By the end of December 1941, Japanese forces were in control of Kuching.

Batu Lintang camp (originally the British Indian Army barracks) housed a mixture of internees (foreign civilians, including children) and prisoners-of-war (captured British and Australian forces).

Food and medicine were severely rationed, and the imposition of physical labour further weakened many inmates (POWs constructed "the Japanese Building", between India Street and Carpenter Street, one of the few visible remnants of the Japanese era, and were also forced to work on an airstrip and a railway line).

As a result of this privation, more than 700 prisoners died at Batu Lintang. Even after liberation, some were too weak to be saved.

Despite the harsh treatment they meted out, the captors showed flickers of decency. The occupying forces collected books from various sources in Kuching, and housed them in a central library that was run by the prisoners. These helped to support the educational programmes that the Australian inmates in particular ran very successfully.

The camp commandant also occasionally took the children out for picnics. He is also credited with maintaining a strict discipline that protected women from sexual assault in the camp.

The site where the camp once stood is now the very lovely campus of the Batu Lintang Teachers’ Education Institute.


The walk is an offshoot of our Bukit Hantu circuit, and for extra umph you can start with a good brew at Borneo Coffee.

The little museum was shut when we visited today. But the monument stands, plain and dignified, and you can also see the remnants of an old Japanese flagpole.





It's always moving to experience beauty and serenity in a place where you know many suffered and died. It's a reminder that everything human passes. Both the good and the bad.