All happening in August

THERE’S something about August. In Malaysia, August is associated with celebrations of political freedom and emancipation from British colonial rule. Since 1957, the citizens of the States in the Federation of Malaya had been celebrating the 31st of that month as their Independence Day (Hari Merdeka). When the Federation of Malaysia was formally formed on Sept 16, 1963, the new Malaysian citizens in Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore joined in celebrating the end of August as their Hari Kebangsaan (National Day). While Singapore stopped observing it after it separated from the Federation in August 1965, the citizens in the remaining states of Malaysia continued to commemorate it as their National Day.

But it didn’t start there. Lots has happened in August right here in Sarawak. On Aug 15, 1839, for instance, an Englishman and former soldier of the East India Company by the name of James Brooke landed at Sarawak (Kuching) to deliver a letter of thanks from Mr Bonham, Governor of Singapore, to Pengiran Muda Hassim, Rajah of Sarawak.

James Brooke was on the way to Marudu Bay to look for a suitable trading site there, but fate intervened. If James had gone up north, the history of Sarawak would have been different. We could have continued with Brunei rule until at least the Japanese Occupation. Had Japan won the Pacific War, we could have been made a Japanese Territory. Fortunately for us and unfortunately for the Japanese, the Americans dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug 6 and 9, 1945, respectively! There you are – August again!

Pamphlets dated and signed by Major-General GF Wootten, commander of the ninth Australian Division informed the inmates of the Detention/POW Camp at Batu Lintang that the “Allies have defeated the Japanese, and the Japanese Emperor, on behalf of the Japanese Nation, has accepted unconditional surrender.” One such pamphlet was picked up by Agnes Keith, author of ‘Three Came Home’ (London, Michael Joseph, 1948). This was followed by the landing of the Australian soldiers and some American naval personnel led by Brigadier Thomas CE Eastick in Kuching to liberate Sarawak from the occupying Japanese Imperial Troops. The country had been under the Japanese Rule from December 1941 till August 1945.

During the talks about the formation of Malaysia and after its formation in the early 1960s, we had to fight an undeclared border war for four years. The Konfrontasi would have lasted much longer if not for the signing of the Bangkok Peace Accord – in August 1966. This Agreement marked the beginning of the end of hostilities between the two neighbouring countries.

Commemoration of peace

That brings me to another event or series of events, equally important in terms of Sarawak history, but these, it seems, are not as interesting as the scandals connected with the 1MDB. To the history buffs, however, Remembrance Days to honour war victims are an important piece of the history of a country: in our case, of Sarawak and of Malaysia (since September 1963). I saw, written somewhere, something like this, “A country which honours its heroes is a great country indeed.”

I am referring to the commemoration services held at the Heroes Memorial Park in Kuching – a tiny piece of land set among the trees and sandwiched between an international school, a graveyard, and a recreation club for the elite in Kuching society. It is now almost fully occupied by Sarawak’s soldiers who had died in action in Malaya and whose remains were brought back from the Peninsula, Sabah, and heroes like Kanang, except Wilfred Gomes – a winner of a gallantry award no less.

I have attended a couple of such commemoration ceremonies. One, on Aug 29, 2017, was jointly organised by Datuk Lim Kian Hock, committee chairman of the Sarawak Tourism Federation Heritage Development and the representatives of the living soldiers of the New Zealand Malayan Veterans Association (NZMVA) and Malaysian NZ Chamber of Commerce. It was a solemn ceremony featuring the unveiling of a plaque presented by NZMVA to the Memorial Park and placed by Dr John Subritzky, New Zealand High Commissioner to Malaysia. The High Commissioner spoke about “how easy for those not directly involved with the Emergency and the Indonesian Confrontation to forget how difficult and challenging those campaigns were”, before acknowledging the sacrifices of the veterans, “who are the living embodiment of one of the crucial foundations of this special relationship between New Zealand with Malaysia and Sarawak”. (The Borneo Post, Aug 30, 2017).

The other occasion was held exactly two years later; it was the commemoration of the 53rd anniversary of the ceasefire and the declaration of the end of the Indonesian Confrontation (1962 to 1966). It was held on Aug 29, 2019 at the same Memorial Park, and organised by the same Veterans Association and the local Tourism Federation.

Equally moving was the ceremony. I had never seen so many stars on the chests of the Defence Service Advisers from the United Kingdom and Australia. Where were those of the USA – were they not invited?

At the ceremony, I did not see Awang Raweng, winner of the George Cross. I hope to see the Americans represented at the next service of commemoration and thanksgiving and that Wilfred Gomes Malong be recognised by the Sarawak government as among the heroes of Malaysia. His is buried elsewhere. I have yet to confirm if his name is cast in stone at the Heroes War Memorial at Jalan Taman Budaya, Kuching.

Having read the above, and, incidentally, having seen on the TV screen of the mini-Hiroshima of Beirut midweek, can you call the month of August auspicious or inauspicious?

A bit of both, I think.

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