EACH year, hordes of patriotic Australians make the pilgrimage to sites where their fellow countrymen have fought to protect the freedoms and liberties they believe in.
From Gallipoli to Fromelles, these locations of past wars hold more than sightseeing opportunities for family members and loved ones.
Sandakan in Malaysia is trying to establish tourist interest with their links to Australia’s wartime past. In 1942 thousands of Australian and British prisoners of war were sent to North Borneo following the fall of Singapore.
The Japanese treated them harshly, but they were needed to build a military airstrip in Sandakan.
Towards the end of the war, the Japanese feared they were going to be overtaken by the Alliance, and hence decided to move the remaining POWs to Ranau, some 250km away.
This ‘move’ has since been labelled the Sandakan Death Marches, where all but six Australians perished in what has been described as one of the worst wartime atrocities on Australians.
At the Kundasang War Memorial in Kota Kinabalu, Australian visitors can pay their respects at the Australian memorial garden and solemnly observe the Australian POW Nominal Roll. In the Borneo state of Sabah, the Malaysian government has established a yearly memorial service at Sandakan Memorial Park.
- The writer travelled courtesy of Malaysia Airlines and Tourism Malaysia.