The Star Online
Friday April 17, 2009
Liberation trail to mark sacrifices
KUCHING: The Sarawak Tourism Federation wants to open links between Bario Highlands, Long Akah (in the northern region) and Belaga (upper Rejang basin), where the liberation of Sarawak from the Japanese Occupation forces started.
Its Heritage Development committee chairman Lim Kian Hock said the move would help rekindle the spirit of the struggle for peace and nation-building.
”It is a tribute to the veterans of the war,” he said when welcoming an Australian delegation at the Batu Lintang Wartime Heritage site yesterday.
Delegation members from the Australian-New Zealand Army Corp included relatives of former Australian prisoners of war. They later laid wreaths at a Heroes Grave Monument.
Lim said the Borneo campaign to liberate Sarawak was launched in May 1945. Two weeks earlier, special British and Australian commandos were air-dropped into the mountainous interiors of the Bario Highlands.
The Japanese forces surrendered on Aug 15, 1945.
Lim said the proposed liberation trail would enable young Malaysians and Australians to experience the heritage, learn jungle survival skills and promote cultural exchanges.
