Batu Lintang camp Batu Lintang camp ( also known as Lintang Barracks and Kuching POW camp ) at Kuching , Sarawak on the island of Borneo was a Japanese internment camp during the Second World War . It was unusual in that it housed both Allied prisoners of war ( POWs ) and civilian internees . The camp , which operated from March 1942 until the liberation of the camp in September 1945 , was housed in buildings that were originally British Indian Army barracks . The original area was extended by the Japanese , until it covered about 50 acres ( 20 hectares ) . The camp population fluctuated , due to movement of prisoners between camps in Borneo , and as a result of the deaths of the prisoners . It had a maximum population of some 3 , 000 prisoners . Life in the camp was harsh , with POWs and internees alike forced to endure food shortages , disease and sickness for which scant medicine was made available , forced labour , brutal treatment , and lack of adequate clothing and living quarters . Of the 2 , 000 - odd British POWs held there , over two thirds died during or as a result of their captivity . The construction and operation of a secret radio for over 2½ years , from February 1943 until the liberation of the camp , was a morale booster and allowed the prisoners to follow the progress of the war . Discovery would have resulted in certain death for those involved . Following the unconditional surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945 , the camp was liberated on 11 September 1945 by the Australian 9th Division . On liberation , the camp population was 2 , 024 , of whom 1 , 392 were POWs , 395 were male civilian internees and 237 were civilian women and children . Amongst official Japanese papers found at the camp following its liberation were two " death orders " . Both described the proposed method of execution of every POW and internee in the camp . The first order , scheduled for enactment on 17 or 18 August , was not carried out ; the second was scheduled to take place on 15 September . The timely liberation of the camp may have prevented the murder of over 2 , 000 men , women and children . In July 1948 , a teachers ' training college moved to the site , where it continues to this day , the oldest such establishment in Malaysia . Location and organisation . Kuching lies some up the Sarawak River from the sea ; the camp was situated some to the southeast of Kuching . The barracks were built by the Sarawak Government in early 1941 , when Britain , in agreement with the Rajah of Sarawak , sent the 2nd Battalion , 15th Punjab Regiment of the British Indian Army ( 2 / 15th Punjab Regiment ) to defend Sarawak in case of attack by the Japanese . The camp was near completion for occupation by May 1941 . The Japanese first invaded the island of Borneo in mid December 1941 , landing on the west coast near Miri ; invasion was completed by 23 January 1942 when they landed at Balikpapan on the east coast . The first Allied prisoners held in the camp were about 340 British and Indian soldiers who were interned there in mid - March 1942 . In time , it held both Allied POWs and Allied civilian internees . Local Sarawakians including ethnic Chinese were not interned in the camp , although some were imprisoned in Kuching gaol . Allied civilian prisoners came almost exclusively from different territories on Borneo : from North Borneo ( now Sabah ) , from Brunei , from the Straits Settlements island of Labuan , and from Sarawak , all of which were under British control , and from Dutch Borneo ( now Kalimantan ) . In contrast , the POWs were brought to Batu Lintang from places such as mainland Malaya and Java as well as from Borneo . Many spent time at transit or temporary camps , such as the one at Berhala Island , North Borneo , prior to their transfer to Batu Lintang . The camp officially opened on 15 August 1942 , at which time a commemoration stone was erected at the camp . The camp commandant was Lieutenant - Colonel ( Lt . - Col . ) Tatsuji Suga . Suga was the commandant of all POW and internees ’ camps in Borneo ; there were others at Jesselton ( later Kota Kinabalu ) , Sandakan and briefly on Labuan island and also at Tarakan , Banjarmasin and Kandangan ; Suga was often absent from Batu Lintang as a result . His second - in - command was Lieutenant ( later Captain ) Nagata ; some sources say Negata or Nekata ) . Most of the camp guards were Koreans , with a few Formosans ( Taiwanese ) . There was a range of administrative buildings , quartermaster ’ s stores , guard houses , guards ’ quarters and a camp hospital . Throughout its operation , all the camps at Batu Lintang , including the internee ones , were conducted under prisoner - of - war rules . The entire camp was surrounded by a perimeter barbed wire fence . The internees were segregated into categories and assigned separate compounds , each of which was also surrounded by barbed wire fencing . There were 8 - 10 compounds , although their make - up varied through the period of operation of the camp . The make - up was determined by the arrival and departure of different groups of prisoners as Batu Lintang camp was also used as a transit camp : at one point some of the Australian and British soldiers who were later to die on the Sandakan Death Marches were held at the camp . Contact between the inhabitants of the different compounds was forbidden and transgressors were severely punished . The main groups of POWs were British officer s , Australian officers and non - commissioned officer s ( NCOs ) , Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( KNIL ) officers , British Other Ranks , British Indian Army ( 2nd / 15th Punjab Regiment ) personnel , Netherlands East Indies ( Indonesian ) KNIL soldiers . The British and Australian personnel had mostly been sent from Malaya and Singapore , after the Allied surrender there , whereas the KNIL soldiers and the Punjab Regiment had defended Borneo . The civilian internees were mostly Dutch Roman Catholic priest s , British civilians ( including children ) , and British and Dutch Catholic nuns . Each compound had its own " camp master " ( or " camp mistress " , in the case of the women ' s compound ) . The camp master was responsible for liaising between the internees and the Japanese authorities . Each compound contained a number of long barrack buildings , usually , each of which housed 30 - 100 people . A barrack master was appointed for each building . The camp and barrack masters were appointed by Colonel Suga . In addition , the Dutch other ranks and about 50 British soldiers were stationed in a separate compound at the Kampong Batu Tujoh airfield ( also known as Bukit Stabah ) , near Kuching . The camp included areas that had once been a rubber tree plantation , and some of the trees remained inside the compounds , providing a limited amount of shade . Compounds . Living conditions within the compounds were cramped . Each person was allotted a very small space within a barrack building within which to sleep , keep the few personal possessions they had with them , and also to eat , as there was no communal area within the barracks . Daily life in the camp . Life in the camp is summed up by Keat Gin Ooi : " " The trying conditions of life under internment at Batu Lintang camp tested to the limits of the human struggle for survival . Food shortages , diseases and sickness , death , forced labor , harsh treatment , and deplorable living quarters were daily occurrences in camp . " " The civilian internees were treated less harshly than the POWs ; of those POWs , the other ranks were subjected to far worse treatment than the officers . Work . The male civilian internees ' regulations ( prepared by the internees themselves ) stated that " " Any persons who are not performing some useful work in war - time are failing in their moral obligation . Internees should therefore do their best to do such work as . . . agriculture , farming , and stock - breeding , in order to increase the supply of foodstuffs to the camp . " " Some male civilian internees chose to cultivate land around their compound in order to become self - supporting ; however , the other work imposed on them meant that they never cultivated the land to its full effect . Some refused to carry out this work , even though it was for the common good . Work included wood - gathering parties , latrine duties , working as cookhouse staff and medical orderlies . Sundays were a rest day , but these were later cut to one in every three weeks . POWs and male civilian internees were forced to work as stevedores and in timber yards at Kuching harbour on the Sarawak River and from October 1942 , on the extension of the two runways at the Batu Tujoh landing ground to the south of Kuching , where a small sub - camp was constructed . Another sub - camp was made at Dahan , where the Japanese re - opened an old mercury mine , and used POWs to construct access roads . Such work was prohibited by the 1907 Hague Convention , to which Japan was a signatory . Although it was against international law to force the prisoners to work on projects with a military objective , they were informed that refusal to work on these projects would result in their execution . Other forced labour included refuelling the Zero fighters that used the runways ; however , this happened only once as the men sabotaged the operation by adding urine and water to the fuel . The work party men were paid in what the prisoners called " camp dollars " , the printed paper currency introduced by the Japanese administration . This currency was known colloquially as " banana money " because of the banana trees pictured on the 10 dollar notes . At one point the rate was 25 cents a day for officers and NCOs and 10 cents a day for other ranks . As time went on , the working parties became smaller , as there was a lack of available men due to sickness and death . The women were at first allowed to undertake domestic tasks around their compound ; later they were forced to undertake work for the Japanese such as mending uniforms , for which they were also paid in camp dollars . In the later part of the war , when the food shortages had become critical , all internees , male and female , were also used as agricultural labourers on the land around the camp , to produce food for their Japanese captors . The prisoners referred to themselves as " white coolies " . Only 30 men were fit enough to attend the final work parties in 1945 ; the rest were either too ill , or already dead . Food . Rations were always meagre but decreased in both quantity and quality as the war progressed . The women and children drew the same rations as the men . The Japanese controlled all food supplies , releasing only what was needed for the day . At the beginning , the rations comprised rice and local vegetables ( such as " kangkung " ) , with every 10 days or so some pork ( such as offal , or a head , or some poor - meat bearing part of the animal ) . The daily rice ration in late 1943 was 11 ounces ( 312 grams ) a day ; by the end of the war the rice ration was about 4 ounces ( 113 grams ) per man daily . In September 1944 , children were recorded as receiving of milk a day . A black market emerged in which the main merchants were a Dutch - Indonesian couple , who obtained goods from a Japanese guard and sold them for a profit to those with cash or tradable goods . At the times of greatest hardship the internees were so hungry that they were reduced to eating snakes , rubber nuts ( which were believed to be poisonous ) , snails and frogs , and rats , cats and dogs if they could be caught . On special occasions an extra ration would be introduced . In the British POW compounds 58 chickens were provided for 1 , 000 men for Christmas 1942 ; the next Christmas the women received a single turkey to share between 271 women and children . At Christmas 1944 , their last in captivity , the internees received a single egg each . Only one Red Cross supply of parcels was received by the prisoners between March 1942 and September 1945 . This arrived in March 1944 and worked out at one sixth of a parcel per person : a single tin of food . Prisoners occasionally were able to buy or barter chicks which they raised on worms and beetles and rice sweepings from the quartermaster ' s store floor ( other edible food scraps being too precious to use ) . If female these provided much - needed eggs . Health . A camp hospital was set up and run by a Japanese medical officer , Dr . Yamamoto . The prisoners believed that his policy was " " live and let die " " , and the hospital became " " a filthy germ - ridden death hole " " . Lionel E . Morris , a sapper with the British Army Royal Engineers , wrote that Yamamoto " " never attended to . . . sick or diseased men " " . Yamamoto issued an order than no rations were to be issued to men in the hospital . The prisoners pooled their food and the sick were provided for even though it meant all others went short . Care of all prisoners was left to the camp doctors , such as Colonel King and Captain Bailey in the POWs ' compounds and Dr . Gibson in the women ’ s compound . The hospital comprised three huts in January 1943 and housed both POWs and civilians . The standard of accommodation was very low and crowded , and facilities were virtually non - existent . A hut was later built for tuberculosis patients . In early September 1945 the camp hospital comprised about 30 beds under the care of Lt . - Col . E . M . Sheppard . Little medicine was available to the internees from the Japanese : they provided small amounts of quinine and aspirins . Morris recounts how Yamamoto would quite often beat sick men until they fell down , especially if they approached him for drugs . Few Red Cross supplies were available and most medication was bought or bartered from the outside world or from the guards themselves . No anaesthesia was available for operations . The main source of medical supplies in early 1943 was a pro - Allied ethnic Chinese family who lived nearby and were assisting in the provision of materials for the construction of a radio . Disease . The mortality rate amongst the British soldiers was extremely high : ⅔ of the population of POWs died in the camp . It was suggested that this high rate was because most had come direct from Europe and were not acclimatised and had no idea about the importance of tropical hygiene . Tropical ulcers — which are often diphtheria appearing as a secondary infection of a skin disease — were a common medical complaint , along with dysentery , malaria , beri - beri , dengue , scabies , and septic bites and sores . 600 men out of 1000 were unfit for work in January 1943 owing to beri beri and skin conditions . Deaths from dysentery increased towards the end of the period of captivity . A British NCO , E . R . Pepler , commented that " " [ m ] en wasted away from their normal weight of over ten stone [ 140 " lb " / 64 " kg " ] to three or four stones [ 42 - 56 " lb " / 19 - 25 " kg " ] . . . As the time passed on to 1945 , the deaths in our camp [ from dysentery ] were taking place at two or three every day " " . Malnutrition . Malnutrition caused most of the invalidity and was a major factor in the high mortality rate in the camp , ascribed as the chief cause of death in 600 deaths in the camp . It was considered by the relieving forces that the Japanese were pursuing a policy of deliberate starvation . The basic diet only contained 1 . 5 ounces ( 44 grams ) of protein and had a calorific value of 1600 . J . L . Noakes , a male civilian internee wrote : " " In common with many others I experienced the pain of food deficiency disease and by May 1944 it was difficult to work and nights were a torture . My eyes failed rapidly and it became impossible to read or to distinguish objects clearly . The death rate for the whole camp jumped at an alarming rate and we began to realise that we must now begin a real fight for existence . " " By November 1944 the suffering caused by malnutrition was profound , as recorded by Hilda E . Bates , a female civilian internee who was a nurse based in Jesselton prior to the war : " " We are having a particularly hungry period and [ I ] can quite truthfully say that our mouths water , and that we ' slaver ' as dogs do before meals . Some of us find it advisable to rise slowly after lying down , as due to malnutrition , any rapid movement is apt to cause dizziness or even a black - out . . . one morning recently I awoke and discovered to my horror that my sight had become very dim . Later I realised this was due to vitamin deficiency in our poor diet . " " By the end of their third year of internment , most women suffered from amenorrhoea due to malnutrition . In May 1945 Hilda Bates met some of the male civilian internees at the funeral of a friend : " " I was horrified to see their condition . Some had formerly been strong men of twelve to fourteen stone " [ 168 - 196 lb / 76 - 89 kg ] " in weight , but were now reduced to mere shadows of themselves , and weighed less than eight stone " [ 112 lb / 51 kg ] " . . . [ In ] the soldiers camp . . . many of the men were just skeletons , — crawling about , as few were able to stand upright . Even our toddlers received the same rations as these poor [ souls ] , and the children are still hungry , so what must have been the suffering of those men , many of whom are hardly more than boys ? " " On 30 August 1945 , after Suga had officially informed the prisoners of the Japanese surrender but before the liberation of the camp , Hilda Bates visited the sick POWs : " " I was horrified to see the condition of some of the men . I was pretty well hardened to sickness , dirt and disease , but never had I seen anything like this in all my years of nursing . Pictures of hospitals during the Crimean War showed terrible conditions , but even those could not compare with the dreadful sights I met on this visit . Shells of men lay on the floor sunken - eyed and helpless ; some were swollen with hunger , oedema and ber - beri , others in the last stages of dysentery , lay unconscious and dying . They had no pillows or clothes , few cups , fewer bowls , or even medical supplies . [ . . . ] There were three hundred desperately sick men , many unable to help themselves , or to carry food to their mouths . Throughout our internment , we women had begged to be allowed to nurse the soldiers , but the Japanese refused our offer , saying this would be indecent " " . On his release , L . E . Morris , who was one of the " healthy " prisoners , weighed five stone , three pounds ( ) . Brutality . Brutality by the guards was another factor that damaged the health of many of the prisoners . Hilda Bates described the guards ' treatment of the male prisoners : " " Their favourite methods of punishment are either kicking below the waist with their heavy army boots , face slapping or striking the head with a rifle butt " " . Failure to bow properly to a guard was a common cause of a beating . Hilda Bates wrote of " " One male internee [ who ] was paralysed for a week following Japanese brutality , simply because he had not made his bow in what the Japs considered a proper manner " " . E . R . Pepler recorded that " " a favourite punishment was to make the offender stand in the blazing sun with his arms above his head holding a log of wood . If the prisoner or his arms sagged , he was punched or kicked . This treatment usually lasted until the prisoner completely collapsed " " . Prisoners suspected of more serious misdemeanours were taken by the Japanese military police , the " Kempeitai " , for interrogation at the former Sarawak Police headquarters in Kuching . Torture was a common method of extracting information . After the Japanese defeat , an Australian war crimes investigation team worked in Kuching from the liberation until January 1946 . Of around 120 guards , more than 70 had a crime or crimes ascribed to them . Clothing . Clothing wore out quickly : the tropical climate meant that clothes had to be washed every day , and the rigours of labouring in them meant that they soon became torn , worn and threadbare . An enterprising male internee , J . R . Baxter , entered the camp with two pairs of shorts ; as they wore out he constructed a new pair from them by glueing together the constituent parts with latex from the rubber trees growing in the camp . The Japanese did not provide replacement clothing for the prisoners when their clothes wore out . After a period male internees and POWs were issued with a loincloth and perishable rubber shoes , which soon degraded and meant in effect that most prisoners went barefoot . The women fared a little better , often bartering possessions for material : clothes were fashioned out of whatever material was to hand , such as sheets and breakfast cloths . Many of the women kept their best clothes unworn in readiness for their expected eventual liberation , while their other clothes became more and more shabby . Prior to their liberation , supplies were dropped by the Australians . Hilda Bates recorded : " " The soldiers received shorts , shoes , and blankets with instructions not to appear naked in future ! " " . Purchasing , bartering and smuggling . Prisoners were able to buy a small range of provisions from their captors at Japanese prices , which escalated as the war went on . Black marketeering was sometimes tolerated by the guards , as they themselves were involved in the buying or exchanging of goods , and at other times punished severely . Although contact with the outside world was forbidden , there were plenty of opportunities to communicate with the locals . Firewood - gathering gangs in the jungle were able to make contact and arrange purchases when the guards were not paying attention ; at other times these transactions were permitted with the permission of and in the presence of a lenient Japanese guard . Gold , in the form of rings and jewellery , and British pounds were in demand by the Japanese guards . Such was the desperation of the prisoners towards the end of their internment that two soldiers disinterred a recently buried body in order to retrieve the dead man ' s wedding ring . Smuggling became an integral part of camp life , and despite frequent searches , foodstuffs in particular were smuggled into the camp ( for example , dried fish was nailed to the underside of wooden bins , and the inside of a hat was a favourite hiding place ) . Occasional dangerous night - time forays to outside the camp netted foodstuffs such as a chicken or eggs or fruit . The Japanese currency ( the " camp dollars " ) was used by the prisoners illicitly to purchase supplies from the locals . Social life . Le Gros Clark , as men ' s camp master , issued regular official bulletins to his compound regarding meetings with Suga and other Japanese officers . Communication between the various compounds and with the outside world was forbidden . Married male internees were refused permission to see their wives and children on Christmas Day , 1943 . Occasional , irregular meetings were allowed between married couples . Pre - printed postcards to be sent home with stock phrases such as " I am well " and " We have plenty of food " were issued occasionally ; Agnes Keith records that these were issued three times a year but in May 1945 it was decided that a certain percentage of the camp had to include a propaganda sentence in addition to the 25 permitted words of free text . She wrote : " " I decided that [ the sentences ] were all so obvious that my people would know they were propaganda . I sent the following card : " " " Seven communications sent . Seven received . Health moderate . George " [ Keith ' s son ] " well , energetic , roughneck , reminds me my brother . Fed - up with war . Hopes deferred . Borneo is a beautiful place for living , a dreamland where the scenery is beautiful , little birds sing , very delicious fruits grow , we are very happy here . Agnes , Harry , " [ Keith ' s husband ] " George " " " " My aunt told me later that she had never felt as downhearted about my fate as when she received that card . She said that obviously I had lost my mind . " " Sacks of undelivered mail both to and from the prisoners were discovered in the camp on liberation . Working bee s were held at Christmas time to make gifts for the children : worn - out clothing was cut up and sleeves , collars , and hems were cut from clothing still in use to provide materials for soft toys . More robust toys , such as scooters , carts , swords , and guns were made from materials such as barbed wire and the wood of rubber trees in and around the compounds . The nuns provided food and gifts for each child . The Japanese officers also gave sweets and biscuits to the children at Christmas . A concert was organised for Christmas 1942 , as well as inter - compound games ; another less lavish Christmas concert took place in 1943 , and a concert party was briefly established before disbanding due to the illness and death of its members . Lt . Frank " Tinker " Bell was largely responsible for conceiving and organising what became known by the prisoners as the " Kuching University " . This operated in the British officers ' compound . Under Japanese regulations prisoners were forbidden to teach , to learn , to compile or possess notes on any subject whatever , or to meet in groups for discussion . The penalty for disobedience was imprisonment or death . Despite this the university , led by Bell , established classes in seven modern languages , as well as subjects as diverse as history , public speaking , navigation , pig - farming , civics and poultry keeping . Bell and his fellow educators organised courses , compiled text books , led classes , and awarded diplomas . Classes were often held in the evenings when dusk or darkness gave some protection against surprise by their captors . Paper for writing exercises and for compiling textbooks was always at a premium : books were fashioned out of paper from soap wrappers , newspaper , the backs of letters and envelopes , and cigarette paper . These were bound into books and often covered with sarong material . Other informal clubs , mainly comprising discussion groups , were established in the other compounds . They covered topics such as chess and draughts ( checkers ) , book - keeping , sailing , and French conversation lessons . A central library for all the camp was run from the British Officers ' compound , with books donated by the internees and some from the civilian library in Kuching town . Cemetery . Initially the dead were buried in the cemetery at Kuching . The high death rate meant that this was soon filled , however , and in November 1942 a new cemetery area was created next to the camp at an area to the south - east known as " Boot Hill " . The cemetery was within sight of the camp . At first the dead were buried in coffins , but soon the number of fatalities and the shortage of timber meant that shrouds made from rice sacks or blankets were used instead . The bodies were carried to the grave in a wooden coffin with a hinged bottom , which allowed re - use . Hilda Bates wrote in June 1945 : " " I am horrified at the increased number of graves in the burial ground . Deaths are now so frequent , that a party of grave diggers is now permanently employed , and given extra rations in order that they will have the strength to dig " " . After liberation the bodies were exhumed from the cemetery and sent to Labuan for reburial in a central military cemetery there . A large number of the graves of prisoners from Batu Lintang now at Labuan are unidentified : after the Japanese surrender Suga destroyed many camp records . The cemetery in Labuan is cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission . The radio ( the " Old Lady " ) and generator ( " Ginnie " ) . Information on the outside world was gathered from a variety of sources , such as from co - workers of the Batu Lintang work parties at Kuching docks . An invaluable boost to the prisoners ' morale was provided by a secret radio , from which they were able to learn about the progress of the war . This had been constructed from scavenged and bartered parts . A generator was later constructed to power the radio . The construction of the radio was ordered by Russell . He and some 1150 other POWs had arrived at Batu Lintang on 13 October 1942 from Tanjung Priok camp in Java , where a small group of men had worked on constructing a radio . His proposal was initially met with a distinct lack of enthusiasm , as discovery would result in certain death . One of these men was G . W . Pringle , a member of the British military police . He wrote " Do these madmen ever seriously consider these idiotic plans before putting men ' s lives in danger ? " It was known that ethnic Chinese people in Sarawak were pro - Allied , and so contact was made with the Ongs , the leading Chinese family in Kuching , who lived about a mile from the camp , to see if they could assist in providing parts . The first night - time attempt , by G . W . Pringle , was a failure as he could not find his way through the dense jungle to the house . A reconnoitre mission was required . To achieve this , Russell suggested to Dr Yamamoto that as the area was a breeding ground for mosquitoes ( with the resultant risk of malaria , which would affect Japanese and prisoner alike ) , the jungle should be cleared and sprayed . Pringle took part on this working party and was able to plot his route . He subsequently made contact and Ong Tiang Swee , Kapitan China of Sarawak and the patriarch of the Ong family , agreed to help . Ong instructed his grandson , Kee Hui to help Pringle obtain the needed parts . This was at massive risk to the family ' s own safety as they too would have been executed if discovered . Their only condition was that they should be provided with the news gathered from the radio , in order to boost the morale of the Chinese community under occupation in Kuching . They provided some radio parts , the acquisition of which must have been a considerable task as all radio equipment had been confiscated by the Japanese . The radio was built and operated in the British other ranks ' compound . The maker of the radio was Warrant Officer Leonard A . T . Beckett , an experienced radio engineer , who was assisted in its construction , operation , and concealment by a core group of three other soldiers . Before Beckett could begin on the radio he first had to make some of the tools needed , such as a lathe and a soldering iron . In addition to the genuine radio parts provided by the Chinese family and a few parts brought along with the men from Tanjung Priok , the radio was constructed from items as diverse as a deaf aid , the steering damper of a Norton motorcycle , a bakelite shaving soap container , an army mess tin , the backing of an old map case , pieces of glass , wire , mica and barbed wire , and parts stolen from Japanese - owned motor cars and motorcycles . The receiver was completed within four weeks of starting . The radio was concealed during its construction in a large stewing - pot ; once completed its hiding place was in a biscuit tin buried under the bakehouse fire in the British other ranks ' compound . It was operated in the stores where it had a temporary hiding place in a false - bottomed table . Elaborate security proceedings to protect the radio were put in place , including a network of look - outs . The radio at first ran off torch batteries : these soon ran out and so Beckett constructed a power unit to run off the camp electricity supply . Access to the camp powerhouse was gained by one of the POWs who had been a professional cat burglar before the war . The radio was first used on the night of 24 February 1943 , as radio reception was better in the evening . Some of the news was bewildering to the prisoners : " " Who is this General Montgomery ? He seems to be the man we ought to have had in charge from the very beginning . A real live wire " " , wrote Pringle . The existence of the radio , referred to by many code - names but chiefly as the " Old Lady " and " Mrs Harris " , was to be a closely guarded secret , for fear of alerting the Japanese to its existence through loose talk . The commanding officers of the camp and those who had constructed and operated it were known as the " Board of Directors " , and were the only ones who knew the precise contents of the radio news received . A way of disseminating information was organised : it was arranged for rumours to be spread which contained a considerable amount of truth . Le Gros Clark , the head of the male internees , directed the dissemination of news amongst the male internees ; it was decided not to provide information to the women ' s compound . News was also passed to the Chinese once a week , carried through the jungle by Pringle . On the first exchange , without being asked , the Chinese thoughtfully provided medical supplies ; thereafter they regularly provided much - needed medicines , money , and vegetable seeds . The leaked news rumours had the desired effect and a more cheerful atmosphere was noted in the camp . The women ' s compound somehow learned of the existence of the radio and the camp mistress , Dorie Adams , asked that they should be provided with news ; to counter worries about security she suggested that the Roman Catholic priest who celebrated mass with the R . C . nuns should deliver the news as part of his service , which was always given in Latin . In early March 1943 the provision of electric power for the lighting in the internees ' compounds was halted . This was a serious blow as the radio was run off the power supply . Batteries were unavailable and so the only solution , again the idea of Russell , was to construct a generator . His idea again met with some initial scepticism : " Now I know he has gone mad " , wrote Pringle . Pringle ’ s colleagues were more enthusiastic . Beckett was sure he could build the generator and British RAOC personnel were certain they could supply the necessary components , though they thought it would take three months to make the tools needed . To disguise the noise of the work the enterprise was described as a " watch repairing factory " to the Japanese , who offered the use of various tools and other equipment . In March 1943 , after the execution of some prisoners at the Sandakan POW camp for operating a radio , the Japanese stepped up their searches at Batu Lintang . Many items essential for the construction of the generator such as magnets , wire , and scrap iron were not easily available , but the involvement of " Freddie " , one of the prisoners who was a self - confessed thief ( and most likely the same man who sorted the power supply : records are unclear ) meant that material and equipment was soon obtained . The generator needed to turn at 3 , 000 revolutions a minute , and so the fittest of the men involved in its construction was chosen to turn the wheel . He was given extra food rations to prepare him for the task . The first trial of the generator was a success , and again , Pringle recorded how news reports told of unknown figures : " " Events appeared to have been moving with unseemly haste during our enforced breaks from the news broadcasts . [ We ] listened to names we had never heard of . General Eisenhower ? General Stilwell ? " " The assembling and disassembling drill took less than thirty seconds , with both the " Old Lady " and " Ginnie " stowed in their hiding places in the hut which was occupied by cookhouse staff during the day . In June 1944 , Le Gros Clark was taken from the camp by the " kempeitai " for questioning . On his return the same day , he was considerably shaken and recommended that the radio should be destroyed . This message was relayed to the camp master of the British other ranks ' compound by Whimster , who was the senior British officer . Beckett and his colleagues were informed of this order , but were left to decide themselves what course of action to take . Realising its importance in keeping up camp morale , they decided to keep the radio , saying that " " we might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb " " , according to Pepler . Steps to safeguard the civilian internees were undertaken by cutting off news to their compounds . That same month the prisoners received news of the invasion of Normandy . Pringle recorded how , once again , the news brought unfamiliar names to the prisoners ' attention : " " ' Blood and Guts Patton ' . Now there is a name for a General ! . . . Somehow though , we feel that with a General bearing the name of ' Blood and Guts ' there is little danger of the Germans dislodging his army " " . It was clear that such important news would have a great effect in the camp ; at the same time , the rejoicing it would bring would undoubtedly alert the Japanese . It was therefore decided to provide a hint to the other prisoners , rather than the full information . This was again delivered by a priest , this time by the padre officiating at one of the numerous funeral services . He quoted Exodus chapter 15 , verses 9 and 10 , which refer to pursuing , overtaking and destroying the enemy , and the sea . News of the bombing of London by V - 2 rockets was withheld . The news of the German capitulation on 7 May 1945 was similarly cryptically relayed at a funeral by the padre . This time the verse was Exodus chapter 3 , verse 8 , concerning the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians to the land of milk and honey ; extra piquancy was added by the fact that Suga was present at this service . End of the war for Batu Lintang . In the Allied plans for the South West Pacific theatre , the responsibility for re - taking the island of Borneo was entrusted to Australian forces . Prior to the Australian landings , strategic bombing and reconnaissance missions were undertaken by the RAAF and USAAF . The first Allied planes , 15 USAAF Lockheed Lightnings were seen over the camp on the morning of 25 March 1945 , as they flew on a mission to bomb the Batu Tujoh landing ground . Raids continued sporadically over the next few weeks . A lone Flying Fortress regularly attacked targets in Kuching . The Borneo campaign was launched on 1 May 1945 , with a brigade of the Australian 9th Division landing at Tarakan , on the eastern coast of Dutch Borneo . The American armed forces provided naval and air support to assist the landings , and in some cases the Australians were assisted by the advance landings of the Services Reconnaissance Department ( SRD ) and their local allies . This was followed by landings in Brunei and Labuan on 10 June . In early July , a raid was made by Mosquito aircraft on oil and petrol dumps near to the camp . Liberation still seemed a remote prospect , however : " " As the weeks dragged by , the lone planes of the Allies were a daily occurrence and as we had realised very early that they could do nothing to help us , we hardly took any notice of them " " . The atomic bombings in Japan at Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 followed by that of Nagasaki on 9 August precipitated the abrupt end of the war . On 15 August 1945 , Japan announced its official unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers . The POWs learned of the surrender early in the morning of 15 August , in a broadcast by Radio Chungking received by the secret radio . Pringle made one last journey through the jungle to inform his Chinese friends . The news was immediately broken to the British other ranks ' compound , and quickly spread to the other compounds . Celebratory meals were prepared , with precious supplies and livestock used up . The Japanese guards were unaware of their country ' s surrender , and as the day coincided with an official camp holiday , marking the opening of the camp on 15 August three years previously , they were satisfied that the celebrations were related to the break from the working parties . The women learned shortly afterwards , when the married women had their scheduled meeting with their husbands . Under General Order No . 1 , issued on 16 August by General Douglas MacArthur , as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers , the Japanese were required to provide information on the location of all camps and were responsible for the safety of prisoners and internees , for providing them with adequate food , shelter , clothes and medical care until their care could pass to the Allied powers , and for handing over each store together with its equipment , stores , arms and ammunition and records to the senior Allied officer in each camp . Since it was known that in many areas prisoners and internees were suffering from starvation and neglect , it was of the first importance that they were contacted and recovered as soon as possible . Despite the surrender , the Japanese would remain in control of the camp until 11 September . During this period , there were no work parties and the prisoners did not suffer any beatings . " It became apparent during the next few days that the Japanese soldiers knew something had happened but were not sure what it was " , wrote Pepler . Extra food was provided by the Japanese shortly afterwards ; the camp hospital was furnished with bed chairs and mosquito nets for the first time , and substantial amounts of medicine were issued . A pamphlet in English titled " JAPAN HAS SURRENDERED " was dropped over the camp by three Beaufighters on 16 August . From 19 – 23 August , leaflets were dropped by aircraft all over known areas in which the Japanese were concentrated , giving general war news and news of the progress of the surrender . On August 19 or 20 , more leaflets were dropped on the camp . Signed by Major - General George Wootten , General Officer Commanding , 9th Division , they informed the prisoners of the surrender of Japan , and stated " " I know that you will realise that on account of your location , it will be difficult to get aid to you immediately , but you can rest assured that we will do everything within our power to release and care for you as soon as possible " " . On 24 August , Suga officially announced to the camp that Japan had surrendered . On 29 August letters were dropped on the camp , instructing the Japanese commander to make contact with the Australian commanders . The letter contained a code of panel signals which enabled Suga to indicate that he agreed to the dropping of supplies for the prisoners and that he would meet Australian representatives later . These panels were placed on the roof of one of the buildings and can be seen in the photograph at the start of the article ( above ) . Stores in long canisters ( known by the aircraftmen as " storpedos " ) were first parachuted into the camp from a RAAF Douglas Dakota on 30 August . A female internee , Hilda Bates , wrote : " " At 11 . 30 a . m . today a sea - plane dropped twenty parachutes with packages attached . One fell outside our hut and was labelled ' bread ' . Others contained flour , tinned rabbit , and other meat . The goods were collected by the Japs under the supervision of Australian Officers who distributed them to the groups of internees . All sorts of what we had thought of as luxuries arrived ; such as sugar , sweets , milk , bundles of clothing , and even fashion books ! " " . Further supplies were dropped daily ; tragedy struck on 7 September when a male civilian internee was hit and killed by a storpedo that had broken free from its parachute . The official Instrument of Surrender was signed on 2 September ending World War II . After communicating with the Japanese staff at Kuching , Colonel A . G . Wilson landed on the Sarawak River on 5 September and conferred with the commander of the Japanese forces there , who confirmed there were 2 , 024 Allied prisoners and internees in the area . The next day , Brigadier Thomas Eastick , commander of Kuching Force — a detachment from the 9th Division — flew to the mouth of the Sarawak River in a Catalina where three Japanese officers , including Suga , came aboard for talks . The task of Kuching Force was to accept the surrender of and impound the Japanese forces in the Kuching area , release and evacuate Allied prisoners and internees , and establish military control . At the meeting , Suga presented Eastick with complete nominal rolls of all compounds in the camp . On 7 September , Walsh was permitted by the Japanese to fly to the headquarters of the 9th Division on Labuan island , to collect surgical and medical supplies for the camp . He returned with two Australian medical officers , Major A . W . M . Hutson and Lt . - Col . N . H . Morgan . Pepler recorded how " " Dr Yamamoto came in for one hell of a time from these two Medical Officers when they saw the state of the majority of our camp . Up - to - date medical care and drugs soon began to show effect upon our sick and many lives were saved by these two officers . Out of the two thousand of us who entered that camp , only seven hundred and fifty survived and of these well over six hundred were chronic sick " " . Death orders . Immediately prior to the surrender of Japan , rumours abounded in the camp that the Japanese intended to execute all the prisoners rather than allow them to be freed by the approaching Allied forces ; when Dr Yamamoto informed some prisoners that they were to be moved to a new camp they naturally feared the worst , especially when he promised the unlikely idyll of a camp " " equipped with the best medical equipment obtainable . . . there would be no working parties and food would be plentiful . . . the sick men would be especially well cared for " " . Official orders to execute all the prisoners , both POWs and civilian , on 17 or 18 August 1945 were found in Suga ' s quarters after liberation of the camp . The orders were not carried out , presumably as a result of the unconditional surrender of Japan on 15 August . A " death march " , similar to those at Sandakan and elsewhere , was to have been undertaken by those male prisoners physically able to undertake it ; other prisoners were to be executed by various methods in the camp : Revised orders for the execution on 15 September 1945 of all the internees were also found , this time in the Administration Office at Batu Lintang : The camp was liberated on 11 September 1945 , four days before the revised proposed execution date of over 2 , 000 men , women and children . Liberation of the camp . On 8 – 9 September , the Royal Australian Navy corvette , with Eastick and staff officers on board , sailed for Kuching , along with . At 14 : 35 on 11 September , Eastick accepted the surrender of the Japanese forces in the Kuching area from their commander , Major - General Hiyoe Yamamura , on board HMAS " Kapunda " . Later that day the Australian occupying force landed . The 9th Division troops arrived at Batu Lintang camp that afternoon , accompanied by a few American naval officers . There was no resistance from the Japanese troops . The prisoners and internees had been forewarned that there would be no delay in taking the surrender , and quickly gathered at 17 : 00 in the main square of the camp to witness Eastick accept the sword of Suga . The Japanese finally learned of the existence of the radio in a dramatic fashion : " " The Australian Commander , Major General " [ sic ] " Eastick . . . mounted the rostrum and after accepting the sword of surrender from Suga was about to dismiss him when a shout , rising simultaneously from the throats of the Board of Directors of the ' Old Lady ' and ' Ginnie ' stopped the proceedings . ' Hold on , we have something to show you . ' Carrying the radio and generator Len [ Beckett ] proudly showed them to the General and turning to Suga , asked , ' Well , what do you think about it Suga ? ' Now I know the full meaning of the saying ' If looks could kill . ' Len would have died a horrible death " " . The following day , Suga , together with Captain Nagata and Dr Yamamoto , were flown to the Australian base on Labuan , to await their trials as war criminals . Suga committed suicide there on 16 September . Nagata and Yamamoto were later tried , found guilty and executed . Photographers and cameramen accompanied the liberating force , and the events , and those of the following days , were well - documented . On liberation , the camp contained 2 , 024 inmates : 1 , 392 prisoners ( including 882 British , 178 Australian and 45 Indian ) ; and 632 internees . The most ill prisoners were taken to Kuching Civil Hospital , which had been entirely refitted by the Australians since serving as the Japanese military hospital . On 12 September , a thanksgiving service was held in the camp , led by two Australian chaplains from the liberating force and Bishop Francis S . Hollis of Sarawak , an ex - internee . This was followed by a parade held in honour of Wootten , as commander of the 9th Division . In appreciation of Beckett ' s work on the radio , fellow ex - prisoners in the camp subscribed over £1 , 000 for him , a massive sum of money for the time , which Beckett intended to use to set up a wireless business in London , his hometown . Beckett was later awarded the British Empire Medal for his work on the radio . Repatriation commenced on 12 September , and by 14 September , 858 former prisoners had been removed , though pressure of numbers meant that some were still at Batu Lintang a week after liberation . Ex - prisoners were transported by ship ( including " Wanganella " , an Australian hospital ship ) and in eight Douglas Dakotas and two Catalinas , to the 9th Division ' s " Released Prisoners of War and Internees Reception Camp " , and the 2 / 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station ( CCS ) on Labuan , before continuing their journeys homeward . The captured Japanese soldiers were then held at Batu Lintang camp . There they were visited by J . B . Archer , an ex - internee , who noted " There were about eight thousand of them . . . it was difficult not to feel aggrieved at the good treatment they were receiving compared to what we had received at their hands . A lunch of fried rice , fish , vegetable and dried fruit was shown to me . This , I was told , was just an ordinary sample . " Post - war . By June – July 1946 , the bodies in the cemetery at Batu Lintang had been exhumed and reburied in the military cemetery on Labuan island . In 1947 , a grant was approved for the establishment of a teachers ' training college on the site . It exists as such to the present day , the oldest in Malaysia . Of the numerous huts that had housed the prisoners , only 21 were considered fit for use in 1947 ; after refurbishment the college moved in July 1948 from its temporary home in Kuching to the site at Batu Lintang . The huts have gradually been replaced over the years , although a few remnants of the site ' s former life remain . These include a single hut ( albeit with a galvanised roof rather than the attap ( palm leaf ) one of the war ) , the old gate posts , the gate bunker and stump of the Japanese flag pole . There is also a small museum on the site . " Three Came Home " , an account of female internee Agnes Newton Keith ' s time in the camp , was published in 1947 . It was later made into a feature film of the same name , with Claudette Colbert playing the part of Agnes , Patric Knowles playing her husband Harry and Sessue Hayakawa in the role of Suga . The Union Jack which had been draped over the coffins of prisoners of war at the camp , and which had been raised in the camp on the Japanese capitulation , was placed in All Saints Church , Oxford in April 1946 , together with two wooden memorial plaques . After the deconsecration of the church and their temporary loss , in 1993 the flag and plaques were housed in Dorchester Abbey . The Australian War Memorial in Canberra , Australia holds a large archive of material related to the camp , much of which is accessible on the AWM website in the collections databases . In England , the Imperial War Museum in London also houses material about the camp , as does the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House in Oxford . Many of the personal recollections held at the latter two repositories are reproduced in the 1998 publication by Keat Gin Ooi ( see below for full reference ) .