Petagas War Memorial - The Petagas War Memorial and Sabahan Identity

The Petagas War Memorial and Sabahan Identity

At 9 am on 21 Jan 1946, the West Coast Residency Committee organised the first memorial service at Petagas in memory of the Kinabalu Guerrillas. Soon after, the colonial government agreed to commemorate the 21 January as Remembrance Day for the dead. On 29 Apr 1949, the remains of the other guerrillas from Labuan were brought back to Petagas to rejoin their comrades.

The Memorial is located on the exact spot where 176 Sabahan guerrillas were massacred on 21 Jan 1944. It is situated across the highway from the Kota Kinabalu International Airport about 9 km from the city of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Every year on 21 Jan, a memorial service is held here to commemorate those died at Petagas, Labuan as well as those who were associated with the Kinabalu Guerrillas. The memorial has an epitaph which says:

"In perpetual memory of those gallant men of all races, who, loyal to the cause of freedom was murdered and buried at this place on 21 January 1944 and also those who met their death in the same cause at Labuan and were later buried here."

The history of the commemoration is found on a plate at the site. The maintenance of the Petagas (War) Memorial Garden is now the responsibility of the Kota Kinabalu Municipal Council (KKMC). After Sabah (and Sarawak) joined the Federation of Malaysia on 16 Sep 1963, Remembrance Day has taken on the symbol of multi-racial unity and nation building at the state level. Remembrance Day is now an annual official function attended by the Head of State (Yang di-Pertuan Negeri) and the Chief Minister. The late former chief ministers Tun Fuad Stephens (whose father was Jules Stephens) and Mustapha bin Harun have both taken turns to officiate at the annual memorial services.

The Kinabalu Guerrillas and the Jesselton Uprising was initially a local Chinese initiative, motivated by Chinese nationalism rather than any allegiance to Sabah. Critics say that the account of the uprising have been romanticised by writers such as Maxwell Hall and K.G. Tregonning. However, the ethnic diversity of the guerrillas' names listed on the memorial plates has made the Petagas War Memorial a symbol of inter-ethnic unity at the state level in Sabah and at the national level in Malaysia. In the narrative of the nation-state of Malaysia, it is where people of diverse backgrounds, natives, migrants and colonial officials, came together in a common struggle against the Japanese occupation army. Various publications in the Chinese and Malay languages have also recounted the Kinabalu Guerrillas and the uprising. In the early accounts after the post-war years, one would detect a slight racial slant in the publications where the Chinese role was emphasised more strongly than the roles played the other ethnic groups. The aftermath of the Jesselton Uprising was not always seen as positive. Essentially the uprising was a military failure as much as it was a symbolic success in the eyes of the residents of Sabah. The reprisals by the Japanese after the failed uprising were, not surprisingly, brutal and widespread. There were frequent arrests and killings of many community leaders accused of plotting against the Japanese Military Administration. People lived in fear of losing their loved ones. In addition, there was widespread shortage of food and lack of proper housing especially when the allied bombing began in 1945. Hence the memorial serves as a sense of collective memory of the joint sufferings of entire communities across Sabah. Accounts from past survivors and historians continue to be published in the newspapers or as books.