Batu Lintang camp (also known as Lintang Barracks and Kuching POW camp) at Kuching, Sarawak on the island of Borneo was a Japanese-run internment camp during the Second World War. It was unusual in that it housed both Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and civilian internees. The camp, which operated from March 1942 until the liberation of the camp in September 1945, was housed in buildings that were originally British Indian Army barracks. The original area was extended by the Japanese, until it covered about 50 acres (20 hectares).Firkins 115 The camp population fluctuated, due to movement of prisoners between camps in Borneo, and as a result of the deaths of the prisoners. It had a maximum population of some 3,000 prisoners.Keith 76
Life in the camp was harsh, with POWs and internees alike forced to endure food shortages, disease and sickness for which scant medicine was made available, forced labour, brutal treatment, and lack of adequate clothing and living quarters. Of the approximately 2,000 British POWs held there, over two-thirds died during or as a result of their captivity.Ooi 1998, 636 The construction and operation of a secret radio receiver for over years, from February 1943 until the liberation of the camp, was a morale booster and allowed the prisoners to follow the progress of the war. Discovery would have resulted in certain death for those involved.
Following the unconditional surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945, the camp was liberated on 11 September 1945 by the Australian 9th Division. On liberation, the camp population was 2,024, of whom 1,392 were POWs, 395 were male civilian internees and 237 were civilian women and children. Amongst official Japanese papers found at the camp following its liberation were two "death orders". Both described the proposed method of execution of every POW and internee in the camp. The first order, scheduled for enactment on 17 or 18 August, was not carried out; the second was scheduled to take place on 15 September. The timely liberation of the camp may have prevented the murder of over 2,000 men, women and children.
In July 1948, a teachers' training college moved to the site, where it continues to this day, the oldest such establishment in Malaysia.
Location and organisation Kuching lies some up the Sarawak River from the sea;Keith 75 the camp was situated some to the southeast of Kuching.Ooi 1998, 8
The barracks were built by the Sarawak Government in early 1941, when Britain, in agreement with the Rajah of Sarawak, sent the 2nd Battalion, 15th Punjab Regiment of the British Indian Army (2/15th Punjab Regiment) to defend Sarawak in case of attack by the Japanese. The camp, known from its inception as Batu Lintang, was near completion for occupation by May 1941.Kirby 1969, Appendix 30; Lim 1995, 19; Lim 2005, 34
The Japanese first invaded the island of Borneo in mid December 1941, landing on the west coast near Miri;Ooi 1998, 6–7 invasion was completed by 23 January 1942 when they landed at Balikpapan on the east coast.Wigmore 179
The first Allied prisoners held in the camp were about 340 British and Indian soldiers who were interned there in mid-March 1942. In time, it held both Allied POWs and Allied civilian internees. Local Sarawakians including ethnic Chinese were not interned in the camp, although some were imprisoned in Kuching jail.Three Chinese men from North Borneo, all staff at the Chinese Consulate at Sandakan, and their families were held in the camp: Mr Huan Lai Cho (the Chinese Consul), his wife and two children; Mr Ting Yuan Li and his wife and child, and Mr Philip Yang; a total of eight Chinese people interned in the camp. Allied civilian prisoners came almost exclusively from different territories on Borneo: from North Borneo (now Sabah), from Brunei, from the Straits Settlements island of Labuan, and from Sarawak, all of which were under British control, and from Dutch Borneo (now Kalimantan). In contrast, the POWs were brought to Batu Lintang from places such as mainland Malaya and Java as well as from Borneo. Many spent time at transit or temporary camps, such as the one at Berhala Island, North Borneo, prior to their transfer to Batu Lintang.Ooi 1998, 286 The camp officially opened on 15 August 1942, at which time a commemoration stone was erected at the camp.Keith 180; Australian War Memorial (AWM) photograph 120332
The camp commandant was Lieutenant-Colonel (Lt.-Col.) Tatsuji Suga. Suga was the commandant of all POW and internees' camps in Borneo; there were others at Jesselton (later Kota Kinabalu), Sandakan and briefly on Labuan islandWigmore 595 note 9 and also at Tarakan, Banjarmasin and Kandangan; Suga was often absent from Batu Lintang as a result. His second-in-command was Lieutenant (later Captain) Nagata; some sources say Negata or Nekata. Most of the camp guards were Koreans, with a few Formosans (Taiwanese). There was a range of administrative buildings, quartermaster's stores, guard houses, guards' quarters and a camp hospital. Throughout its operation, all the camps at Batu Lintang, including the internee ones, were conducted under prisoner-of-war rules.Keith 83
The entire camp was surrounded by a perimeter barbed wire fence. The internees were segregated into categories and assigned separate compounds, each of which was also surrounded by barbed wire fencing. There were 8–10 compounds,Kirby 1969, Appendix 30 although their make-up varied through the period of operation of the camp.At the beginning the British officers shared with the British Other Ranks, but were later separated into two compounds; at one point the Indonesian soldiers and the Dutch officers were sharing a compound, whilst at another they were in separate compounds; the Indian POWs were kept in different locations over the period of the operation of the camp. (Ooi 1998, 139, 317) The make-up was determined by the arrival and departure of different groups of prisoners as Batu Lintang camp was also used as a transit camp: at one point some of the Australian and British soldiers who were later to die on the Sandakan Death Marches were held at the camp.Ooi 1998, 320–321, 384–385; Wigmore 596 Contact between the inhabitants of the different compounds was forbidden and transgressors were severely punished.
The main groups of POWs were British officers, Australian officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs), Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) officers, British Other Ranks, British Indian Army (2nd/15th Punjab Regiment) personnel, Netherlands East Indies (Indonesian) KNIL soldiers. The British and Australian personnel had mostly been sent from Malaya and Singapore, after the Allied surrender there, whereas the KNIL soldiers and the Punjab Regiment had defended Borneo. The civilian internees were mostly Dutch Roman Catholic priests, British civilians (including children), and British and Dutch Catholic nuns. There were a handful of Chinese and Eurasian civilian internees.
Each compound had its own "camp master" (or "camp mistress", in the case of the women's compound). The camp master was responsible for liaising between the internees and the Japanese authorities. Each compound contained a number of long barrack buildings, usually , each of which housed 30–100 people. A barrack master was appointed for each building. The camp and barrack masters were appointed by Colonel Suga.
In addition, the Dutch other ranks and about 50 British soldiers were stationed in a separate compound at the Kampong Batu Tujoh airfield (also known as Bukit Stabah), near Kuching.Ooi 1998, 317, 399–400
The camp included areas that had once been a rubber tree plantation, and some of the trees remained inside the compounds, providing a limited amount of shade.
Compounds
Living conditions within the compounds were cramped. Each person was allotted a very small space within a barrack building within which to sleep, keep the few personal possessions they had with them, and also to eat, as there was no communal area within the barracks.
British officers and NCOs This was described as "perhaps the most commodious" compound, with a fair amount of workable land.Ooi 1998, 317 At first the officers were with the British other ranks, but they were separated out into this compound on 5 February 1943. Including the three huts, the compound was in area with of cultivable land. The Officer in Charge and overall British Military Authority was Lt.-Col. M. C. Russell, until his death on 5 June 1943; Lt.-Col T. C. Whimster took over the role thereafter. The compound held 134 men in September 1944.Ooi 1998, 351
Australian officers and NCOs On liberation, 178 Australian officers and NCOs were held at Batu Lintang,Kirby 1969 Appendix 30; pace Wigmore (1957) 599 who gives the figure as 169 (149 officers and 20 other ranks) in a compound which was without sufficient land for cultivation. The Officer in Charge was Lt.-Col. A. W. Walsh. The Australian other ranks were held in a camp at Sandakan.
Dutch officers and NCOs This was without sufficient land for cultivation. The Officer in Charge was Lt.-Col. Mars.
British other ranks British soldiers were "kept in grossly over-crowded barracks, with inadequate kitchen, lighting, water and sanitary services." They had no land for cultivation.Lim 2005, 266–267 Initially the compound held 1,500 POWs, with additional soldiers arriving thereafter taking the total to around 2,000, but by the end of the war the figure had been reduced to about 750. The Officer in Charge was RSM (later 2nd Lt) S. T. Sunderland.
British Indian Army other ranks Soldiers from 2nd/15th Punjab Regiment were interned at Batu Lintang. The Indian POWs were housed in two huts, with no land for cultivation.
KNIL soldiers Indonesian soldiers were housed in a small compound close to the British other ranks' compound.
Roman Catholic priests and religious men The Catholic priests, brothers and religious men, mostly Dutch and Irish, lived in a separate compound, with a large plot of land to grow vegetables. They numbered 110, including 44 Capuchin friars, 5 Montfort missionaries, 22 Broeders van Huijbergen (Brothers of Huijbergen) and 38 Mill Hill Missionaries.Lim 2005, 251–252 At liberation, there were 395 civilian men, which included the priests.
Male civilian internees and some boys In 1943, approximately 250 male civilian internees (excluding Roman Catholic Mission personnel) were held in this compound. From July 1942 until 14 November 1944 the camp master was C. D. Le Gros Clark (brother of Wilfrid Le Gros Clark), the former Chief Secretary, Sarawak Government; Lt.-Col. W. C. C. Adams (of the North Borneo Constabulary), who had been assistant camp master, then served in the role until liberation.Ooi 1998, 554 Accounts mention a British civilian internee named Don Tuxford whose eight-year-old son was in the compound with him, while Tuxford's wife and daughter Julia were in the women's compound;Ooi 1998, 354 In this account the author L. E. Morris mistakenly states that Tuxford's wife was in the camp. She was a native woman and so was not interned. Julie was interned with Tuxford's mother and his sister (ie with her grandmother and aunt). other sources state that Dutch boys over the age of ten were sent to the men's compound rather than being placed with the women, as the Japanese considered them men at that age. The total number of male children held in the men's camp is uncertain.