Anzac enhances ties between Australians and M’sians: CM

Sandakan: Over 70 years ago, Malaysians and Australians fought side by side during the Second World War.

That cooperation eventually forged the bonds of friendship between Malaysia and Australia.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said the bond was further strengthened when Australians again came to the aid of a new Malaysian nation, striving together for peace during the Malayan Emergency and Indonesian Confrontation.

“We share a history. We share a freedom hard fought and valiantly won. We mourn together, men and women of our nations who sacrificed their lives to achieve it, and we renew our commitment to ensure that their sacrifice was not in vain.

“It is the privilege of the Sabah people to protect this memorial park, a grave witness to one of the great tragedies of war, and to help those who visit to understand what happened here.

“For this is not only a place of memorial and history, but of education and commemoration,” he said at the Anzac Day Ceremony at the Sandakan Memorial Park, near here, Monday.

His speech was delivered by Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Assistant Minister Datuk Pang Nyuk Ming.

Musa said within the memorial park were stories which spoke of the realities of war and of those who provided shelter for soldiers.

“(These were stories) of placing one foot in front of the other, day in, day out in the fight for survival, for freedom and for peace.” In 1942, a significant number of Australian soldiers captured by the Japanese offensive in Southeast Asia was sent to the prisoner-of-war camp in Sandakan to construct a military airstrip the Japanese believed would assist the war effort.

After the allies bombed the completed airfield in 1945, the Japanese commander chose to relocate the surviving prisoners, 260km to Ranau in three separate marches through dense forests and mountainous terrain.

Source : Daily Express