Batu Lintang Prisoner of War and Internee Camp
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Entertainment All the camps used music to boost morale and nearly all Down the River to the Sea had a choir and individual Batu Lintang voices of note. Occasionally When we sail down the river to the sea, the Japanese allowed the And this gaol becomes another memory camps to have a combined We’ll be free as we were in days of yore; Prisoner of War and concert and the prisoners We’ll see life as we never did before. were transported to a different world for a short time. The men were When we sail down the river to the sea particularly delighted to hear the beautiful voices of the women There’ll be happy, happy days for you and me Internee camp The song that helped keep their hope alive Further reading: Frank Bell, Artes in Ardui: Undercover University, Cambridge 1991 Michele Cunningham, Defying the Odds: Surviving Sandakan and Kuching, Melbourne 2006 Ernest C Darch, Survival in a Japanese POW Camps with Changkol and Basket, UK 2000 Agnes Keith, Three Came Home, Reprinted Kota Kinabalu, 1998 Research: Professor Claire Woods The Australians extended their entertainment to include stage Dr Michele Cunningham productions – dramas, comedies, tragedies and musicals, a large Defying the Odds Through number of which were written by individuals in the camp. Fundosi Follies, for example, was a variety show staged by men in the Education ‘bioke’ or sick hut, to which many of the performers were by this time confined. Others, such as HMS Pinafore, Midsummer Night’s Contact: STF Heritage Development Committee Initiative Inspiration Dream and Macbeth, were also performed. From early 1944 Sarawak Tourism Federation restrictions on gathering in groups affected many rehearsals Kuching Waterfront, Main Bazaar, Improvisation preventing some performances. After Christmas 1944 the rapidly PO Box 887, 93000 Kuching, Sarawak, East Malaysia deteriorating health of all in the camp brought the organised Self-reliance entertainment to an end, except for the occasional variety night and singing. Shared endeavour Internees at Batu Lintang Prisoners of War Arrive The first to inhabit Batu Lintang camp were internees – foreign On 13 October 1942 1,000 British soldiers and officers captured in Java arrived civilians rounded up in Sarawak by the Japanese in December and took over work on the airstrip from the internees. A further 500 arrived on 1941. These included men, women and children and religious 1 April 1943. Already under-nourished, the British prisoners suffered greatly nuns and priests. They moved into Batu Lintang on 14 July under the harsh working conditions. They laboured on the airstrip for nearly 1942. At first the internees were made to cultivate the swampy three years under increasing pressure and brutality on a near-starvation diet. ground around their accommodation to plant vegetables but they were soon put to work on the roads around the In the meantime 1500 Australian prisoners (B Force) arrived at Sandakan in camp.Then in August they had to supply a party to labour on July 1942, followed by another 500 (E Force) in April 1943 along with about extending a landing strip at Batu Tujoh. This, however, lasted 800 British prisoners. Several senior Australian officers and a few other ranks only a few weeks until British prisoners of war arrived to take from B Force were transferred from Sandakan to Kuching in November 1942 over this work. and June 1943. When the Japanese discovered a radio and intelligence network In early 1943 the internees were joined by over 100 civilians in the Australian camp at Sandakan they decided to transfer the remainder of from Sandakan. These included the well-known Agnes Keith the Australian officers to Kuching, along with the British officers. The Japanese who wrote three books about her life in Borneo, the most thought the men would be easier to control if their officers were removed famous of which, Three Came Home, tells the story of life as a because it was they who organised the intelligence network. They arrived at prisoner of the Japanese in Batu Lintang Camp. A number of Kuching in November 1943 Dutch officers, Indonesian and Indian soldiers arrived about the same time. By the beginning of 1945 even prisoners not working on the airstrip were starving and were barely able to maintain their gardens. More than 700 In all there were 282 civilians housed in separate compounds: prisoners died at Batu Lintang, 680 of them being British soldiers, about 50 civilians and 7 Australian officers. When doctors arrived in the camp one for men, one for women, including nuns, and children, in September1945 they estimated the majority would not have survived many more weeks. There were nearly 600 prisoners in hospital when the and one for Catholic priests and other religious men, who were camp was liberated on 11 September 1945 and many of them died during September, too weak to be saved. mainly Dutch. Life was hard, particularly when food became scarce, but they The British officers also tried to conduct an education program but they were lacking did not suffer the ill-treatment meted out to the British soldiers Camp conditions the depth and range of expertise so they achieved considerably less than the in the neighbouring compound. Both the Australian and Australians. Before liberation the Australian officers’ education committee wrote a British prisoners were moved by the plight of the children in Conditions in the camp began to deteriorate very quickly with report of their educational activities with details of lectures given, books studied, the camp and made toys for them. From time to time Colonel reduced rations and brutal treatment by the guards. In the camp exams conducted and certificates of achievement awarded. Army Education officers hospital equipment and medical supplies were almost non-existent. Suga, the camp commandant, would take the children out on remarked that the education program ‘reflects uniquely the magnificent heights to the back of a truck for a picnic. Surgery was done with a stainless steel pen-knife and one pair of scissors. Facilities for treating dysentery patients were totally which the human spirit can rise under conditions of the foulest physical hardship and degradation and cruelty; in circumstances in which the bravest might have inadequate. Requests for drugs or extra food for patients were mostly ignored. Doctors and medical orderlies struggled to perform abandoned hope long years ago.’ miracles in order to save the lives of severely emaciated and ill prisoners. At liberation it was discovered that the Japanese had a variety drugs and medical supplies in large quantities that would have saved the lives and ameliorated the suffering of many. Defying the Odds to Survive Education Almost inexplicably the Japanese collected thousands of books from private Sketch of women’s camp and public libraries in Kuching and organised a central library run by the drawn by Australian prisoners. Each month a random selection of books was issued to each officer Captain Don compound. They covered a wide range of subjects: history; literature; Johnston philosophy; biography; drama; travel; languages; agriculture; education; psychology; politics. The Australian officers developed an education program, begun in the B-Force camp at Sandakan, using the expertise among them and aided by the books in Women and children the library. Courses were run in law, accounting, agriculture/farming, English, internees at Batu Lintang languages, history, art, biology, science and mathematics for example. They after the thanksgiving service held when they hoped that their studies might be recognised ‘as an important factor in were liberated deciding their suitability and eligibility for training and employment on their return for civil life.’ .