KUCHING: The unveiled Long Nawang Memorial Plaque at the Prisoners of War (Pow) Museum in Batu Lintang Teachers’ Education Institute here is expected to be a significant attraction in the state’s tourism industry.
The commemoration of the unique plaque was to pay tribute to those who were massacred by the Japanese troops in an attack on the remote Dutch outpost of Long Nawang in east Kalimantan.
Tourism Deputy Minister Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew was proud to be invited to witness the historic event yesterday.
“We are here today to remember those people who were massacred and those who fought for Sarawak.
“They were the heroes that protected Sarawak and our people during the Japanese Occupation. The appreciation is also for those who fought for Sarawak during the confrontation time.
“We might not have that kind of quality of life or the standard of living we do now if it weren’t because of these unsung heroes,” he said.
The idea of the memorial plaque came after a descendant of one of the Long Nawang victims, Melissa Murphy attempted to find out about her missing grandfather, who was then serving as the police deputy commissioner.
Ting said her journey started 18 years ago to find what had happened to her grandfather Desmond Vernon Murphy.
After she concluded her research, she thought about putting up a plaque to commemorate the victims of the Long Nawang brutal massacre.
The horrific massacre of Sarawak officers and their wives and children by Japanese troops on remote Dutch outposts of Long Nawang happened in 1942.
“On Aug 19 that year, two Kenyah reported that 70 Japanese troops were advancing towards Long Nawang Fort. Next morning, the Japanese attacked with rifles and light machine guns.
“A few officers were wounded and put into two cells in the fort for interrogation, while women and children were allowed to stay at the nearby two houses.
“On Aug 26, the Japanese executed the male prisoners at 5 pm. The women and children were held in two houses until Sept 23 when they were taken out and killed,” Ting said, adding that their remains were later found in two mass graves.
