Australia today hailed the lasting bond forged with Malaysia during the Sandakan Death March of World War 2 and said the link,which had strengthened over the years, was demonstrated in the joint search for a Malaysian commercial aircraft that went missing in March.
Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia Rod Smith hailed Sandakan as an important chapter in the history of military links between Australia and Malaysia.
He said the links forged on the battlefields during WW2, and strengthened through the Emergency and Confrontation in Malaysia, had continued to today.
Malaysian and Australian defence forces’ personnel were working shoulder to shoulder even now in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which went missing on March 8 on a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
“Today, Australia and Sabah’s close bond extends to education, tourism, trade and investment as well.
“These bonds between our peoples and nations will forever be strengthened by our shared past,” he said when speaking at the Sandakan Memorial Day here.
The annual memorial day is held to remember the more than 2,400 Australian and British prisoners-of-war who lost their lives while incarcerated at the Sandakan Camp and during the death marches to Ranau in central Sabah.
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