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KWUNG LIM
KWUNG LIM (shown in nominal roll as KWUNG LUNG) being duly sworn with the assistance of the Interpreter LAURIE CHAN, of ANGAU, gives the following evidence:- I an a Chinese and was residing in CANTON when I was taken into custody by the JAPANESE about December 1941. I went from CANTON to SAIGON. From SAIGON to DUTCH EAST INDIES and from there to the BUIN area where I have been for nearly four years. I was on SHORTLAND ISLAND for about three months about March 42. While I was on SHORTLAND ISLAND I saw about 300 white men. One of them could speak a little Chinese and I had a conversation with him. I think he and the others were AUSTRALIANS as they wore AUSTRALIAN slouch hats. They were mostly dressed in khaki - shirts and long trousers. They were all working, some were loading stones on a truck and others were unloading trucks at the aerodrome. (Witness with the Interpreter looks at the map and identifies the island as BALLALE and not SHORTLAND ISLAND). The prisoners were concentrated at the western end of the island. On one occasion after an ALLIED plane had dropped a bomb on a Jap kitchen which killed about 4 Japs they beat all the Australians. As each one entered the compound after work he was struck with a piece of timber about 5 ft long and about 5 inches in diameter all about the body. About 10 Jap guards took turns at the beatings. Each one was struck about 7 or 8 times. The JAPANESE unit appeared to be a Marine Unit as they wore anchors on their caps. The name of the unit was OSAKI UNIT (MARINES). (See Chinese writing attached). There was a Sergeant in charge of the party that beat the AUSTRALIANS. Four of the AUSTRALIANS were beaten into unconsciousness, revived with buckets of cold water and then beaten again. The four AUSTRALIANS were so badly beaten. that I think they were likely to die within a few days. A lot of the soldiers were wearing two stripes - and three stripes. They were AUSTRALIAN badges of rank. (Witness is shown AUSTRALIAN Sgt’s stripes in the correct and then in the upside down positions and identifies the correct position as identical to the stripes above referred to). The stripes were only on one arm. I did not see any wearing the badges of rank of an officer. On one occasion the Australian who could speak Chinese came and asked me for a cigarette. The Australian was a private. He appeared to be a full-blooded Australian without any strain of Chinese. On me occasion as he was passing I asked him “Where do you all come from". The soldier replied “We all come from Singapore”. A lot of the Australian prisoners were without hats and the hats which the others wore were old and I do not remember seeing any colour patches on them. The Australian prisoners all looked starved and very pale and thin. Some of the Australians were so weak that their mates used to try and hide them when they were working and used to support them on both sides to help them to walk back to the compound. One night Allied planes came over about midnight and bombed the island heavily. A number of bombs landed in the Australian area. Next morning when the Australians marched past there were only about a hundred of them left. The Japanese did not allow the Australians to dig slit trenches for themselves for protection against air raids. I saw the Australians carrying the bodies of their dead and I know they were buried in one grave the position of which I could locate now. The Japanese permitted the Chinese to dig small slit trenches for themselves. There were about 30 Chinese on the Island at the time and there are about three or four of them here in this compound. The names of the other three are LEE KONG, CHONG SY KWONG and HO CHENG. (Their Llamas are written in Chinese on the attached list). In the bombing raid about 40 or 50 Australians were wounded and wore left in their compound without any medical attention. During the next fortnight I saw about forty Australians bodies put into rice sacks which contained big stones. I saw them load these sacks a motor boat which went a short distance out to sea and they wre then thrown overboard. When I left the Island there were about 80 Australians left alive. Since the night of the bombing raid I have not seen the Australian with whom I had had conversations in Chinese. This Australian on one occasion on one occasion told me that they were hungry and were not given half enough to eat by the Japanese. I do not know the name of the guards who beat the Australians but I could recognise them if I saw them again. About a year after I left BALLALE one of the Jap guards in the BUIN area told me that he thought all the remaining Australians were dead. I have been working for the Japanese in the BUIN area from the time I left BALLALE until the war finished. On one occasion which may have beem about April or May 1943 or may have been later I saw the incident related by CHER CHEE when a Chinese was made to drink water and was then made to lie down with a plank across his stomach and a JAPANESE sitting on each end. The Chinese reported to the guards that he was sick and could not work but the guards said he would have to work and when he did not work but was lying on the ground one of the guards forced him to drink a large amount of water which caused his stomach to swell up. They than placed a board across his stomach and two of them stood on it. One Japanese held each end of the plank down while two more jumped on the plank over his body. This forced the water back through his mouth. The Chinese was still alive when I last saw him but seemed to be in a very bad condition. The Japanese were soldiers but I do not know their unit or any of their names but think I could recognise some of them. 6 Oct 1945
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