1.
Borneo
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Borneo is the third-largest island in the world and the largest island in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, the island is politically divided among three countries, Malaysia and Brunei in the north, and Indonesia to the south. Approximately 73% of the island is Indonesian territory, in the north, the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak make up about 26% of the island. Additionally, the Malaysian federal territory of Labuan is situated on an island just off the coast of Borneo. The sovereign state of Brunei, located on the north coast, antipodal to an area of Amazon rainforest, Borneo is itself home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world, and to Bornean orangutans. The island is known by names, internationally it is known as Borneo, after Brunei. The name Brunei possibly was derived from the Sanskrit word váruṇa, meaning either ocean or the mythological Varuna. Indonesian natives called it Kalimantan, which was derived from the Sanskrit word Kalamanthana, prior to that the island was also known by other names. In 977 Chinese records began to use the term Po-ni to refer to Borneo or Brunei, in 1225 it was also mentioned by the Chinese official Chau Ju-Kua. The Javanese manuscript Nagarakretagama, written by Majapahit court poet Mpu Prapanca in 1365, mentioned the island as Nusa Tanjungnagara, to the west of Borneo are the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. To the south and east are islands of Indonesia, Java and Sulawesi, to the northeast are the Philippine Islands. With an area of 743,330 square kilometres, it is the third-largest island in the world and its highest point is Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia, with an elevation of 4,095 m. The largest river system is the Kapuas in West Kalimantan, with a length of 1,143 km, other major rivers include the Mahakam in East Kalimantan, the Barito in South Kalimantan, and Rajang in Sarawak. Clearwater Cave, for example, has one of the worlds longest underground rivers, deer Cave is home to over three million bats, with guano accumulated to over 100 metres deep. The South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand now submerge the former low-lying areas of the peninsula, the Borneo rainforest is 140 million years old, making it one of the oldest rainforests in the world. There are about 15,000 species of flowering plants with 3,000 species of trees,221 species of mammals and 420 species of resident birds in Borneo. There are about 440 freshwater fish species in Borneo and it is the centre of the evolution and distribution of many endemic species of plants and animals. The Borneo rainforest is one of the few remaining habitats for the endangered Bornean orangutan
2.
Sandakan
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Sandakan formerly known at various times as Elopura, is a town in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest town in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu and it is located on the east coast of the state in the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo. The town has an population of 157,330 while the surrounding municipal area has a total population of 396,290. Before the founding of Sandakan, Sulu Archipelago was the source of dispute between Spain and the Sultanate of Sulu for economic dominance in the region, by 1864, Spain had blockaded the Sultanate possessions in the Sulu Archipelago. The Sultanate of Sulu awarded a German consular service ex-member a piece of land in the Sandakan Bay to seek protection from Germany, in 1878, the Sultanate sold north-eastern Borneo to an Austro-Hungarian consul who later left the territory to a British colonial merchant. The German presence over the area raised concern among the British, the British also encouraged the migration of the Chinese from British Hong Kong to develop the economy of Sandakan. However, the prosperity halted when the Japanese occupied the area, as the war continued and Allied bombing started in 1944, the town was totally destroyed. Unable to fund the costs of the reconstruction, the powers of North Borneo were handed over to the Crown Colony government. Subsequently, the capital of North Borneo was moved to Jesselton. As part of the 1948–1955 Colonial Office Reconstruction and Development Plan, Sandakan is one of the main ports for oil, tobacco, coffee, sago, and timber exports. Other economic activities include fishing, ship building, eco-tourism, a first European settlement was built by a Scottish arms smuggler from Glasgow named William Clark Cowie who named the settlement Sandakan. It was soon renamed Kampong German, due to the presence of several German bases there, when another new settlement was built shortly after the previous Cowie settlement had been destroyed by a fire, it was called as Elopura, meaning beautiful town. The name was given by the British North Borneo Company but the locals persisted to use the old name, besides Elopura, it was also nicknamed Little Hong Kong due to a strong presence of ethnic Chinese migration from Hong Kong. It was Pryer who gave the settlement the name Elopura meaning beautiful town, several years later the settlement was again renamed Sandakan. The name Elopura, however, is used for some local government functions of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly. The town is referred as Sandakan nowadays instead of Elopura or Little Hong Kong. However, efforts have made to develop Sandakan so that the town is fitting to have the name of Little Hong Kong again. Since the 18th century, Sandakan start to be ruled by the Sultanate of Sulu, in 1860, the Sultanate of Sulu became important to the British as their archipelago could allow the British to dominate trade routes from Singapore to Mainland China
3.
Ranau District
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Ranau is a town as well as a district located in Sabah, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Ranau sits 108 km east of Kota Kinabalu and 227 km west of Sandakan, as of the 2010 Census, the population of the district was 94,092, an almost entirely Dusun ethnic community. Ranau is noted for its geographical structure and is the largest producer of highland vegetables in the state of Sabah. Tourism and highland agriculture are the industries, as the district is at 1,176 m above sea level. Its many tourist destinations attracted half a million tourists in 2009 and these include Mount Kinabalu, Kinabalu Park, Poring Hot Springs, Kundasang War Memorial, Death March Trail, Mesilau, and Sabah Tea Garden. Kinabalu Park has been recognised by UNESCO as a Center of Plant Diversity for Southeast Asia, in December 2000, the Kinabalu Park was designated by UNESCO as Malaysias first World Heritage Site. Ranau was home to the largest mining project in Malaysia, the Mamut Copper Mine, at the peak of its mining activity, Ranau was transformed into a thriving township. The mining company constructed the Ranau Bridge across Liwagu River, the Ranau Golf Course, and also made donations to school building funds, buses, the origin of the name Ranau comes from the Dusun word ranahon, which means paddy fields. The Dusun people who live in the highland grow mountain rice on the hills, the people in the lowlands of Ranau use traditional water-filled paddy fields for rice cultivation. Over time, “Ranahon” was shortened to “Ranau. ”As the central administration is nearer to the lowland. Allusions to a place in Ranau, the Mount Kinabalu, had appeared in sources from China, wang Dayuan mentioned a mountain called Long shan when he described the country of Bo ni in his book, Description of the Barbarians of the Isles written between 1330 and 1350. Long shan means Dragon Mountain, and the term was associated with Mount Kinabalu because there were dragon legends related to Kinabalu, sheng shan which means Holy Mountain, was identified as Mount Kinabalu. References to Mount Kinabalu had also appeared in maps of the East Indies made by Europeans cartographers. In some maps, for example, the 1710 Ottenss Map of Southeast Asia by Joachim Ottens, however, John Pinkertons East India Isles map from 1818 labelled the mountain as St. Peters Mountain. Because of the stories of the people, early geographers believed that there was a great lake at the peak of the mountain. During the Ice age about 100,000 years ago, the mountain was covered with ice sheets, only the summit peaks were very noticeable above the ice. The natives oral history may have had its roots in a memory of these glistening sheets of ice. The earliest documented expeditions to ascend Kinabalu in March 1851 and in 1858, led by Sir Hugh Low and Sir Spenser St. John, revealed there was no lake
4.
Allies of World War II
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The Allies of World War II, called the United Nations from the 1 January 1942 declaration, were the countries that together opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War. The Allies promoted the alliance as seeking to stop German, Japanese, at the start of the war on 1 September 1939, the Allies consisted of France, Poland and the United Kingdom, and dependent states, such as the British India. Within days they were joined by the independent Dominions of the British Commonwealth, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Poland was a minor factor after its defeat in 1939, France was a minor factor after its defeat in 1940. China had already been into a war with Japan since the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937. The alliance was formalised by the Declaration by United Nations, from 1 January 1942, however, the name United Nations was rarely used to describe the Allies during the war. The leaders of the Big Three – the UK, the Soviet Union, in 1945, the Allied nations became the basis of the United Nations. The origins of the Allied powers stem from the Allies of World War I, Germany resented signing Treaty of Versailles. The new Weimar republics legitimacy became shaken, by the early 1930s, the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler became the dominant revanchist movement in Germany and Hitler and the Nazis gained power in 1933. The Nazi regime demanded the cancellation of the Treaty of Versailles and made claims to German-populated Austria. The likelihood of war was high, and the question was whether it could be avoided through strategies such as appeasement, in Asia, when Japan seized Manchuria in 1931, the League of Nations condemned it for aggression against China. Japan responded by leaving the League of Nations in March 1933, after four quiet years, the Sino-Japanese War erupted in 1937 with Japanese forces invading China. The League of Nations condemned Japans actions and initiated sanctions on Japan, the United States, in particular, was angered at Japan and sought to support China. In March 1939, Germany took over Czechoslovakia, violating the Munich Agreement signed six months before, Britain and France decided that Hitler had no intention to uphold diplomatic agreements and responded by preparing for war. On 31 March 1939, Britain formed the Anglo-Polish military alliance in an effort to avert a German attack on the country, also, the French had a long-standing alliance with Poland since 1921. The Soviet Union sought an alliance with the powers. The agreement secretly divided the independent nations of eastern Europe between the two powers and assured adequate oil supplies for the German war machine, on 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany. Then, on 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, a Polish government-in-exile was set up and it continued to be one of the Allies, a model followed by other occupied countries. After a quiet winter, Germany in April 1940 invaded and quickly defeated Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Britain and its Empire stood alone against Hitler and Mussolini
5.
Prisoner of war
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A prisoner of war is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the prisoner of war dates to 1660. The first Roman gladiators were prisoners of war and were named according to their ethnic roots such as Samnite, Thracian, typically, little distinction was made between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although women and children were more likely to be spared. Sometimes, the purpose of a battle, if not a war, was to capture women, a known as raptio. Typically women had no rights, and were legally as chattel. For this he was eventually canonized, during Childerics siege and blockade of Paris in 464, the nun Geneviève pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, Clovis I liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so, many French prisoners of war were killed during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. In the later Middle Ages, a number of religious wars aimed to not only defeat, in Christian Europe, the extermination of heretics was considered desirable. Examples include the 13th century Albigensian Crusade and the Northern Crusades, likewise, the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during the Crusades against the Muslims in the 11th and 12th centuries. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed, their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the status of the captive. In feudal Japan there was no custom of ransoming prisoners of war, in Termez, on the Oxus, all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain. The Aztecs were constantly at war with neighbouring tribes and groups, for the re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, between 10,000 and 80,400 persons were sacrificed. During the early Muslim conquests, Muslims routinely captured large number of prisoners, aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or enslaved. Christians who were captured during the Crusades, were either killed or sold into slavery if they could not pay a ransom. The freeing of prisoners was highly recommended as a charitable act, there also evolved the right of parole, French for discourse, in which a captured officer surrendered his sword and gave his word as a gentleman in exchange for privileges. If he swore not to escape, he could gain better accommodations, if he swore to cease hostilities against the nation who held him captive, he could be repatriated or exchanged but could not serve against his former captors in a military capacity. Early historical narratives of captured colonial Europeans, including perspectives of literate women captured by the peoples of North America. The writings of Mary Rowlandson, captured in the fighting of King Philips War, are an example
6.
Empire of Japan
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The Empire of Japan was the historical Japanese nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan. Imperial Japans rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei led to its emergence as a world power, after several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the State of Japan or simply rendered Japan in English. The historical state is referred to as the Empire of Japan or the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon Teikoku, which translates to Greater Japanese Empire and this is analogous to Großdeutsches Reich, a term that translates to Greater German Empire in English and Dai Doitsu Teikoku in Japanese. This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonym Empire of the Sun. After two centuries, the policy, or Sakoku, under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The following years saw increased trade and interaction, commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part due to the terms of these Unequal Treaties, the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement. In March 1863, the Emperor issued the order to expel barbarians, although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson, the British demanded reparations but were denied. While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and they responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863. For Richardsons death, the Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity, shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to the Bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864. The Chōshū clan also launched the coup known as the Kinmon incident. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, in early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito. On November 9,1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to the Emperor, however, while Yoshinobus resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. On January 3,1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the palace in Kyoto. On January 17,1868, Yoshinobu declared that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration, on January 24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces
7.
Pacific War
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The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in the Pacific and East Asia. It was fought over a vast area that included the Pacific Ocean and islands, the South West Pacific, South-East Asia, and in China. The Pacific War saw the Allied powers pitted against the Empire of Japan, the formal and official surrender of Japan took place aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. In Allied countries during the war, The Pacific War was not usually distinguished from World War II in general, or was known simply as the War against Japan. Japan used the name Greater East Asia War, as chosen by a decision on 10 December 1941. Japanese officials integrated what they called the Japan–China Incident into the Greater East Asia War, in Japan, the Fifteen Years War is also used, referring to the period from the Mukden Incident of 1931 through 1945. The Phayap Army sent troops to invade and occupy northeastern Burma, also involved were the Japanese puppet states of Manchukuo and Mengjiang, and the collaborationist Wang Jingwei regime. The official policy of the U. S. Government is that Thailand was not an ally of the Axis, Japan conscripted many soldiers from its colonies of Korea and Formosa. To a small extent, some Vichy French, Indian National Army, Germany and Italy both had limited involvement in the Pacific War. The German and the Italian navies operated submarines and raiding ships in the Indian, the Italians had access to concession territory naval bases in China, while the Germans did not. After Japans attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declarations of war, mexico, Free France and many other countries also took part, especially forces from other British colonies. Between 1942 and 1945, there were four main areas of conflict in the Pacific War, China, the Central Pacific, South East Asia, U. S. sources refer to two theaters within the Pacific War, the Pacific theater and the China Burma India Theater. However these were not operational commands, in the Pacific, the Allies divided operational control of their forces between two supreme commands, known as Pacific Ocean Areas and Southwest Pacific Area. In 1945, for a period just before the Japanese surrender. By 1937, Japan controlled Manchuria and was ready to move deeper into China, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July 1937 provoked full-scale war between China and Japan. In August 1937, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to fight about 300,000 Japanese troops in Shanghai, the Japanese continued to push the Chinese forces back, capturing the capital Nanking in December 1937 and committed which was known as Nanking Massacre. In March 1938, Nationalist forces won their first victory at Taierzhuang, but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by Japanese in May. In June 1938, Japan deployed about 350,000 troops to invade Wuhan, the Japanese achieved major military victories, but world opinion—in particular in the United States—condemned Japan, especially after the Panay incident
8.
Battle of Singapore
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Singapore was the major British military base in South-East Asia and was the keystone of British imperial interwar defence planning for South-East Asia as well as the South-West Pacific. The fighting in Singapore lasted from 8 to 15 February 1942 although this was preceded by two months of British resistance as Japanese forces advanced down the Malaya peninsula and it resulted in the Japanese capture of Singapore and the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. About 80,000 British, Indian and Australian troops became prisoners of war, the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, called it the worst disaster in British military history. During 1940 and 1941, the Allies had imposed an embargo on Japan in response to its continued campaigns in China. The Japanese were encouraged to choose war by their intelligence, in December 1940, the Germans handed over copies of the papers to the Japanese. As a part of process, the Japanese planners determined a broad scheme of manoeuvre that incorporated simultaneous attacks on the British. In addition, strikes would be made against the United States naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, as well as landings in the Philippines, and attacks on Guam, Wake Island and the Gilbert Islands. With this perimeter, it was intended to block Allied attempts to regain the lost territory, the Japanese 25th Army invaded from Indochina, moving into northern Malaya and Thailand by amphibious assault on 8 December 1941. This was virtually simultaneous with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which precipitated the United States entry in to the war, Thailand initially resisted, but soon had to yield. The Japanese then proceeded overland across the Thai–Malayan border to attack Malaya, at this time, the Japanese began bombing strategic sites in Singapore. The Japanese 25th Army was resisted in northern Malaya by III Corps of the British Indian Army, although the 25th Army was outnumbered by Allied forces in Malaya and Singapore, Japanese commanders concentrated their forces. The Japanese were superior in close air support, armour, co-ordination, tactics, prior to the Battle of Singapore the most resistance was met at the Battle of Muar, which involved the Australian 8th Division and the Indian 45th Brigade. At the start of the campaign, the Allied forces had only 164 first-line aircraft on hand in Malaya and Singapore, and these aircraft were operated by two Royal Australian Air Force, two Royal Air Force, and one Royal New Zealand Air Force squadron. Major shortcomings included a slow rate of climb and the fuel system which required the pilot to hand pump fuel if flying above 6,000 feet. Their fighter aircraft were superior to the Allied fighters, which helped the Japanese to gain air supremacy, Japanese forces quickly isolated, surrounded, and forced the surrender of Indian units defending the coast. They advanced down the Malayan peninsula overwhelming the defences, despite their numerical inferiority, the Japanese forces also used bicycle infantry and light tanks, allowing swift movement through the jungle. The Allies, however, having thought the terrain made them impractical, had no tanks, and only a few armoured vehicles, although more Allied units—including some from the Australian 8th Division—joined the campaign, the Japanese prevented the Allied forces from regrouping. They also overran cities and advanced toward Singapore, the city was an anchor for the operations of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, the first Allied joint command of the Second World War
9.
Prisoner-of-war camp
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A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of enemy combatants captured by a belligerent power in time of war. It should be noted there are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps. In addition, non-combatants, such as merchant mariners and civilian aircrews, have imprisoned in some conflicts. Not all belligerents have consistently applied the convention in all conflicts, before the Peace of Westphalia, enemy combatants captured by belligerent forces were usually executed, enslaved, or held for ransom. This, coupled with the small size of armies, meant there was little need for any form of camp to hold prisoners of war. This is generally considered to mark the point where captured enemy combatants would be treated before being released at the end of the conflict or under a parole not to take up arms. The practice of paroling enemy combatants had begun thousands of earlier, at least as early as the time of Carthage. The consequent increase in the number of prisoners was to eventually to the development of the prisoner of war camps. Following General John Burgoynes surrender at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, several thousand British and German troops were marched to Cambridge, for various reasons, the Continental Congress desired to move them south. For this purpose, one of the congressmen offered his land outside of Charlottesville, the remaining soldiers marched south in late 1778—arriving at the site in January 1779. Since the barracks were barely sufficient in construction, the officers were paroled to live as far away as Richmond, the camp was never adequately provisioned, but the prisoners built a theater on the site. Hundreds escaped Albemarle Barracks because of the shortage of guards, as the British Army moved northward from the Carolinas in late 1780, the remaining prisoners were moved to Frederick, Maryland, Winchester, Virginia, and perhaps elsewhere. No remains of the encampment site are left, while awaiting exchange, prisoners were confined to permanent camps. Neither Union or Confederate prison camps were well run. It is estimated that about 56,000 soldiers died in prisons during the war, during a period of 14 months in Camp Sumter, located near Andersonville, Georgia,13,000 of the 45,000 Union soldiers confined there died. During the Boer Wars the British established concentration camps to hold both civilians and prisoners of war, in total 109 camps were constructed for Boer and black African internees. However, the majority of prisoners of war were sent overseas, the camps were poorly administered, the food rations insufficient to maintain health, standards of hygiene were low, and overcrowding was chronic. Over 26,000 women and children died in the camps during the wars, the first international convention on prisoners of war was signed at the Hague Peace Conference of 1899
10.
Sabah
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Sabah, nicknamed Malay, Negeri Di Bawah Bayu, is one of the two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Sabah has a level of autonomy in administration, immigration. It is situated in northern Borneo, bordering the state of Sarawak to the southwest, Kalimantan of Indonesia to the south, Sabah shares maritime borders with Vietnam in the west and the Philippines to the north and east. Kota Kinabalu is the city, the economic centre of the state. Other major towns in Sabah include Sandakan and Tawau, as of the 2015 census in Malaysia, the states population is 3,543,500. Sabah has a climate with tropical rainforests and abundant animal. The state has long mountain ranges on the west side which form part of the Crocker Range National Park, Kinabatangan River, second longest river in Malaysia runs through Sabah and Mount Kinabalu is the highest point of Sabah as well of Malaysia. The earliest human settlement in Sabah can be traced back to 20, the state had a trading relationship with China from the 14th century AD. Sabah came under the influence of the Bruneian Empire in the 15th century, the state was subsequently acquired by the North Borneo Chartered Company in the 19th century. During World War II, Sabah was occupied by the Japanese for three years and it became a British Crown Colony in 1946. On 31 August 1963, Sabah was granted self-government by the British, following this, Sabah became one of the founding members of the Federation of Malaysia alongside Sarawak, Singapore, and the Federation of Malaya. Sabah exhibits notable diversity in ethnicity, culture and language, the head of state is the Governor, also known as the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, while the head of government is the Chief Minister. The government system is modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and has one of the earliest state legislature system in Malaysia. Sabah is divided into divisions and districts. Malay is the language of the state, and Islam is the official religion. Sabah is known for its musical instrument, the sompoton. Sabah is the state in Malaysia to celebrate the Kaamatan festival. Sabah has abundant natural resources, and its economy is strongly export-oriented, the primary exports include oil, gas, timber and palm oil
11.
Burma Railway
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This railway completed the rail link between Bangkok, Thailand and Rangoon, Burma. The line was closed in 1947, but the section between Nong Pla Duk and Nam Tok was reopened ten years later in 1957, forced labour was used in its construction. More than 180, 000—possibly many more—Southeast Asian civilian labourers and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war worked on the railway,12,621 Allied POWs died during the construction. The dead POWs included 6,904 British personnel,2,802 Australians,2,782 Dutch, no compensation or reparations have been provided to Southeast Asian victims. In early 1942, Japanese forces invaded Burma and seized control of the colony from the United Kingdom. To supply their forces in Burma, the Japanese depended upon the sea, bringing supplies and troops to Burma around the Malay peninsula and through the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea. This route was vulnerable to attack by Allied submarines, especially after the Japanese defeat at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. To avoid a hazardous 2,000 miles sea journey around the Malay peninsula, the Japanese began this project in June 1942. The project aimed to connect Ban Pong in Thailand with Thanbyuzayat in Burma and its route was through Three Pagodas Pass on the border of Thailand and Burma. 69 miles of the railway were in Burma and the remaining 189 miles were in Thailand, the movement of POWs northward from Changi prison in Singapore and other prison camps in Southeast Asia began in May 1942. After preliminary work of airfields and infrastructure, construction of the began in Burma on 15 September 1942. The projected completion date was December 1943, most of the construction materials, including tracks and sleepers, were brought from dismantled branches of Malayas Federated Malay States Railway network and the East Indies various rail networks. The railway was completed ahead of schedule, on 17 October 1943, construction gangs originating in Burma and working south met up with construction gangs originating in Thailand and working north. The two sections of the line met at kilometre 263, about 18 km south of the Three Pagodas Pass at Konkuita, the Burma railway was an impressive accomplishment. As an American engineer said after viewing the project, What makes this an engineering feat is the totality of it, all of that makes this railway an extraordinary accomplishment. The total freight carried during the war was 500,000 tonnes,12,000 Japanese soldiers, including 800 Koreans, were employed on the railway as engineers, guards, and supervisors of the POW and rōmusha labourers. Although working conditions were far better for the Japanese than the POW and rōmusha workers, Japanese soldiers are widely remembered as being cruel and indifferent to the fate of Allied prisoners of war and the Asian rōmusha. Many men in the railway workforce bore the brunt of pitiless or uncaring guards, cruelty could take different forms, from extreme violence and torture to minor acts of physical punishment, humiliation and neglect
12.
Batu Lintang camp
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Batu Lintang camp at Kuching, Sarawak on the island of Borneo was a Japanese internment camp during the Second World War. It was unusual in that it housed both Allied prisoners of war and civilian internees, the camp, which operated from March 1942 until the liberation of the camp in September 1945, was housed in buildings that were originally British Indian Army barracks. The original area was extended by the Japanese, until it covered about 50 acres, the camp population fluctuated, due to movement of prisoners between camps in Borneo, and as a result of the deaths of the prisoners. It had a population of some 3,000 prisoners. Of the approximately 2,000 British POWs held there, over two-thirds died during or as a result of their captivity, discovery would have resulted in certain death for those involved. Following the unconditional surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945, the camp was liberated on 11 September 1945 by the Australian 9th Division. On liberation, the population was 2,024, of whom 1,392 were POWs,395 were male civilian internees and 237 were civilian women and children. Amongst official Japanese papers found at the camp following its liberation were two death orders, both described the proposed method of execution of every POW and internee in the camp. The first order, scheduled for enactment on 17 or 18 August, was not carried out, the timely liberation of the camp may have prevented the murder of over 2,000 men, women and children. In July 1948, a training college moved to the site, where it continues to this day. Kuching lies some 35 kilometres up the Sarawak River from the sea, the camp was near completion for occupation by May 1941. The Japanese first invaded the island of Borneo in mid December 1941, landing on the west coast near Miri, the first Allied prisoners held in the camp were about 340 British and Indian soldiers who were interned there in mid-March 1942. In time, it held both Allied POWs and Allied civilian internees, local Sarawakians including ethnic Chinese were not interned in the camp, although some were imprisoned in Kuching gaol. In contrast, the POWs were brought to Batu Lintang from places such as mainland Malaya, many spent time at transit or temporary camps, such as the one at Berhala Island, North Borneo, prior to their transfer to Batu Lintang. The camp officially opened on 15 August 1942, at time a commemoration stone was erected at the camp. The camp commandant was Lieutenant-Colonel Tatsuji Suga and his second-in-command was Lieutenant Nagata, some sources say Negata or Nekata. Most of the guards were Koreans, with a few Formosans. There was a range of buildings, quartermaster’s stores, guard houses, guards’ quarters
