New Aussie PM a boon to Death March status
Published on: Sunday, May 26, 2019
By: Kan Yaw Chong
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His reason? He guided Morrison who was then a mere Shadow Minister of Immigration on a six-day trek of the Death March track from Bauto to the Last Camp at Kg Kenipir Ranau on April 10-15, 2011.
“Now, I feel 14 years of slogging to track down the entire route and pinning down exactly where the lost mid-track went is absolutely worth it, because finally, a Prime Minister of Australia has done it and who has said the Death March story is of national importance to Australia,” Tham noted.
In position of power to tell all Aussies
“Now that he has become the Prime Minister of Australia, he is in an authoritative position to tell all Australians the lost story of the Death March and encourage as many Australians to come and walk it like the way he did it,” Tham explained why he celebrated Morrison’s election victory. He won 88 seats out of 151 compared to Labor Party’s 66 seats.
In a rare but deliberate show of political unity, Morrison (Liberal Party) joined Jason Clare, then Labor Minister of Defence and Independent “king maker”, Rob Oakeshott to sponsor 12 high school students of diverse backgrounds including four aboriginals and at least a Muslim among the two accompanying teachers to mount what they called a community-building Death March trek.
Note where PM Morrison went
It is interesting and indeed important to note where this high-power Australian group went.
Not the so-called alternate Labuk Valley route to Kg Miruru but straight into Taviu Valley following the path plotted in 1947 by the Australian Body Recovery Team cartographer, Graham Robertson, endorsed by the War Graves Australia.
So Day 1, April 11 (2011), the 17-strong group arrived at Bauto to start their 8km trek for about six hours through a Tawai primary forest reserve before returning to the Forestry Department’s Institute of Forestry Rest House overnight.
Day 2, as a matter of habit, Morrison led the group for a 15-minute warm up then headed for a 24km trek through Gambaron, a half forest and half open cable track terrain.
Tham hails Morrison’s election as Prime Minister.
Morrison experienced proofs of the original track
Day 3, April 13, this part is very interesting and important – a 16km trek from Maliau (not Maliau Basin) to Kg Kopuron, starting at the Tawai Forestry Camp and ended at the house of the late Zudin, oa porter for the Japanese Army during the Death march days.
“We called Zudin the ‘Blow Pipe Man’,” Tham said.
Meeting Zudin – a direct DM witness
“Zudin, who originally came from old Kg Miruru located on the other side of the Labuk river during WW2, was recruited by the Japanese Army to carry bullets between the Japanese Ammunition Dump in Lolosing at the headwaters of Taviu River and Tampias where the Japanese had another campsite by the bank of the Labuk River,” Tham said.
So in one fell swoop, the current Prime Minister of Australia had met Zudin, a direct witness of the 1945 Death March who had told Daily Express umpteenth times the Death March track never went to Kg Miruru, as claimed by Dr Kevin Smith.
Crossing rivers marked on official Army map
The other proofs of the authentic track are the rivers. For example, from Maliau to Kopuron, Morrison crossed three rivers.
One, Sungai Telupid. Two, Sungai Tapaan. Three, Sungei Baba which Morrison crossed three times, before reaching Zudin’s house near the bank of Sungai Tavou, at about 3pm on April 13, 2011.
All these rivers are plotted, marked and named on the Australian Army Body Recovery team mud map drawn by cartographer Graham Robertson, in 1947, when he joined Death March survivor Stepivich who guided the team down the track to retrieve bodies and Zudin, whom Morrison met, was also recruited by the Body Recovery team to help carry the bones.
Throughout the search for skeletons, they never went to Kg Miruru, Zuidn told Daily Express. So, we are sure Morrison walked the original track.
Scott Morrison tries the blow pipe.
Hard proofs Sabah Museum should review
All these are hard proofs that Morrison, current Prime Minister of Australia, recognised and used only the true track plotted out by the Australian Army, not the so-called alternate route which veered off to the Labuk Valley Dr Kevin Smith claimed it did, based on allegedly tampered Japanese Army Death certs.
The Sabah Museum must now take an objective look into the issue because if the Prime Minister of Australia comes to do another Death March trek, Sabah officials must not – and cannot – take the leader of a nation to a trek that never happened.
Morrison had fun with ‘The Blow Pipe Man’ of Sabah
During the visit to Zudin’s house, Morrison and the group had a great time trying out the blow pipe with a target 60ft away Zudin showed them the way and Morrison, the last, and everyone missed target, Tham recalled.
Day 4, April 14 was a 20km walk from Nabutan to Muruk via Nalapak and everybody carried rice by turn in memory of the POWs who were forced to carry rice over the hills.
Everybody experienced a cultural stay in Rungus-style longhouse at Sabah Tea and, finally, on April 14, it was a four-hour 10km walk from Marakau to the POW camp at SIB Church ground in Ranau before being transferred to the Last Camp. Here, Rob Oakeshott officiated a ceremony in memory of his grandfather followed by a riverside ceremony in memory of all the POWs who died there.
Morrison (left), Jason Clare (then defence Minister), Oakeshott (right) and Tham with Lynette Silver.
Rest of the interview:
Daily Express: What was the five-day Death March trek like?
Morrison: It’s been an incredibly moving experience for everyone involved. This is part of Australia’s history that not enough Australians know about. We have achieved many things over the last five days (April 11-15) personally and as a group. But most important – honour the prisoners of war and villagers who helped them who faced similar risk if caught. We have done that and brought that to the attention of more Australians – something we felt very good about.
DE: Why did you do this?
Morrison: This is the second time we have undertaken this kind of trek. The last one was in Kokoda, Papua New Guinea. We did that together (with Jason Clare, without Rob Oakeshott). We did that together with a similar group but younger people. The goal of these treks is to demonstrate how Australians from different backgrounds can come together. Our primary goal was to honour those who fought and suffered in different places. We bring greater awareness to the Australian public about these stories, bring attention to so many stories of courage, heroism, mateship, endurance, sacrifice and compassion that are out there which the new generation don’t know yet. Our diggers (Aussie foot soldiers) are all now going into the 80s and we are losing them. I know my grandfather told me stories, but our new generation no longer have this kind of direct link with the generation that fought and suffered in places like Sandakan Death March. So, this is one way the younger generation will be able to take on stories of their ancestors.
DE: You mean the common bond in the Sandakan-Ranau Death March helped you to ignore the political boundaries between Liberal, Labor and Independent politicians?
Morrison: Well, this is above politics. Jason (then Defence Minister) and I are good friends outside politics. We have plenty of political disagreement in parliament, but we have a united commitment to honouring our Prisoners-of-War and veterans and see young people discover themselves an awareness about these really important things in your national history and stories. We share this very passionately. You have to be able to last five days. If there is no passion, you can’t get through.
DE: How do you find the Death March track?
Morrison: The track is very mixed, very different arrays and conditions. You got the jungles, road, rivers, mountains – enormous variety and that’s good. More important is the story along every section of the track. Men suffered and died every step along so it’s like they were walking alongside you which you can’t do. I have been involved in tourism in Australia and New Zealand (Managing Director of the Office of Tourism New Zealand and Sport in the late 90s and Managing Director of Tourism Australia 2004-2006 with the famously controversial marketing campaign tag line “Where the bloody hell are you?”) where I was for many years. If you want to go for a nature trek, there are plenty of those around the world. But if you want a place which will touch you as an Australian in a way that that few other places can, then I think the Sandakan Death March does that. But at the same time, what’s really good about this trek is, we had the opportunity to engage and understand a lot more of the Malaysian culture here in Borneo. That has been a really delighted surprise to this visit, especially the (traditional) dance. We got very good at the dance.
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