A GROUP of Australian military veterans who served here during the Malayan Emergency, and in Sarawak during the Malaysia-Indonesia confrontation, are in Kuching for ceremonies marking the 57th anniversary of the signing of the Malaysia-Indonesia peace treaty, which ended the conflict.

Some of the veterans, members of the South Australia and Northern Territory branch of the National Malaya and Borneo Veterans Association Australia Inc (NMBVAA), came with their families.

For a few, the return to Kuching was a trip down memory lane as this was their first time back in Sarawak since they came in military fatigues in 1963-1966, armed to the teeth to fight the Indonesians.

Some of the veterans were from the 3rd Royal Australian Regiment (RAR), which had three companies posted along a 16km stretch of the Sarawak-Kalimantan border in Bau.

They will be honoured in the combined Australia-New Zealand Service of Commemoration to remember fallen comrades and Commonwealth soldiers in the two post-World War II (WWII) military campaigns at Heroes Memorial Park in Kuching on Monday by their Malaysian and Commonwealth military and police colleagues.

Eleven Australian servicemen were killed in combat during the confrontation – three after evacuation from Sarawak.

In 2016, the South Australian branch of the NMBVAA installed a commemorative plaque in Heroes Memorial Park with the names of the 11 fallen Australians.

This commemorative service was arranged by the Sarawak Heritage Development Committee, with support from the facilitation fund for heritage, arts and culture.

The Malayan Emergency was an “undeclared war” fought to quell communist insurgency in the peninsula immediately after WWII between June 16, 1948, and July 31, 1960, while the Indonesian confrontation was another undeclared war fought from January 1963 to August 1966.

Australian and New Zealand units fought in Borneo and Malaya as part of a larger British and Commonwealth force under British command.

While here, the veterans will be busy with several engagements, including meetings with their counterparts from the Sarawak Veterans’ Association.

They will also embark on a private pilgrimage to Heroes Memorial Park to visit the tree planted last year in memory of their former branch president, Brian Selby, who died last year.

Their itinerary includes a visit to the Batu Lintang memorial, erected on the site of a Japanese prisoner of war internment camp. European civilians – civil servants of the Rajah’s government – and their families were also interred there.

The veterans said they want to honour the anniversary of the liberation of the camp on September 11, 1945, and hold a memorial for Tom Eastick, commander of the Kuching Force.

Veterans like Don Cameron of Company B and Jeff Hiscock of Company C of the 3rd RAR will visit Bau where they were stationed.

Company B camped at a site the Australians named “Bukit Knuckle”, close to the Bidayuh village of Kampung Bumbang. Company C was in Serikin while Company A was in Kampung Stass, all border villages.

The South Australian NMBVAA branch adopted three schools in three areas where Australian troops served during the confrontation to memorialise the support of the Sarawak people in 1965 and 1966. – August 24, 2023.