Kundasang War Memorial
| Tugu Peringatan Perang Kundasang | |
The entrance gate.
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| Coordinates | 5°59′15″N 116°34′37″E / 5.98750°N 116.57694°ECoordinates: 5°59′15″N 116°34′37″E / 5.98750°N 116.57694°E |
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| Location | Kundasang |
| Designer | JC Robinson |
| Dedicated to | The British and Australian soldiers who died in the Sandakan POW camp. Remembering also the suffering and sacrifice of the native populations of Sabah. |
The Kundasang War Memorial (Malay: Tugu Peringatan Perang Kundasang) 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.
The memorial is located in the small town of Kundasang, about 55 kilometres from the state capital of Kota Kinabalu.
The establishment of the memorial can be traced back to Major G.S. Carter DSO, a New Zealand war veteran and employee of the Shell Oil Co. (Borneo), 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 Thai pensioner, 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 (which to serves the screening of documentaries), 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 (MBE) by the British government. While the Australian government conferred on him an honorary award under the Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
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