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By DayakDaily Team KUCHING, Oct 26: A special ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the last day of Japanese occupation of Sarawak will be held at Long Langai in Ba’ Kelalan on Oct 30. In his message in the programme booklet, event advisor and coordinator Datu Ose Murang, who once served as Deputy Sarawak Secretary, noted that the day commemorates the moment when 346 Japanese soldiers, led by Captain Fujino Tai, made their final surrender in Sarawak. “They limped in a parade under the supervision of the Allied forces and witnessed by the people of Long Langai on this very field exactly 80 years ago,” he said. He said Sarawak’s highland communities, although living in the remotest parts of the State, were recruited as guerrillas, border scouts, and policemen during the Japanese Occupation, the Indonesian Confrontation and the Communist insurgency, respectively, while many others joined the army to protect the integrity of the national borders against foreign threats. “During the Second World War, when the Allied forces returned to liberate Sarawak from the Japanese, they made their first arrival when eight soldiers parachuted into Bario on March 25, 1945. And by a turn of events, seven months later, the final Japanese surrender happened to be at Long Langai here in Ba’ Kelalan, on October 30, 1945. “So let us recognise these two anniversaries as the first and final commemoration events where our communities participated in the fight to liberate Sarawak from Japanese Occupation,” he said. He added that by holding these commemoration events, it would enable Sarawakians to understand the values of peace and harmony, which in turn lead to a stable and peaceful environment for socio-economic progress in Sarawak. “I hope our event will encourage the community to become active participants in commemorating and the writing of the history of our sacrifices in the fight to defend our State and country. Lest our sacrifices be forgotten,” he said. The event, to be officiated by Lawas MP Datuk Henry Sum Agong as the guest of honour, is scheduled to begin at 9am and will feature the presentation of war memorial plaques, the handing over of a symbolic samurai, and the unveiling of the 80th anniversary commemoration plaque. In addition, there will also be a visit to the memorial site and an open discussion. Previously, other places in Sarawak also held similar events—September 11 in Kuching and October 11 in Sibu. — DayakDaily
