Sad end to Death March story unites political rivals
Published on: Sunday, May 26, 2019
By: Kan Yaw Chong
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Of the 15, 10 were ordinary soldiers, the rest were officers. But they all died, too. On Aug 27, on the pretext of going to gather vegetables in Ranau, the 10 rank-and-file soldiers were marched out of camp.
Instead, Japanese guards took them across the river, lined them up, gave each a last wish – a cigarette each – then shot them through the head.
Among the last five POW officers was Captain Dr John Oakeshott.
Japanese guards gave the impression of taking them to Ranau to see the Kempetai (Secret Police), hence, to freedom.
But during a rest on a track, the officers were asked to sit down, then the guards walked to the opposite side of the track, opened fire and executed them all, Captain Dr John Oakeshott included. So, how extremely cruel can humans get? The lesson is all there in the Death March story.
That day, Aug 27, 1945, marked the last chapter to the Death March episode in Sabah.
Out of an original total 1,793 Australian prisoners of war shipped to Sandakan from Changi, Singapore, 1,787 perished, six escaped – a 99.7pc kill rate.
All 641 British POWs died. That is the Death March tragedy in brief.
For 40 years, the Australian Government did not want even family members to know what happened.
For example, Enid Kathleen, wife of Captain Dr John Oakeshott was officially told he died of dysentery when he was actually well and alive to the end but summarily executed after Japan’s surrender.
But the extraordinary story out of this is, Robert James Murray Oakeshott, a grandson of Captain Dr John Oakeshott, an elected member for Lyne, made a name being a “King maker” when he and three other independents declared support for Julia Gillard who offered a fairer go for rural voters, whose Labor Party won only 72 of the 150 seats in a general election on July 17, 2010, allowing Gillard to remain Prime Minister.
Jason Clare became Minister of Defence under Gillard while being in Opposition, Scott Morrison named Shadow Minister of Immigration by Liberal Party Leader Tony Abbot.
Clare and Morrison shared very different neighbouring electorates in Sydney that had some unpleasant fighting between the two communities.
Rather than community destruction, why not community-building with young people instead?
The idea prompted Clare and Morrison to team up to try to do some community-building with a very successful Kokoda track expedition which inspired Clare and Morrison to expand it to include a Rural Country MP.
When approached, Rob Oakeshott said he was more than happy to play and role and Death March trek came into the picture where he sponsored four Aborigines while Clare and Morrison sponsored four each, plus two teachers, one of whom was a Muslim.
So, Clare, Morrison and Oakeshott concluded that working together could achieve more than fight one another.
That transcendent belief was the reason behind this extraordinary Death March trek which involved three top guns from fractious Australian politics, one of which had just become the 30th Prime Ministers of Australia – Scott Morrison.
Congratulations.
- Kan Yaw Chong
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