RM400,000 facelift for Penang anti-Japanese war memorial

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Overseas Chinese Anti-Japanese War Memorial at the Air Itam roundabout is undergoing a RM400,000 facelift in conjunction with its 60th anniversary.

Kong Min School board of trustees chairman Datuk Chuang Keng Kung said work was expected to be completed by Nov 11.

The memorial was originally built by the Penang China Relief Fund, a Penang-based fund-raising organisation, in memory of the Penang Chinese who died under Japanese occupation in World War II.

However, after the organisation was disbanded in 1952, the responsibility of managing the memorial was passed on to the Kong Min School board of trustees.

The whitewashed obelisk commemorates the almost 800 people who are buried nearby.

They consist of martyrs who joined the anti-Japanese resistance movement in China in the 1930s and 1940s as well as victims of Japanese atrocities during the occupation.

Chuang said three features would be added to the memorial to enhance its historical value and tourist appeal.

“They will highlight the memories and painful lessons of the war and instil awareness among the people in promoting peace in the world,” he said at a press conference here yesterday.

Chuang said there would be a model of Chinese transport volunteers pushing a truck up a slope along the Burma-Yunnan Road.

“There will also be a relief wall with carvings featuring volunteers and trucks being bombed and shot at by Japanese aircraft as well as a column featuring pigeons circulating around them,” he said.

Chuang added that two display panels would also be installed at the entrance to the monument with inscriptions introducing the monument in Malay, English, Chinese and Japanese. Also present at the press conference was Air Itam assemblyman Wong Hon Wai.