Petagas War memorial
A monument was erected over the grave and the surrounding was made into a garden in perpetual memory of a group of guerrillas called “The Kinabalu Guerrillas” led by Albert Kwok who sacrificed their life to protect their mother land of Sabah while fighting the Japanese military forces during the World War II. The names of all those whose remains were buried here and all other known guerilla force members and sympathizers, followers and supporters who had been killed by the Japanese military forces. Later, this monument and the garden were improved during the year 1979 by the Kota Kinabalu Municipal Council and funded by the Sabah state goverment.
The story : In January 1942, a patriotic local youth named Albert Kwok lead an underground guerilla force of more than 300 young men from various communities in Sabah and recruited them to fight against the Japanese military forces. On 21st Jan 1944, 176 men of guerillas were transported by railway cargo wagons from the ‘Batu Tiga’ prison to Petagas where they were brutally executed. Before, 96 were detainees including guerillas were tortured and killed at the ‘Batu Tiga’ prison camp and a further 131 were sent to Labuan to serve their various terms of imprisonment but 117 of them died of starvation, maltreatment and torture.
Location : 9km from the Kota Kinabalu city centre, in front of KKIA T1.
Made In Sabah 