Both Jesselton and Donggongon flattened during the war
Published on: Monday, August 03, 2015
By: Tan Sri Herman Luping
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The end of the Second World War in Sabah saw an unprecedented rise of development in the state, in all fields. This was needed as, just before the end of the war the Allied Forces led by Australia bombed Kota Kinabalu, then known as Jesselton. The whole township was flattened and destroyed with barely a single building left standing.
The bombing of Kota Kinabalu was the end of the Second World War here in Sabah as soon after followed the devastating atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima where over one hundred thousand people died. The Japanese sued for peace shortly after.
In Penampang the war also destroyed the town of Donggongon, which was then something of a one-horse town.
Those of us who lived there in Penampang could actually hear the sound of the Allied aeroplanes over Kota Kinabalu and then coming over into Donggongon. As a result of the bombing there was not a single shop left standing in Donggongon either– they were all completely destroyed.
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During the height of the war in Sabah and before the bombing of Jesselton by the Australian armed forces there were frequent aeroplanes flying high above our skies. These planes dropped thousands and thousands of leaflets to inform the locals to move at least ten miles from town as the Allies were going to bomb it. Many people followed these directives, including those from further away from the potentially affected areas.
Naturally the Japanese armed forces weren’t very happy about the leaflets being dropped by the Australians so they were all collected through a middleman who was under their employ and who also acted as a spy. All these leaflets, as I remember, were not only informing people to move away from the township, but also showed photographs of Japanese living in abject poverty and hunger. They had pictures of Japanese people who showed great signs of malnutrition while they were occupying Indonesia.
The Japanese had brought with them to Sabah a large workforce of Javanese labourers and at the end of the war they weren’t feeding them. Sure enough, soon after the war these Javanese labourers were roving the villages crying and begging for food as they were so hungry.
When the victorious Australian/Allied forces took over the administration of North Borneo the Occupying Australian Forces took immediate remedy to rebuild the city of Jessleton and the township of Donggongon. They hurriedly organised an administration to rebuild before North Borneo became a British Crown colony. Damaged roads were also repaired – soon the public works department was set up to undertake the work, supervised by Australian engineers.
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After the war the Japanese came back to Sabah to purchase Sabah’s timber and other goods and thereby promoted fast development in the State. Japan today is very much a friend of Malaysia and in particular Sabah. The Australian and Allied forces rebuilt the town of Kota Kinabalu and other townships in Sabah immediately following the war, but it was the Japanese later on who also helped, especially in the development of communication networks in the state.
For instance, a joint Sabahan/Japanese company known as Overseas Mineral Resources Development (OMRD) built the road from Ranau to Kota Kinabalu. OMRD had been given the job of extracting ore from the foot of Mt Kinabalu and one of the articles of payment required for this was to reconstruct the Ranau to Kota Kinabalu road.
There were many more contributions made by the Japanese government towards Malaysia and especially Sabah infrastructural development. Today Japan is very much a good ally and friend of the British and other previously allied forces against them.
Luckily, Japan today is remembered mostly not for any atrocities committed against Sabahans or Malaysians, but for their contribution to the State later on. There will be some students of politics who do not agree with this writer but I came to know many of the business people who came to buy our timber.