Long Nawang Massacre

A day after the Japanese captured Kuching on December 26, 1941 they left Sibu to travel by the Rajang River to reach the Dutch Retreat at Long Nawang three weeks away by boat. Led by the Sibu resident and Native Affairs officer Andrew McPherson from Scotland, they did not surrender as instructed to by the Rajah.

Among them were Sarawak Constabulary Assistant Commissioner Desmond Vernon Murphy from Ireland and Francis Mansel the Divisional Treasurer and Postmaster. All three who had ASIAN wives and children, headed unwittingly to their nemesis at Long Nawang.  McPherson was the father of two children from an Iban from Kapit—Bibi and Bujang who were toddlers when he left.

Hajah Bibi was the mother of Datuk Nancy Shukri who is Malaysia’s Tourism Minister and son Bujang the father of prominent Group CEO and Executive Director Dato’ Anthony Bujang. Murphy’s wife was a Kuching-based Javanese and Mansel’s wife a prominent local Japanese who moved with him to Sibu. Mansel’s had a surviving son Edward 80, while Murphy’s grandchildrenn are lawyer Malcolm, Melvin and Melissa Murphy a journalist.

When they arrived at Long Nawang, an idyllic village in the remotest part of Borneo on January 22, they thought they had found their Shangri la. In early 1942 while McPherson and his group were adjusting to the village the Japanese captured Tarakan and killed 255 Dutch soldiers. Balikpapan fell on January 25 when the Japanese command moved their garrison at Samarinda.

By early April, a small detachment of about 60 Dutch officers and non-commissioned officers and privates under Lt W.J.A. Westerhuis (including Westerhuis’ wife) headed for Long Nawang. Arriving at Long Nawang after an arduous nine-week journey Lt Westerhuis took charge of the Long Nawang, a former Dutch outpost. The Dutch soldiers moved into the barracks with the Sarawakians; Macpherson and his wife stayed in a private bungalow, while Westerhuis and his wife Ybeltje Geziana Djikman from Smilde, Holland stayed at the old Dutch Commander’s residence on the Western bank of the Kayan River.

In the Japanese were told of the Dutch Garrison at Long Nawang and sent word to Westerhuis to make his way back to Samarinda or face the consequences. On the night of August 19, the 72 Japanese marines under Captain Shima Mora and his second in command (2IC) Lt Okino arrived at Long Nawang. They occupied the longhouses on the east bank of the Kayan River closest to the Dutch outpost and locked the villagers in, threatening to shoot anyone who tried to escape.

Captain Shima Mora who had prior information on the daily Dutch soldier parade at the compound opposite the soldier’s barracks planned the attack for the daily 8.30a.m. marching drill. On a signal from Captain Mora, the Japanese who were armed with light machine guns (LMG), rifles and knee mortars lined themselves along the Eastern bank of the river and open fire.

Dutch troops surrender to Japanese soldiers during the invasion of the Netherlands East-Indies 1942

In June 1950, five years after the War, the remains of the Brooke victims were exhumed by Sarawak’s colonial government and buried in Tarakan in Indonesia in the island’s “Field of Honour” together with other Dutch soldiers who were executed by Japanese in 1942. In 1967 after Confrontation between Indonesian and Sarawak ended the Brooke victims were re-interred at a Dutch War Cemetery in Surabaya, East java.

Since then, none of the 70 Japanese marines under Captain Shima Mora involved in the brutal killings have not been brought to justice. On December 26, 1942 a day after the Japanese bombed Sibu, the divisional resident Andrew Macpherson and his six-month pregnant wife Clare led the exodus of 24 Europeans comprising senior Brooke civil servants up the 562km long Rajang river.

A day after arriving at Long Nawang on January 22, 1942 the group settled in the abandoned Dutch barracks on the Western bank of the Kayan river connected by a suspension bridge to the village proper where the local “Kantor Camat’s” (district office) was situated. MacPherson and his wife Clare stayed on the Eastern bank of the river at the district office as she was about to deliver their child in March that year. Retired Kenyah pastor Surang Bira,60, said that before the arrival of Sarawakians, his grandfather Major Karnevel, a Dutch-Ambonese Eurasian, was the officer in charge of the station.

“He stayed at the Kantor Kepala Belanda (Dutch officer’s residence) and often entertained other Dutch visitors who took the long journey to enjoy a short stay in peaceful settlement. “I have a picture of my grandfather with one of his Dutch friends named Tiau Sten standing in front of the old Dutch soldiers canteen. I was told that Long Nawang even had their own medical facility with a doctor,” said the Long Temuyat villager.

On the arrival of Lt Westerhui’s men, the food resources including large stocks of rice, a herd of 40 cattle, goats and local pigs were soon depleted forcing the inhabitants to hut for food. Major Tom Harrisson who led Surveillance Reconnaissance Detachment (SRD) team codenamed “Semut” 1 to land at Bario and raise a group of native guerrilla fighters said things could have different had Westerhuis heeded the warning of some Kenyah who had spotted the Japanese marines proceeding upriver and towards Long Nawang.

Harrison in his book “World Within” (pages 320-321) said: "…some Kenyahs from the Mahakam side came dashing in to say that the Japanese were only a couple of days away, in strength. The Dutch officer in charge of the post militarily, did not believe this. The Kenyahs were put in the beastly little lock-up (four cells) which the Dutch kept for their interior purposes.

Three days later these cells were occupied by the wretched wives of such Europeans and Americans as had gathered here en pair.” In an unrestricted report by the Australian Army dated December 10, 1945 Lt Frank Oldham who interviewed some of the witnesses including the Batak police corporal in charge of the station Tamburian, details of the incident were given.

An Australian SRD officer with Semut III( there were four Semut detachments in Sarawak) Olham was assisted by a Sarawak Lim Beng Hai from Kuching who was able to translate most of the interviews which Lt Oldham submitted to the Australian authorities after the war. A St Thomas School student, Lim and 30 other Belaga residents from Semut III including Chinese, Malays, Kayan, Kenyah, Sekapan and Kejaman natives were the “Sarawak Volunteers” to visit Long Nawang in August 1945.

They arrived at the station in the first week or September to find that the Japanese had left the outpost and that Cpl Tamburian and two others were the only members of the security personnel at Long Nawang. In an interview with Oldham Cpl Tamburian said that in the initial attack four members from Sarawak were killed when a mortar hit their quarters across the river.

Tamburian’s said that during the attack none of the Dutch soldiers were hurt; the local Dutch soldiers were in the front line of the attack while the regulars were further behind. While the majority of the soldiers ran off into the jungle, Lt Westerhuis who was in his residence at that time came out holding a white flag but was cut down my machine gun fire.

He said: “Later in the day, a portion of the (Dutch) defenders returned and surrendered. The remainder surrendered the following day being without food and essentials. Two British men (one believed to be Macpherson) who were away shooting (hunting) at that time. On hearing of the surrender, they also returned.” Three days later all but one of the 17 locals serving as soldiers with the Dutch were released; they were Cpl Sapulette and privates Parjo, Boeng, Kastanja, Mawunta,Oley, Huka, Saija Bara Efranns, Tanoe, Kotambunan, Andries, Soilirman, Laturette, Wantart and J Sitaniapessy.

The only local soldier killed was Kailola who was branded as being a Lt Westerhuis loyalist. Except for Tamburian and constables Markus and Lemuntut who stayed back at the village, most of the local Dutch soldiers returned to their homes in Tarakan. On August 26 the Captain Shima Mora planned the systematic massacres of remaining soldiers and civilians by organising “fish bombing” exercise in the lower Kayan river using explosives and grenades.

Earlier two mass graves were dug behind the Long Nawang barracks to prepare for a mass killing. At 8.30 a.m. while the village was practically empty except for the aged and sick, a detachment of Japanese marines led the 60 of the blind-folded detainees in batches to the graves where they were systematically killed my rifle fire or bayonets and pushed into the graves.

Co-ordinated by Captain Mora, the fish bombing exercise was planned to coincide simultaneously with the sound of explosions of the fish bombs, to muffle the sound of rifle shots as the Europeans were being executed. By noon all the evidence of the killings had been buried in the graves of a hill known as “Liang Belanda” (the Dutch graves) and with that Captain Mora and a detachment prepared to leave for Samarinda but not before giving instructions for another morbid task.

According to a Sabah Daily Express report dated April 2, 2013 Fr Theo Feldbrugge, a nephew of Joseph Felbrugge, his uncle wearing his white Sultana and red sashes, was the last to be killed. Cpl Tamburian suggested that after Captain Shima Mora left, the European women could have been used as “comfort girls” for Lt Okino and his soldiers. “The following day the commander of the Japanese troops Captain Shima Mora, left for Samarinda with 45 men leaving Lt Okino in charge of the remaining 25. One of his men was Sgt Sugi,” Tamburian continued.

“All the women and their children were kept in one house (a Dutch officer’s bungalow) under guard, being allowed out each day for exercise. They were held thus for two weeks, the Japanese soldiers often paid them visits. Okino was also seen going there.” On September 23, Lt Okino executed the last stage of the plan to exterminate all the remaining captives—four women and four children who were taken to the same locality of the graves of the other victims for the coup de grace!

Mrs MacPherson and her infant were brought there by a crudely-made stretcher. “No shots were heard from across the river indicating that they were probably bayoneted,” added Tamburian. Later when Lt Oldham and his group visited the village they were told the mutilated bodies of the women and children were buried in a shallow depression. Sarawak volunteer Lim in his book “Sarawak Under the Throes of war” (2010):

“At the execution site, the women were mercilessly bayoneted and the children were made to climb up trees with the Japanese soldiers at the ready to push the bayonets into the anus of each of the children.” On the same afternoon after the macabre job was completed, Lt Okino and his 25 men packed their bags and returned to Samarinda. A total of 68 people had been known to have been killed one what was one of Borneo’s blackest massacre!

Reliving the Cruel Massacres of Long Nawang Part 2

It was an idyllic village in the remotest part of Borneo where a community of European men, women and children thought they had found their Shangrila. Comprising close nearly 90 British, Dutch and Americans, they were refugees of the Second World War who had fled from Japan’s invading forces to Long Nawang-a highland village on the Sarawak-Indonesian border.

On December 26, 1942 a day after the Japanese bombed Sibu, the divisional resident Andrew Macpherson and his six-month pregnant wife Clare led the exodus of 24 Europeans comprising senior Brooke civil servants up the 562km long Rajang river. It took the group which also comprised two other European women and two children three weeks of painful hauling of their boats past treacherous rapids; past the Pelagus to Bakun before they finally crossed over the Kalimantan border.

A day after arriving at Long Nawang on January 22, 1942 the group settled in the abandoned Dutch barracks on the Western bank of the Kayan river connected by a suspension bridge to the village proper where the local “Kantor Camat’s” (district office) was situated. MacPherson and his wife Clare stayed on the Eastern bank of the river at the district office as she was about to due deliver their child in March that year.

On February 2, 11 days after their arrival Brooke officers were joined by seven others including the District Officer of Marudi Donald Hudden, General Manager of the Sarawak Oilfields Ltd in Miri B.B. Parry, Roman catholic priest of Marudi Fr Joseph Feldbrugge and four Dutch airmen who aircraft had been shot down by Japanese Zero fighters before it crashed in the river just below Fort Hose in Marudi. Fr Felbrugge was responsible for rescuing the four in the incident while another pilot and airman was killed in the December 18, 1941 crash.

As the weeks began to take a toll on the nerves of the Europeans—a batch of three Sarawak officers decided to return to Belaga to surrender to the Japanese while another group of five fled to the coast hoping to make it out of Borneo. However, after two weeks after arriving at the village, Hudden decided that it was too dangerous living with the large group of Europeans as it would be a matter of time before Japanese found out about their presence and left.

Sadly, Hudden made it as far as the Kelabit highlands before he was killed and beheaded by several former Iban convicts who were paid by the Japanese to carry out the crime. By this time the Japanese Southern army had captured Tarakan on January 12, 1942 where 255 Dutch soldiers were killed in action or beheaded by Samurai sword after their capture.

When Balikpapan fell on January 25, the Japanese command moved their garrison to Samarinda. In the meantime a small detachment of about 60 Dutch officers and non-commissioned officers and privates comprising Dutch-Eurasians and local natives under Lt W.J.A. Westerhuis (including Westerhuis’ wife) decided to head up the Kayan river and head for Long Nawang.

Arriving at Long Nawang after an ardous eight to nine week journey in early April 1942, Lt Westerhuis took charge of abandoned Long Nawang Dutch outpost. The Dutch soldiers moved into the barracks with the Sarawakians; Macpherson and his wife remained where they were while Westerhuis and his Dutch wife Ybeltje Geziana Djikman from Smilde, Holland stayed at the Dutch Commander’s residence on the Western bank which was once occupied by Major Karneval.

Retired Kenyah pastor Surang Bira,60, said that before the arrival of Sarawakians, his grandfather Major Karnevel, a Dutch-Ambonese Eurasian, was the officer in charge of the station. “He stayed at the Kantor Kepala Belanda (Dutch officer’s residence) and often entertained other Dutch visitors who took the long journey to enjoy a short stay in peaceful settlement.

“I have a picture of my grandfather with one of his Dutch friends named Tiau Sten standing in front of the old Dutch soldiers canteen. I was told that Long Nawang even had their own medical facility with a doctor,” said the Long Temuyat villager. On the arrival of Lt Westerhui’s men, the food resources including large stocks of rice, a herd of 40 cattle, goats and local pigs were soon depleted forcing the inhabitants to hut for food.

In no time the Japanese command received information about community at Long Nawang and sent word to Westerhuis to make his way back to Samarinda or face the consequences. Major Tom Harrisson who led Surveillance Reconnaissance Detachment (SRD) team codenamed “Semut” 1 to land at Bario and raise a group of native guerrilla fighters said things could have different had Westerhuis heeded the warning of some Kenyah who had spotted the Japanese marines proceeding upriver and towards Long Nawang.

Harrison in his book “World Within” (pages 320-321) said: "…some Kenyahs from the Mahakam side came dashing in to say that the Japanese were only a couple of days away, in strength. The Dutch officer in charge of the post militarily, did not believe this. The Kenyahs were put in the beastly little lock-up (four cells) which the Dutch kept for their interior purposes. Three days later these cells were occupied by the wretched wives of such Europeans and Americans as had gathered here en pair.”

In the meantime, a small detachment of about 60 Dutch officers and non-commissioned officers and privates under Lt W.J.A. Westerhuis (including Westerhuis’ wife) decided to head up the Kayan river for Long Nawang. Arriving at Long Nawang after an ardous eight to nine week journey in early April 1942, Lt Westerhuis took charge of abandoned Long Nawang Dutch outpost.

The Dutch soldiers moved into the barracks with the Sarawakians; Macpherson and his wife remained where they were while Westerhuis and his Dutch wife Ybeltje Geziana Djikman from Smilde, Holland stayed at the Dutch Commander’s residence on the Western bank which was once occupied by Major Karneval mission—to capture the outpost. ; they occupied the longhouses on the east bank of the Kayan River closest to the Dutch outpost and locked the villagers in, threatening to shoot anyone who tried to escape.

In the meantime Captain Shima Mora who had prior information on the daily Dutch soldier parade at the compound opposite the soldier’s barracks planned the attack for the daily 8.30a.m. marching drill. On a signal from Captain Mora, the Japanese who were armed with light machine guns (LMG), rifles and knee mortars lined themselves along the Eastern bank of the river and open fire, missing their target because the Dutch soldiers were at least 200 metres away on the other side of the river bank.

In an unrestricted report by the Australian Army dated December 10, 1945 Lt Frank Oldham who interviewed some of the witnesses including the Batak police corporal in charge of the station Tamburian, details of the incident were given. An Australian SRD officer with Semut III( there were four Semut detachments in Sarawak) Olham was assisted by a Sarawak Lim Beng Hai from Kuching who was able to translate most of the interviews which Lt Oldham submitted to the Australian authorities after the war.

A St Thomas School student, Lim and 30 other Belaga residents from Semut III including Chinese, Malays, Kayan, Kenyah, Sekapan and Kejaman natives were the “Sarawak Volunteers” to visit Long Nawang in August 1945. They arrived at the station in the first week or September to find that the Japanese had left the outpost and that Cpl Tamburian and two others were the only members of the security personnel at Long Nawang. In an interview with Oldham Cpl Tamburian said that in the initial attack four members from Sarawak were killed when a mortar hit their quarters across the river.

Tamburian’s said that during the attack none of the Dutch soldiers were hurt; the local Dutch soldiers were in the front line of the attack while the regulars were further behind. While the majority of the soldiers ran off into the jungle, Lt Westerhuis who was in his residence at that time came out holding a white flag but was cut down my machine gun fire.

He said: “Later in the day, a portion of the (Dutch) defenders returned and surrendered. The remainder surrendered the following day being without food and essentials. Two British men (one believed to be Macpherson) who were away shooting (hunting) at that time. On hearing of the surrender, they also returned.”

Three days later all but one of the 17 locals serving as soldiers with the Dutch were released; they were Cpl Sapulette and privates Parjo, Boeng, Kastanja, Mawunta,Oley, Huka, Saija Bara Efranns, Tanoe, Kotambunan, Andries, Soilirman, Laturette, Wantart and J Sitaniapessy. The only local soldier killed was Kailola who was branded as being a Lt Westerhuis loyalist. Except for Tamburian and constables Markus and Lemuntut who stayed back at the village, most of the local Dutch soldiers returned to their homes in Tarakan.

On August 26 the Captain Shima Mora planned the systematic massacres of remaining soldiers and civilians by organising “fish bombing” exercise in the lower Kayan river using explosives and grenades. Earlier two mass graves were dug behind the Long Nawang barracks to prepare for a mass killing. At 8.30 a.m. while the village was practically empty except for the aged and sick, a detachment of Japanese marines led the 60 of the blind-folded detainees in batches to the graves where they were systematically killed my rifle fire or bayonets and pushed into the graves.

Co-ordinated by Captain Mora, the fish bombing exercise was planned to coincide simultaneously with the sound of explosions of the fish bombs, to muffle the sound of rifle shots as the Europeans were being executed. By noon all the evidence of the killings had been buried in the graves of a hill known as “Liang Belanda” (the Dutch graves) and with that Captain Mora and a detachment prepared to leave for Samarinda but not before giving instructions for another morbid task.

According to a Sabah Daily Express report dated April 2, 2013 Fr Theo Feldbrugge, a nephew of Joseph Felbrugge, his uncle wearing his white Sultana and red sashes, was the last to be killed. Cpl Tamburian suggested that after Captain Shima Mora left, the European women could have been used as “comfort girls” for Lt Okino and his soldiers. “The following day the commander of the Japanese troops Captain Shima Mora, left for Samarinda with 45 men leaving Lt Okino in charge of the remaining 25.

One of his men was Sgt Sugi,” Tamburian continued. “All the women and their children were kept in one house (a Dutch officer’s bungalow) under guard, being allowed out each day for exercise. They were held thus for two weeks, the Japanese soldiers often paid them visits. Okino was also seen going there.” On September 23, Lt Okino executed the last stage of the plan to exterminate all the remaining captives—four women and four children who were taken to the same locality of the graves of the other victims for the coup de grace!

Mrs MacPherson and her infant were brought there by a crudely-made stretcher. “No shots were heard from across the river indicating that they were probably bayoneted,” added Tamburian. Later when Lt Oldham and his group visited the village they were told the mutilated bodies of the women and children were buried in a shallow depression. Sarawak volunteer Lim in his book “Sarawak Under the Throes of war” (2010):

“At the execution site, the women were mercilessly bayoneted and the children were made to climb up trees with the Japanese soldiers at the ready to push the bayonets into the anus of each of the children.” On the same afternoon after the macabre job was completed, Lt Okino and his 25 men packed their bags and returned to Samarinda. A total of 68 people had been known to have been killed one what was one of Borneo’s blackest massacre!

On November 29, 2017 I finally decided visit the site of the killing fields of Long Nawang --a journey which would take me half way around island of Borneo. From Kuching I flew to Pontianak and after a night stop, the famous oil town of Balikpapan, Samarinda and then by Twin Otter to the Long Ampung—the administrative centre of Apo Kayan.

Armed with my pocket camera, note book ball point pen with two “bodyguards”—a retired army Brigadier general and Indonesian pastor with a visual impairment as my bodyguards, it was a four-hour wheel jungle ride to Long Nawang. Staying with friends of then pastor, I met some of the Kenyah descendant who had tried to protect the victims. One of Borneo’s remotest regions in the mountain complex of Apo Kayan, is the home of about 10,000 native Kenyah in Indonesia East Kalimantan Province.

The incident was described by commander of the Dutch forces in Kalimantan Brigadier General W.J.V. Windeyer as “one of the worst (atrocities) so far disclosed in Borneo”. It was a shameful episode in the annals of the Second World War in South East Asia which until now had remained an enigma until today!! For many years Apo Kayan had been a troubled region with inter-tribal wars between the Indonesian Kenyah and people of Sarawak.

In 1892, the Iban of Kapit led by its charismatic leader Temenggong Koh anak Jubang, travelled up the Rajang and killed 25 Indonesian Kenyah Badang in retaliation for the murder of some of their people who had strayed into their territory while looking for wild rubber. By 1924, a peace-making ceremony between the warring tribes in Kapit, in the presence of Rajah Vyner Brooke, brought some semblance of peace to the region.

From then on Long Nawang with its which had a small Dutch garrison, within its temperate climate was a hill resort for senior Dutch civil servants on furlough. The Cessna Caravan aircraft skilfully piloted by an Australian pilot named Zach and Indonesian pilot Dandi, took us into a mountainous region very much like what the Kelabit highlands was 35 years ago. But unlike the Sarawak hinterland which has logged most of its forests up to the border, Indonesia’s forests in the hinterland remains intact and untouched!!!!

On arrival at Long Ampung after a 60-minute flight, we were received by police Lt Eddie who hails from the Kerayan—another border plateau adjacent to Sarawak’s Ba Kelalan complex. The 27km journey by four-wheel vehicle from Long Ampung to Long Nawang over a mud track was pleasant until it started to rain; but we arrived safely after two hours.

Meeting with the village chief Lucas Bilong,60, we were briefed about district; Apo Kayan is divided into into two sub-districts of Kayan Hulu and Kayan Hilir with the majority of Kenyah Lepo Tau and Lepo Jalan with a smattering of Kayan and Punan, living in about 30 villages. /Lucas said: “In the pre-war days, the Kenyah and Kayan of Apo Kayan lived in impressive longhouses but since Indonesia’s Independence on August 17, 1945, all the longhouses have been dismantled in favour of single unit abodes.

“Times have changed and our people want to keep abreast with the rest of the world in terms of modernisation. But to remind our younger generation about our ancestors, we have built cultural centres so that we do not forget where we came from.” In fact the younger generation were hardly aware of the tragic Long Nawang massacres as the story was kept under wraps; neither has it been mentioned in Indonesia’s history books, nor has it been considered a significant incident worthy of mention.

To relive the tale of the Long Nawang killings Lucas invited three key “ Kepala Adat” cultural chiefs—Ngang Jau and Baya Lek, both in their late 70s, and Lahang Ibau,63-- to speak about the long-forgotten story of the tragic massacres. Lahang expounded: “It’s a tragedy that we old-timers cannot forget, about how the Japanese indulged in the killings as if they were playing games while trying to shame the white people.

“I remember my father telling me about an incident not far from here where a Japanese soldier took a young boy from an European mother to a spot where was a thorny “Jeruk” (local pokok Limau) orange tree, threw the child up so that the screaming child was pierced by the thorns as it fell on the tree.” He said: “Worst things that happened—the possible rape of the women who were later bayoneted to death before being pushed into a shallow grave.”

In my1995 interview with Sarawak’s famous sape player Tusau Padan, he witnessed the killing of a young boy aged about five (the son of Mrs Bomphrey), who was forced to climb a “Pinang” (arecanut) tree naked. Tusau who was born in Long Nawang and was 11 years old at that time said: “The child was forced to climb the tree like a monkey but after a while he got tired and slipped down while a Japanese soldier with a bayoneted rifle aimed for the boy’s backside and plunged the weapon in causing the screaming child to die a painful death.”

Long Ampung cultural chief Baya Apui,76, said that at that time the Kenyah were still animists until Christianity began to make inroads into Apo Kayan in the 1950s “There was so much cruelty by the Japanese who enjoyed watching the Europeans suffer. It’s with some regret that we were unable to make an effort to protect the victims,” lamented Baya who became a member of the Evangelical church of Indonesia Gereja Khemah Injil Indonesia (GKII) in 1958.

Taken on a tour to the mass graves of victims—now part the proposed new border road from Long Nawang to Sarawak where an immigration and customs check-point will be built in the near future. There was nothing to indicate that this was where a brutal and cruel murder had occurred. Not far from the “graves” was a monument to honour the Kenyah who had captured and killed two Japanese stragglers at the tail end of the war—but not a single memorial to remember the slaughter of the Sarawakians and Dutch soldiers.