benedict Sandin published his paper The Traditional Folklore of the Kayan of Upper Rajang when he was a Senior Fellow in Universiti Sains Malaysia.

From his interviews with the elders of Kayan from Upper Rajang river, he recorded seven things wives, sisters, mothers and close female relatives were not allowed to do.

  1. Eat the meat of barking deer, as this animal was believed to produce bad luck.

2. Eat the dongan fish (a type of freshwater fish) as the stripes on its body also could mirror the marks the warriors would receive on their bodies made by the enemy on their warrior son or husband.

3. Eat the cabbage of palm of any kind, in order not to blind the warrior’s eyes while fighting against his foe.

4. Hold a needle, so that the legs of the warriors were prevented from being pricked by thorns and spikes made by the enemy.

5. Have sexual intercourse with another man, in order that the warrior or husband mat not fall down under the body of his foe. Besides this, it was believed that the warrior would act as if he was having sexual intercourse in front of his foe.

6. Eat mekai leaves (Albertisia papuana), to prevent the eyes of the warrior from being unclear when drawing out his sword from its scabbard and thus give a chance to the enemy to cut him.

7. Wake up late in the morning, so that the warrior husband will not be slow to fight while on the warpath.

Henry Ling Roth in The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo

Anthropologist Henry Ling Roth recorded similar dos and donts for women in his book The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo.

However, he did not point out which tribe that practiced them and generalized them as Dayak women.

Regardless of what happened during the headhunting trip, the women would continue their daily activities as usual. Roth noted, “As long the men are away their fires are lighted on the stones or small just as if they were at home.”

Apart from carrying on with their daily jobs, the women carried out a couple of tasks symbolically to protect their men from afar.

For example, the women spread mats and kept the fires up till late in the evening and lit them again before dawn.

This was to ensure men during the war expeditions would not get cold.

Roth added, “The roofing of the house is opened before dawn, so that the men may not lie too long and fall into the enemies’ hands.”

It is good to know that women had their own roles when it came to headhunting and warfare.

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Fighting for Japan: The Korean and Formosan soldiers during WWII

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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 for a nation who conquered their home countries in the first place? Was it voluntary? What happen to them after the war has ended?

The recruitment of Taiwanese Imperial Japan Service

Taiwan and the Penghu Islands were under the Japanese empire between 1895 and 1945.

It started when China’s Qing dynasty ceded Taiwan province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese War.

At first under Japanese rule, the Taiwanese were not allowed to serve in combat and they were working mostly as translators for the Japanese army operating in China.

When the United States joined the war in 1942, Japan started to recruit Taiwanese in combat capacities.

Many Taiwanese joined the service for the sake of their families. Those who served were given extra food for their loved ones.

Meanwhile, the Republic of Formosa was a short-lived republic that existed in Taiwan from May 23 to Oct 21, 1895.

Even though the republic only lasted a few months, many Taiwanese who served during WWII were called Formosan soldiers.

Officially, they were Taiwanese Imperial Japan Servicemen referring to any Taiwanese person who served in the Imperial Japanese Army or Navy during WWII.

Overall, it is estimated a total of 207,182 Taiwanese served in the military of Imperial Japan in both the Second Sino-Japanese War and WWII.

臺籍日本兵出征前 Drafted Taiwanese soldiers during World War II
Taiwanese servicemen in the Imperial Japanese Army. Credits: Public Domain.

The recruitment of Korean Voluntary Unit

Meanwhile, Korea was officially under the Japanese empire when Japan formally annexed the Korean empire in 1910 in the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910.

Starting from 1938, Japan started to enlist Koreans into the Japanese military as the first Korean Voluntary unit.

By 1944, all Korean males were drafted to either join the Imperial Japanese army or work in military-related industry.

According to Utsumi Aiko of Keisen University, many of these men feared they would be shipped to Japan as indentured servants if they did not join the army.

Others were perhaps attracted by the high pay rates offered, about 50 yen per month, an amount that was considered a large amount at that time.

Korean and Formosan soldiers as Prisoners-of-wars (POWs) camp guards

According to Yuki Tanaka in his book Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II, after the Japanese army decided to employ Korean and Formosan soldiers as POW camp guards, they came up with a set of instructions.

Entitled “Outline for Dealing with POWs”, the instruction detailed two principal reasons for the use of non-Japanese guards in prison camps.

Yuki stated:

“One reason was to destroy the lingering sense of superiority attached to white people by many Asian societies that had been colonised and consequently to elevate the Japanese as ‘white substitutes’. By having Koreans and Formosans guard white prisoners under Japanese command, the Japanese military hoped that the old ‘pecking order’ would be reversed- that non-Japanese Asians would come to see whites as inferior, subjugated people and the Japanese as the ‘natural’ leaders of Asia. The other, more mundane purpose was to free up more Japanese men to be sent to the front line. On May 15, 1942, 10 days after the outline had been distributed, the recruitment of Korean and Formosan guards began.”

These non-Japanese soldiers were trained in Japanese and forbidden to use their native language. They were also given Japanese names.

The Formosan guards were sent mostly to Southeast Asia including Borneo while the Koreans were scattered around the world including the Central Pacific.

The cruelty of Korean and Formosan soldiers

POWs who survived the war claimed that the troops from Japan’s colonies such as Korea and Taiwan were the most vicious abusers of prisoners.

One of them, Arthur Lane told The Telegraph in 2014, “ The Japanese guards were bad, but the Koreans and the Formosans were the worst. These were men who the Japanese looked down on as colonials, so they needed to show they were as good as the Japanese. And they had no one else to take it out on other than us POWs.”

Lane was one of the 180,000 to 250,000 Allied POWs who was sent to work on the infamous Death Railway. In the end, about 102,000 Allied prisoners died.

In another example case of mistreatment of POWs by Korean guards took place in North Sumatra.

Around February 1945, there were 12 Korean guards assigned for approximately 1,500 t o 1,600 prisoners as they were tasked to build a military road.

While it was fortunate that there were no deaths reported during the construction, the guards frequently beat the prisoners who fell out of line to make them keep walking.

This is not the only example of Korean and Formosan soldier’s brutality. Survivors of Batu Lintang POWs camp as well as Sandakan POWs camp had all claimed Formosan soldiers were worse than the Japanese.

Justice Bert Rolling who represented the Netherlands at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal once stated, “Many of the commanders and guards in POW camps were Koreans and it is said that they were sometimes far more cruel than the Japanese.”

Explaining the cruelty of Korean and Formosan soldiers

So why were the Korean and Formosan soldiers cruel towards the POWs?

In the book The Routledge History of Genocide, Cathie Carmichael and Richard C. Maguire stated that the Germans did the much the same in the death camp system, where brutal Ukrainian auxiliaries worked under SS supervision.

“Japanese officers and soldiers routinely treated Korean and Formosan soldiers with utter contempt, beating and humiliating them even though they were ostensibly allies. In turn, Allied POWs consistently noted that Korean and Formosan guards were among the most brutal of their captors as these humiliated underdogs of the Japanese war machine worked off their shame and loss of face on POWS,” they stated.

Carmichael and Maguire gave an example of Sandakan POW Camp in North Borneo (present-day Sabah). The Australian POWs noticed a dramatic changed in the level of brutality once a large party of Formosan guards arrived in April 1943.

They noted, “The Japanese treated the Formosans as their inferiors and the Formosans took to delivering mass beatings of POW work details under the flimsiest of pretext.”

Meanwhile, Yuki explained there is no coincidence that was why the Korean guards on the Burma-Thailand railway and the Formosan guards in Borneo were capable of great cruelty.

“It was an effect of the power structure that operated within the prison camp system.”

The retaliation of Korean and Formosan guards

There were many instances when these Korean and Formosan guards went against the Japanese soldiers.

In Sandakan, there was a Japanese officer who was murdered by a Formosan guard. According to Michele Cunningham in Hell on Earth: Sandakan-Australia’s greatest war tragedy, the guard was angry because Captain Takakuwa and Lieutenant Suzuki had beaten him for having a dirty rifle.

The beating was a trigger point for him as he was also discontent generally with the way the Japanese treated the non-Japanese guard.

The guard took a rifle and fired at Takakuwa, wounding him in the soldier and then killed Suzuki with a shot right in the head.

He also wounded a couple more soldiers before throwing a grenade that failed to explode. The Formosan guard then committed suicide by shooting himself.

There were cases of Korean and Formosan soldiers, however, who did not abuse the POWs over whom they were left in-charge.

One guard, who went by the name Toyoda Kokichi, would reportedly cook chicken, rice and fish for the POWs with supplies he had bought from local villagers using his own money. Moreover, he would allow the POWs under him to take it easy and work at their own pace.

In most cases, retaliating against the Japanese resulted in severe punishments (sometimes execution) upon the Korean and Formosan soldiers themselves.

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Military police guard four Japanese officers of the Borneo Prisoners of War and Internees Guard Unit, outside the Australian 9th Division Headquarters where they were to appear at a war crimes trial, Labuan Island, December 1945. AWM 123170

What happened to the Korean and Formosan soldiers after World War II?

After the Japanese surrendered marking the end of WWII, it also marked the end of Japanese rule over Korea on Aug 15, 1945 as well as over Taiwan.

In total, there were 5,379 Japanese, 173 Formosans and 148 Koreans who were tried.

Of these number, 984 were sentenced to death, 476 to life imprisonment and 2,944 to some of punishments.

As for the Korean and Formosan soldiers, 23 Korean and 26 Formosan were sentenced to death.

Those who went home alive did not carry on living a normal life.

In 1995, Joan Kwek the daughter of Hugh Waring, one of the Australian officers in Sandakan and Kuching came across a Japanese language book in the National Library of Australia.

The book, the title of which was translated as Cry of the Colonial Soldiers Imprisoned as War Criminals, was written by a former Formosan guard in Kuching named Okabayashi Takemitsu.

Kwek, who was proficient in the Japanese language stated, “The book was a cry of resentment against the Japanese who taught him to be a guard, the Australians who convicted him as a war criminal with a sentence of 15 years, the Australians who mistreated him while a prisoner himself for ten years on remote island prisons near Borneo and New Guinea, the Japanese who said he was no longer Japanese after he finally finished his sentence (Taiwan was by then no longer a Japanese colony), and the Japanese who continue to deny him any form of compensation or pension for his sacrifice in the name of the Emperor.”

Like Okabayashi Takemitsu, many non-Japanese soldiers sought for pension and compensation from the Japanese government after the war.

Some were granted some kind of compensation after battling their pleas in courts, but in most cases the amount was much less than what the Japanese soldiers received.

Formosan Guards

Not all were happy with the Korean and Formosan soldiers seeking for compensation

Of course, not everyone was happy with the fact that these veterans were seeking for Japanese compensation after the war.

Lane, who had witnessed many atrocities as an Allied POW, was one of them.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Lane said, “These men volunteered and they all knew exactly what they were doing. And they mistreated us because they wanted to please their masters and knew they could get away with it. They joined up for kicks, when Japan was winning the war, and they took advantage of that for their own enjoyment.”

For Lane, instead of getting compensation or apology from the Japanese government, he believed a more fitting result would be to have them taken out and whipped for what they did to the POWs.

In the end, a total of 207,183 Taiwanese served in the Imperial Japanese Army and 30,304 of them were declared killed or missing in action.

It is unsure how many Koreans were missing or killed in action during WWII as they fought for the Japanese. However in 1944, the total number of Korean military personnel was estimated at 242,341.

What do you think KajoReaders? Do you think the Korean and Formosan soldiers deserve apology or compensation from the Japanese government? Let us know in the comment box.

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Batu Bejit – an Iban legend of a monkey, a man and a wife turned to stone

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When comes to petrification legend in Sarawak, it usually involves laughing at a particular animal and the sky turns dark and the people who laughed would turn into stones.

For example in the legend of Ikan Pasit, the girl is turned into stone after laughing at a fish.

Meanwhile in the Bidayuh Jagoi legend of Gunung Kapor, the villagers are turned into stones after laughing at a cat.

Similarly, the stones of Fairy Caves were believed once a group of villagers who were petrified after laughing at a cat.

In this legend of Batu Bejit, the animal which become the laughing stock is what the Iban people called bejit. It is a type of monkey that can be found in Sarawak.

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Cats or monkeys, petrification legends teach us to respect animals. Credit: Pixabay.

Here is Benedict Sandin’s version of the Batu Bejit legend which was published in The Sarawak Gazette, July 31, 1965:

There are two stones at Suri, Rimbas, Saribas situated between Rumah Chupong and Rumah Upu.

The reason why they are there relates to a story of a man and his wife who reared a bejit monkey long ago.

After the bejit had been tamed, they dressed it with a loin-cloth and on its wrists they put engkelai (shell armlets), and also the simpai (bone armlets).

Having done this they put on its head a turban and on its neck they put a necklace. After they had dressed it nicely, they asked it to dance. The bejit danced which made them laugh loudly.

While they laughed at the poor animal the clouds turned black, the wind blow strongly, with lightning darting everywhere.

The rain also fell heavily which caused their farm hut to become petrified, together with the monkey and the man’s wife.

On seeing this the owner of the farm hut descended to the ground being equipped with shield, sword and spear in order to fight the spirits which had caused this disaster.

He could not defend himself and turned into stone also.

It is because of this that there are two large stones now standing side by side, one being the petrified farm hut, a monkey and the man’s wife, while the other is the man himself. The petrified farm hut is bigger and higher, while the man’s stone is smaller and lower.

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That time when the Daughter of the Sea Dragon King caused a flood

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In January 1963, the people of Bau, Siniawan and Batu Kawa experienced a flood like they never seen before.

Apparently, the locals believed that it was caused by the capture of the Daughter of the Sea Dragon King.

Who was the Daughter of the Sea Dragon King and how did she cause the major flooding in these areas? Here is an account of what happened written by Ong Kwan Hin to the Sarawak Gazette on Mar 31, 1963:

Readers of the Sarawak Gazette would have come across a vivid account, and have seen the pictures of the flood at Bau, Siniawan and Batu Kawa by Messrs S Cottrell and Des Carbury in the February issue.

This flood at its peak period in late January, 1963 was the worst ever experienced before in living memory. Various parts of the first division of Sarawak were affected, and in other parts of the country flooding also took place. It was a generally agreed that never before in the known history of Sarawak had there been such calamity.

The Chinese devotees of the various temples offered prayers and supplications all over the country for a heavenly release from the afflictions of the prevailing rain and stormy seas.

Signs were sought for, and horoscopes were cast, and consulted as to what the bad weather and the trouble in Northern Sarawak and beyond augured for the people.

Worshipers and devotees of the various guardian deities who manifested themselves through mediums in trances flocked to supplicate for relief and assurances.

The assurances obtained were disquieting – more affliction in the form of floods or an epidemic of sickness, seemed to be what the gods could presage of the future.

The capture of Daughter of the Sea Dragon King

On the fifteenth day of the second moon (Mar 10), the Lim Hua San Temple situated at Tabuan Road was visited by devotees, who went there to pray with incense sticks and burn joss papers and send up supplications for good weather.

In the midst of the worship one of the worshipers, who was an old woman, went into a trance. While in her trance, in which one of the several deities venerated in the temple manifested itself, the deity proclaimed that yet more terrible flood and form of mad sickness would take its toll.

For months in the Museum at Kuching (so proclaimed the deity) one of the tortoises brought from Muara Tebas had been held captive and she was a daughter of the Sea Dragon King.

The flood waters would one day rise as high as the Museum Building to release this daughter and Princess from the wooden tub in which she was exhibited.

On being asked by the devotees present as to what must be done to alleviate the prevalent bad weather resulting from the wrath of the Sea Dragon King – a deity in his own right – and to forestall such a calamity in store, the deity stated that the Princess must be released.

Pleading for the freedom of the Daughter of the Sea Dragon King

According to the deity, an appeal must be made direct to the Curator of the Museum, and the appeal must be through the writer’s eldest song, Ong Kee Hui, in his capacity as Mayor of Kuching.

On doubts being expressed by the devotees that Mr Tom Harrisson would willingly free the captured tortoise Princess, the deity stated that no matter how difficult the Curator would be, his heart could be made to relent.

If and when Ong Kee Hui had released the Princess the Ong family (according to the deity) would be honoured and visited with blessings for this generation and succeeding generations.

The Sarawak Tribune in its issue dated 14th March on the trance stated that it was medium at the Muara Tebas temple. This is not correct.

From my knowledge of both temples I know, and this can be confirmed, both do not have mediums.

I went to see the senior monk living at the Lim Hua San Temple to get a first hand account a few days before sitting down to record the above facts.

He could not tell me which deity, of which there were several in the temple, had manifested itself through the old woman worshiper.

It was generally believed to be one of the Buddhas. The identity of the old woman was not discovered as this might lead to understanding, and personal embarrassment in such a case for her and her family.

A deputation of three ladies- one the wife of a proprietor of a well-known firm in Kuching, another whose husband works with a prominent textile firm, and one of the wife of a physician -called on Mrs Ong Kee Hui on the 12th March.

Mrs Ong was told the facts and as Kee Hui was not in, she promised to take up the matter to him.

Meeting up with the Sarawak Museum

I was consulted, and on the morning Mar 12, 1963, Kee Hui made a request to Tom Harrisson, the Curator of the Sarawak Museum for the release of the tortoise to the Muara Tebas temple as it belonged to that area.

Harrisson agreed to hand it back through me as one of the trustees of the temple.

On the afternoon of the 13th March at 2.30pm, I went down to the museum accompanied by my wife, Kee Hui and his wife, and my ninth son Ong Kee Pheng to effect the release of the Princess. The Information Office which acted as ‘go-between’ was there to photograph and record the occasion. Mr Lo Chi Yin (Museum Archivist) was there to meet us.

In recognition and appreciation of Mr Harrisson’s courtesy in freeing the Princess, the Hokkien Association which looks after the Muara Tebas Temple, and of which Ong Kee Hui is the Chairman, presented the Sarawak Museum with three Jade Buddha statues.

The ‘go-between’ -the Information Office was promised the gift parchment scroll, to be suitably inscribed with an invocation to the Three Kong Deity asking for countless blessings to be bestowed on its work in the future. The Princess was left in the Museum for that night.

A search for a launch was without result, but the Heng Hua fishing folk offered us the use of a Kotak.

These people had been following the fate of the Princess with deep interest. They had even thought and talked of liberating her by kidnapping, and then be the hostages to be put in jail for this unlawful act.

As their livelihood is in the sea, they are as a people extremely careful to keep on the right side of the Sea Dragon King.

Thus they would have preferred to face an irate mortal Curator than the wrath of a deity.

Releasing the Daughter of the Sea Dragon King

Eventually my son Henry Ong succeeded in renting a speedboat from the Kuching Boat Club for $35. This plus fuel and driver charges amounted to $54 for the whole trip the cost of which were subscribed to by some devotees and members of my family.

On the morning of the 19th day of the 2nd moon (Thursday 14th March, 1963) we called at the museum for the Princess at 8.30am.

We then drove up to Pending and embarked on board the speedboat. This day was the Birthday of Kuan Im – the Goddess of Mercy, a very auspicious one for liberating the Sea Dragon Princess.

The party consisted of my wife, my fifth son Henry, Mrs Ong Kee Hui, three of the women devotees (including the two who came originally to see Mrs Ong Kee Hui) and on old monk from the Lim Hua San Temple, who chanted prayers and invocation all the way.

We were met at Pending by the Tua Kampong Dawi Aron of Kampong Semilang, Muara Tebas, who told us that he had heard the story about the Princess over the radio the previous night. He expressed regret that his capture of Her Highness had caused so much trouble.

He had found the Princess in the trap he set for catching prawns.

When we later arrived back in the afternoon we found him still waiting at Pending to find if the Princess had been safely released.

Prayers at Muara Tebas Temple

Muara Tebas Temple
Muara Tebas Temple

On arrival at Muara Tebas at 9.30am we brought the Princess up to the Temple.

The chief nun who greeted us found that Her Highness was the same tortoise which had previously been brought by her from a Malay fisherman and liberated in the sea.

There was a small hole punched in the shell where she had put stick of incense when after chanting prayers, she had released her.

We offered incense sticks, joss papers and our prayers to the deities at the Temple. I suggested that after having been reared in fresh water, the Princess should be released on dry land.

But the deity Kuan Im indicted by signs that she must be given back to the sea.

That afternoon, on our way home, we took the speedboat right out to the middle of the exactly facing the temple.

There, while the old monk recited prayers and invocations, Her Royal Highness, daughter of the dreaded and mighty Sea Dragon King deity was released.

As she went back to her own element she went into and out over the water three times, each time stretching out her royal neck to look hard and long at us.

Then she sank away from sight and while we all repeated the “Lam Boo Oh Mee Toh Hood”, she disappeared to join the denizens of the deep.

The Consort of the released Sea Dragon King’s daughter

About one week after the Princess of Sea Dragon King was released at Muara Tebas, another tortoise was found at Matang.

This time the temple devotees claimed that it was the Consort of the Released Princess.

It was reported the tortoise was sold to a bus driver who then handed it over to the Hun Nam Siang Tng Temple of Sekama Road.

After consulting the deity, the devotees released it on the birthday of the deity at the Guan Thian Siang Tee Temple in Carpenter Street which fell on the third day of the third moon.

That year, the date fell on March 27, 1963.

This was not the first time a mystical creature was held responsible for a flood in Sarawak. In 1942 for example, a dragon was believed to be the cause of a major flood in Belaga.

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The Iban legend of Batu Indai Binjut you might never have heard of

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Legend has it that in Paku river at Nanga Anyut, there is a stone of three petrified women called Batu Indai Binjut.

In ancient times before the Paku region was populated by the Ibans the area sparsely inhabited by an ancient tribe of people called the Baketan.

The last of their group who left Paku took place in the days of Iban chiefs Kaya and Bayans eight generations ago.

Long before Tindin the first Iban migrant arrived in the Paku from Skrang, one sunny morning three Baketen women went out to fish (mansai) at the mouth of the Ayut stream.

As they fished an empelasi fish jumped out of the water and touched one of the girl’s breasts.

On seeing this, the girl sigh and said, “Eh! If it were only a young man, even an empelasi fish been attracted by the beauty of my breasts”.

On hearing her words her companions started to laugh and joke with one another and said that, “Even a tiny fish had wanted to covet them, so what more if a young man should see her breasts”.

They continued joking and laughing.

Invoking the wrath of gods

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The sky turns dark and the women slowly turned into stone.

As they laughed the sunshine suddenly disappeared and the sky started to become overcast, the wind blew strongly and was followed by torrential rain. Due to the heavy storm the three poor women could not find where to go.

They stood where they were and they gradually turned into stone.

It was said that up to seven days after their petrification, their heads were still able to speak and ask food from those who happened to come to that place. No one dared to give them anything, and they died due to petrification as well as due to starvation.

Even now this stone can still be seen in the shape of human beings, lying at the left bank of the Paku river below the mouth of the Anyut stream.

The mention of Batu Indai Binjut in an Iban folk song

According to Benedict Sandin, a former Sarawak Museum curator who recorded this legend, there is a mention of Batu Indai Binjut in the Iban Pengan song.

The song is about when either Simpulang Gana and Sengalang Burong became puzzled on hearing the sound of wind which came to invite him to attend the feast of men.

Here is the lyric of the song goes:

“Who amongst us angers the land and the world?
Well try and burn the remains of our derris,
And crop the hair which falls over our foreheads!
But still the wind would not stop blowing,
And the hurricane blew continually!”
“Oh! Maybe the children have collected the red ants!,
In baskets with holes
Or maybe someone has dipped a frog into a wooden trough?”
The children would reply:
The stone of Indai Binjut
At the mouth of river Anyut,
Has long been known to us, Serit Mamut,
As caused by a disaster during fishing”.

The similarity between the legend of Batu Indai Binjut and the legend of Ikan Pasit

If you feel the legend of Batu Indai Binjut sounds familiar, it is because it is almost familiar with Ikan Pasit.

The first Ranee of Sarawak, Margaret Brooke recorded this legend in her book My Life in Sarawak.

According to the legend, there was a village called Marup.

One day there was a girl who went fishing and caught what the locals called ‘ikan pasit’.

As she was preparing the fish, one of them jumped up and touched her breast.

“What are you doing? Do you imagine that you are my husband?” she said, laughing at her own joke.

The people who were there also laughed and those who heard the commotion came over and also laughed.

Suddenly, the sky turned grey and a mighty wind blew accompanied by flashes of lightning.

Then a hail-storm began. Hail stones fell down non-stop and hitting everybody even their houses, turning them into stone.

Meanwhile, the girl who made fun of the ikan pasit was only partly petrified. Just like the three Baketan ladies, the girl’s her head and neck were unchanged while the remaining part of her body was turned into stone.

Together with the rest of her village, the whole longhouse and its residents fell into the river.

Living as part human, part stone

While the Baketan women died due to the petrification and starvation, sadly for the girl, she lived many years with a living head and stone as her body.

Many tried to end her misery by striking her with a blade but nothing worked. Until one day, a man who heard her cries came.

Like many who came before him, he tried to strike her head with an axe and a sword but neither worked.

Eventually he struck her with a spindle and her cries finally stopped while her head and neck slowly turned into stone.

It is believed, the group of rocks believed to be Marup village were not far from Lubok Antu.

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