World War 2 History & Memorial | The Strange Lighthouse And My Memories

Tanjong Lobang Lighthouse, Miri, Sarawak. I spent five years of my life living near this lighthouse. No, not next to the lighthouse but at the boarding school (Kolej Tun Datu Tuanku Haji Bujang) that shared the same area where this old lighthouse is located. This lighthouse is not the typical lighthouse you have seen elsewhere but it has a square steel skeletal tower that is similar to a power cable tower. I have not seen this lighthouse for almost 25 years but I dream about it sometimes. The most recent one was about a couple of weeks ago. The dreams are always similar - a dark and windy night, the sound of rustling leaves and waves crashing on the cliffs, and finally the flashing light. Sometimes I could hear the howling wind. There is nothing significant about this dream. Probably the memory of those dark and lonely nights from years ago is so deeply etched in my mind that it would surface in my dreams.

I didn't know much about the history of this lighthouse until years later. We didn't have the Internet back then and the information we had were limited and not easily accessible. All I knew was this place was where the Japanese Imperial forces landed in Sarawak, Borneo on 16 December 1941, nine days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. They targetted the lighthouse and destroyed it and killed the caretaker, Awang Metali. He was buried next to the lighthouse and his grave still exist today. You can see it here.

There is also a simple World War 2 Memorial and a mass grave on the site where the oil field workers of several nationalities were buried after they were killed during the Japanese Occupation. Miri and Seria oil fields became the main target for the Japanese forces after they landed in Miri. You can see the memorial/grave site here.

For five years I lived next to a historical site and according to some people it is haunted. When I was at the boarding school it was common for us to hear rumors of students experiencing some ghostly sightings. A couple of most famous tales:

1. Students claimed to hear a troop of Japanese army marching on the school field at the middle of the night. But when they went to check on it there was nothing there.

2. Students saw some headless and bloodied individuals roaming the school compounds or near the memorial site at night.

I never experienced any of this thing but I did encountered some paranormal incidents while I was a student there. I save those tales for future posts.

Here are some photos from yester years...

My school was known as Tanjong Lobang School when it was establshed in 1957. This photo is from my family album.

I was a scout and we used to hold our scout campings about 50 meters from the war memorial/lighthouse. My scout friends would probably not happy I post this here but here they are. Spot me? I was 15 back then.

The scouts on the cliffs. You can find various types of fossils on those rocks and they are dated from 9 to 15 million years ago. I used to keep some fossilized rocks but I lost them throughout the years :(

A very young yours truly ontop of the Tanjong Lobang cliffs. This is where the Japanese forces landed when they occupied Sarawak during the war. See those waves down there? I can still hear those waves in my dreams decades later.

Decades have passed and the area has changed a lot! The school has several new buildings and the old dorms where I used to stay had been torn down long time ago. There is even a new lighthouse to replace the old one that was build after Japanese occupancy. I didn't know there is a new lighthouse until I saw this photo. The top part of the old tower is placed next to the new lighthouse. I don't know why they didn't get rid of it, it's rusty and unsafe. It has some sentimental value, I guess.

The Sketch

Obviously I am not familiar with the new lighthouse, so I sketched the one I knew. The one that emits those flashing lights in my dreams. Here are the progress photos.

Thank you for visiting! What do you think of this post? Please leave your comments below.

My previous posts:

Stencil Watercolor Art | Mistakes and Regrets

Acrylic Painting | The Evil In All Of Us

A Year Younger | Today Is My Birthday!

Preliminary Sketch Of A New Portrait

A Trip To The National Planetarium

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