Remembering deeds of Sikh pioneer

SABAH historian Avtar Singh said this was the first time a member of his family attended the ceremony to remember his grandfather, Gurbax Singh, who was a resident and a Royal Air Force volunteer on the island. 

“It is something we have perhaps taken for granted all these years by not realising the significance of the ceremony and remembering his contributions and sacrifices during the war,” he said.

“He (Gurbax) symbolises many things about what it means to be Malaysian today. He defended Labuan as a youth and was a prisoner of war but never said much about his experiences in the prison camps except that it was a barbaric period. 

Gurbax established the first Indian Association of North Borneo in 1936 and served as a volunteer at the Royal Navy Seaplane base in Labuan up to the start of the Japanese occupation in Labuan in early January 1942. 

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He was tasked with destroying the fuel depot before the Japanese landed on Labuan Island but was initially not arrested by the Japanese as he was also the community leader for Indians on the island.

In 1943, he was brought in for questioning about his activities relating to a hidden radio transmitter in the Northern end of the Island, before being tortured into admitting to helping hide the radio transmitter at the request of the resident of Labuan prior to the invasion.

Gurbax was interned as a Prisoner of War and used as forced labour in building of the Labuan Air Strip, the site of the current Labuan Airport.

After the war, Gurbax went on to serve in the Labuan Police Force as an Inspector and earned the nickname “Towkay Gurbax Singh.” 

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He was also a member of the Labuan Council and was a senior member of the North Borneo Amateur Athletics Association. Gurbax passed away at 72 in 1979.

He was cremated at the northern end of the Labuan airport air strip in remembrance of his contribution to the island.

Gurbax Singh’s grandfather Bhagat Singh was the first Sikh to officially arrive in Borneo to serve as a policeman at the Labuan Coal mines at Tanjung Kubong, in 1868.

As the number of Sikh policemen recruited to serve increased, Bhagat established a Sikh Gurdwara on Labuan Island.

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Bhagat left the police force to join William Cowie, a Scottish businessman in the early 1880s in Brunei where he was employed by Cowie in helping to establish a coal mining and tobacco business under a concession given to Cowie by the Sultan of Brunei, Sultan Abdul Momin.

Remembrance Day was organised by Labuan Corporation along with NGOs and with the assistance of local island resident historian, Willie Teo.