The group holds a Western Australia flag in front of the wartime monument.
(From right) Author Dr Kevin Smith, Anzac veteran Ronald Hatch and Jeli pay their respects at the monument. At front, second left is Awang Hambali.
KUCHING: The Batu Lintang Wartime Memorial Square has been called a very sacred place that needs to be given its rightful place in history.
Borneo Exhibition Group (BEG) president Ryan Rowland said heroes cannot be heroes unless they are acknowledged and the memories of their sacrifices retained.
“It serves to remind us that there were enormous sacrifices, deaths and trauma of liberating forces and locals during the Second World War. We need to acknowledge them as they gave us the lives we have today,” said Rowland, when leading a delegation of visiting Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) veterans and Heritage programme exchange students here yesterday.
“The Trinity Project we have here for a memorial garden has been an accomplishment that was a result of actual physical involvement of many people. It can only move on by encouragement, benevolence and participation of all. It is not just an annual event but a 365-day project.”
Rowland acknowledged the role of the training institute in sharing its wartime history of being a prisoner of war camp.
“Through education, educators of the future will continue to share the history and make sure that our legacy will be passed on to young people. This place will be seen by thousands long after we are gone,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sarawak Tourism Federation Heritage Development Committee chairman Lim Kian Hock said the monument is a permanent recognition of those who sacrificed their lives and contributed to unity, peace and freedom.
“The wartime history reminds us of the harsh life where prisoners of war and internees were forced to endure food shortages, brutal treatment, diseases, forced labour and scant medication. In spite of this, they demonstrated their stoic courage and determination to survive for their beliefs in the cause of peace and freedom.
“As the war ended, many in Sarawak lost their lives in the defence of peace. In 1989, the Australian Returned and Services League, in collaboration with the then Batu Lintang Teachers’ College, put a small monument at the bottom of the hill to commemorate the sacrifices of these gallant men and women.
“This monument is now elevated as a memorial square as a permanent recognition and it also represents the spirit of hope and peace, embracing the past while envisioning the future,” he said.
The delegation is here to participate in the commemoration of Sarawak’s 70th anniversary of liberation from the Japanese Occupation at the end of the Second World War.
At the memorial square, delegation members laid wreaths on the monument, which is shaped like an upright book signifying Batu Lintang as a source of knowledge.
Among those present were Batu Lintang Teachers’ Training Institute director Awang Hambali Awang Hamdan and former child prisoner of war Jeli Abdullah.
Anzac Day on April 25 is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand commemorating those who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations as well as the contributions and suffering of all those who have served.