The Kundasang War Memorial is a memorial located in Kundasang in the Malaysian state of Sabah, which is dedicated to the British and Australian soldiers who died in the Sandakan POW camp during their death marches to Ranau. Besides that, it also recognises the suffering and sacrifice of the native population of Sabah.
Location
The memorial is located in the small town of Kundasang, about 55 kilometres from the state capital of Kota Kinabalu.
Background
The establishment of the memorial can be traced back to Major G.S. Carter DSO, a New Zealandwar veteran and employee of the Shell Oil Co., who gave the ideas for the construction of the memorial in 1962. The construction was later led by Mr. JC Robinson who is a local architect. However, due to insufficient revenue for upgrading as the memorial covers a large area, it fell into disrepair even though the Sabah state government injected some funds in 1995. In 2005, a native Thaipensioner, Mr. Sevee Charuruks from Kota Kinabalu, undertook the restoration as a private retirement project. In subsequent years, the Australian government was also involved in several contributions to the further restoration. Such as the contribution of 120,000 MYR for the fencing of the plot, MYR350,000 for the Australian Memorial Hall, MYR120,000 in the demolition and reconstruction of the concrete wall in the Contemplation Garden and another MYR14,000 for the construction of the Confrontation Memorial. As a reward for his contribution efforts, Charuruks has been awarded the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by the British government. While the Australian government conferred on him an honorary award under the Member of the Order of Australia.
Outline
The memorial is divided into four interconnecting continuous areas that are connected by a trail.
The first three gardens represent the home countries of the victims.
Australian Garden
The core of the Australian garden is the Australian flag and a bronze plaque with a heading titled "Kinabalu Kundasang War Memorial and Australia". There is also a panel documented in English and Malay with the title "The history of British and Australian prisoners of war in Sabah" created by artist Ross J. Bastiaan in 1998. Below the relief of Borneo was written in English the creation of the memorial. While in the lower middle part of the plate is a graphical representation of a roadmap during the death marches.
The Borneo Garden is dedicated to the victims who hailed from Borneo, especially the ethnic groups in Sabah who had tried to help the prisoners of war in any way and were themselves killed. In this garden, several plants and flowers been grown are native to Sabah, especially rare orchid species like the domestic Kinabalu rothschildianum Paphiopedilum, from the genus of Paphiopedilum.
Contemplation Garden
In the Contemplation Garden, a column passing passage leads to a pond. In 2011, marble panels were installed here with the names of all the victims.
POW route
The last stop in the Kundasang War Memorial is the "POW Route", which marks the stations of the three death marches in the field. It begins in Sandakan and ends at this memorial. The stations of the route are now marked with a sign board.
