By Lian Cheng
When the Japanese surrendered on Aug 15, 1945, ending the Second World War and the war efforts in the Pacific, an armistice followed. The news may have broken through radio announcements and newspapers, but it failed to reach many who were dwelling or hiding deep in the jungles of Borneo, despite leaflets explaining the surrender being dropped from the air.
Captain Tsunekichi Fujino and Lieutenant Eikichi Kamimura, who had a combined force of 450 armed men and 120 natives, including children, were those that remained in the dark.
They still roamed the jungles of Sarawak and continued to occupy as much territory as they could, believing that the war was still raging while the Australia Imperial Force (AIF) had readily disengaged and withdrawn from the war.
As the Allied forces were withdrawing, it was imperative to bring the news to the Japanese troops in the jungles of Sarawak to stop them from continuing the war effort of ravaging and pillaging settlements of local natives and to surrender.
According to Paul Malone, the author of ‘Kill the Major’, there were at least four different accounts from peace envoys sent to meet with the Japanese to update them of the latest developments.
These included that of Allied guerrilla leader Major Tom Harrisson, who headed the 42 ‘Z’ Specials who were parachuted into the Kelabit Highlands or presently known as the Bario Highlands on March 1945; Staff Sergeant Charles Frederick Sanderson, an Australian-Thai veteran; that of the descendants of an Iban warrior and lastly, of Fujino.
The first version being Harrisson’s claim of sending four unarmed Kelabit and Iban volunteers to Fujino to bring him the news of the war having ended with the surrender of the Japanese Imperial Army. Refusing to believe them, Fujino killed the four men.
In Sanderson’s post-war statement, the Sergeant said three Iban soldiers went in on July 28 and one escaped.
Meanwhile, Malone also quoted the record of the Australian War Memorial which contains Sanderson’s signal on Aug 28, 1945 stating that “5 messengers bore letter to the enemy at Damo.F ailed to return same day. Were taken prisoner by enemy”. Another message on this same day states “Ill treatment of messengers… Enemy force no intention of surrendering. Three messengers reported killed at random”.
The third version, according to Malone, involved the account of an Iban Kaya Dumba of Nanga Medamit, who had been fighting alongside Sanderson. Kaya recalled that at Mentakong, they were informed of news that Japanese soldiers were pillaging longhouses seeking food and overnight lodging.
He said Sanderson ordered five locals namely Bayan, Buda, Limping and Ujih (the fifth was not named) to bring a letter instructing the Japanese to surrender. The attempt failed with three being held and shot while two – Limping and Ujih – escaped.
This is obviously a historical mystery yet to be solved and it was the first thing that Malone brought up when we brought him to a local cafe for a chit-chat recently.
Malone, who stopped by Kuching before transiting to Miri to attend the 78th Anniversary of the Z Special Unit’s landing in Bario Highlands, has challenged Sarawakian writers to find out what exactly happened then, whether four or five were sent to be messengers to bring forth news to the Japanese and if there was a fifth, who was he.
“It is your history. It would be interesting to know whether there were four, or five being sent to persuade the Japanese to surrender,” Malone told DayakDaily.
Malone, an Australia journalist and author, was with the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age, the Australian Financial Review and the Canberra Times.
Coming to Sarawak may have been “accidental”, as he was visiting Sabah which provided him an opportunity to enter Sarawak where he traveled to Northern Sarawak including Marudi, Baram and the Bario Highlands.
He learnt of the history of the Allied guerrilla soldier during Second World War and subsequently wrote his first book about Sarawak — ‘Kill the Major’.
The amount of time he spent in Northern Sarawak and the many jungles he roamed during his visit here had finally led him to his encounter with the Penan, which resulted in his second book — ‘The Peaceful People: The Penan and Their Fight for the Forest’.
While ‘Kill the Major’ is a book about the true story of the most successful Allied guerrilla war in Borneo, the second book is about the Penan, their links to the forest as well as their struggles to preserve it. — DayakDaily
