SANDAKAN MEMORIAL PARK ONE OF THE BEST, SAYS AUSTRALIAN MINISTER

SANDAKAN, Dec 15 (Bernama) -- The Sandakan Memorial Park has received
praise
from an Australian minister who described it as one of the best memorial parks
in the world to remember soldiers who were killed in the line of duty during
World War Two.

"I have been to a lot of memorials around the world where Australian
soldiers died and this park ranks one of the very best.

"I am very pleased with what I have seen here," Australia's Minister for
Veterans' Affairs Alan Griffin said after visiting the Sandakan Memorial Park
in this town in East Malaysia state of Sabah Monday.

Griffin is in Sabah for a two-day visit, which includes a trip to the
Kundasang War Memorial near Mount Kinabalu.

He said the local community in Sandakan should be proud of the memorial
park
at Taman Rimba (Forest Park) as it was a first-class facility.

Griffin said his visit was aimed at remembering what took place a long time
ago, and to respect the memory of Japanese prisoners of war (POWs) in Sandakan
and also the local people who helped the soldiers.

"I came here to remember what both your people and what my people went
through such a long time ago. It does give you an inkling of what people went
through back in the 1940s.

"I have heard so much about this place and I wanted to come here and see
for
myself and improve my understanding of what took place here," said Griffin, who
is on his first visit to Sabah.

The Sandakan Memorial Park was built to remember Australian and British
soldiers who died after being held as prisoners of war by the Japanese in camps
in Sandakan.

In January 1945, the Japanese army ordered 455 Australian and British
prisoners of war to march from Sandakan to Ranau and in May 1945, another 800
were also made to do the same. Another 288 were left in the camp in Sandakan and
later died.
-- BERNAMA