BMA and Clothes Donation

 The Allied Forces bombed Sibu in August 1945. The atomic bombs had been dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, although not many people knew about the horrendous its aftermath. Few Sibu people had radios by then as most radios had been either destroyed or taken away by the soldiers. It was too dangerous to have a radio. My father's radio was confiscated by them so he stopped listening to BBC or the Voice of America after his inprisonment.

In fact according to several accounts, the Allied Forces had landed in Kapit and Kanowit areas and had killed many Japanese soldiers. When finally it was time for the Japanese to surrender, a group came by boat from Kanowit area (Ref : Ling Kai Cheng) 

Lau Tze Cheng mentioned in his writing that " on 17th September, 1945, a few Allied armed men came by jeep from Lanang Road to the Belian Bridge (may be Khoo Peng Loong Road now). It was at that point, the Japanese and the Allied Representatives signed the Japanese surrender of Sibu. It was a very quiet ceremony on the bridge." 

There was no welcoming in the streets of Sibu. After the signing ceremony, the Japanese left by boat towards the river mouth in the night. 

The Japanese soldiers were recalled to Kuching . As they sailed down the river, they fired a lot of bullets into the air, probably to frighten the Allied forces and the locals, as some people remembered. Not many people dared to come out to see them.

The British Military Administration was set up in Sibu, but it was the Australians managed Sibu and brought some kind of order and calm to the town for about a year, after which the British Colonial officers took over.

During the BMA, many events happened and the economy of Sibu slowly recovered.

One of the first events the people of Sibu remembered then was the donation and distribution  of used clothes to the civilians. The villagers came in their boats or the then motor launches and every one was given one set of clothings. The women and girls were given dresses and the men mainly western trousers.

A few uncles found the westerners' trousers too big and had a good laugh. 

During the war, no one could buy any textile to make clothes. Babies were given repurposed clothings, made roughly, often by hand, and young girls who were growing fast, wore over sized clothes. some men were even said they wore sirats like the Ibans, or just some cloth to cover their essential parts.

An aunt who married at 15. just before the Japanese arrived said that she was given a few yards of materials for her wedding, as her family was quite poor. She had the materials made into her maternity blouses and luckily she did not put on weight. When her child was born, the maternity blouses were used to wrap up her baby. She did not have any sarong at all, although she longed for one to carry her baby. In later life, she would always give a new sarong to friends who were expecting babies!! She also queued up for a dress and a baby shirt for her eldest. She was barely 18 and she had a two year old child.

Definitely, clothes were so hard to come by for a few years after the war.

Photo showing Unconditional surrender of
the Japanese to the Australian Forces in Kuching

My mother received a good and pretty 3/4 sleeved dress which fitted her very well. She wore it for many important occasions for a few years. And for years she would mention to us how beautiful the dress was. It had lapels, and she felt very comfortable in it. It was quite a change for her as she was dressed like a young boy for 3 years and 8 months, and she was darkened by the sun as she was a hardworking farmer.

And there was Movement Control Rules too. Chinese traders had to have a permit to bring goods up and down the Igan River, for example.

Medicines were short like during the time of war.

Lt. Colonel McCarthy was the man in command and he gave permission to raise funds for a Charitable Home to be set up in Salim. The Roman Catholic priests and nuns were invited to look after the paupers, the poor and the homeless. The Building thus allocated came to be known as the McCarthy Lodge.

It was said after BMA period, no paupers were seen in the streets of Sibu.

Generally life was not that easy.