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1962: One of the heroes of the Brunei rebellion, North Borneo policeman Bittie, was buried with full honours at Kampung Totu in Tuaran.Bittie, a Kadazan from Tuaran, left Jesselton on the 8th with the Mobile Police Force to Brunei to help restore order but was killed in fighting near the perimeter of the Brunei airfield the same day. He was an outstanding athlete. DECEMBER 13 

1979: State Assemblymen turned souvenir hunters as the Assembly held its last meeting at the premises at Bukit Istana Lam that was built since the Chartered Company days. Future meetings would be held at the Sabah Foundation meeting hall. Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh, in bidding farewell to the House, remarked that ghosts were believed to roam there in the dark hours. Harris said a new Sabah Museum complex would occupy the spot. 

The old Assembly building.

Although the main building of the existing Assembly can last a few more years, much of the adjoining buildings is in dilapidated condition, while the access road and narrow parking lots had lived out their purpose. A new Assembly is being built not far from the Sabah Foundation complex costing some $25 million, with its structure following closely that of the Selangor Assembly building. Sukarno seizes Malaysian-owned rubber remilling factories 1963: Thirteen Malaysian-owned rubber remilling factories in north Sumatra were taken over by the Indonesian Government. President Sukarno issued a decree the previous month ordering the takeover of all firms owned by Malaysian citizens or Indonesians living in Malaysia. DECEMBER 14 Sabah’s first Rugby team 1968: Sabah played its first Rugby Representative game against Singapore after seven players from Tawau and eight from Sandakan helped form the first Sabah XV. Rugby Union had for years been played in Sabah by a very limited band of enthusiasts. Tawau appears the stronghold by producing three teams followed by Sandakan which produced its first team this year.

DECEMBER 16 

First local election held 1962: The Sabah Alliance swept to victory in Sandakan in the first Local Government elections held in North Borneo. One of the highlights was the “clash of the giants” between Khoo Siak Chew (Alliance) and Henry Wee (Independent) in the Central-Sim Sim ward, where polling was heaviest. Khoo won with a majority of 1,704 votes. DECEMBER 17

New State library opens 1977: Head of State Datuk Ahmad Koroh declared open the new $2.3m State Library. The first public library was set up in Sabah in 1953 and functioned as a section of the Broadcasting and Information Department which was housed in a bungalow located at the very spot where the new State Library building stands. DECEMBER 12 

Malay Regiment takes up first frontier defence post in Tawau 1963: Malaysian troops took up their first frontier defence positions facing Indonesia with the Third Battalion Royal Malay Regiment manning border posts on Sebatik island, three miles south of Tawau. It replaced elements of a British Battalion, the Leicesters. The Sebatik boundary, a straight line fixed by the British and Dutch governments in 1915, is marked by concrete posts set at wide intervals and by kampongs. One such spot was Kampung Melayu, 25 yards from Indonesia, where one of the first actions of the Malaysian troops was to provide teachers for an abandoned Malay school. The last fighting on Sebatik was more than a month earlier. KL pledge to train Sabah and Sarawak civil servants 1963: Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman said the Government agreed to train civil servants from Sabah and Sarawak in Kuala Lumpur. They would eventually replace the expatriate officers.