KOTA KINABALU: The Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry will only decide on what to do with the alleged remnants of the World War Two (WWII) bunker and tunnel here after getting more information from the State Heritage Council.
Its minister, Datuk Masidi Manjun, that they would be meeting up with the council’s president, Richard Nelson Sokial, on the issue.
“He would be able to brief us … we will get more information from him before we decide,” he told reporters during a hi-tea with the High Commissioner of Canada, Judith St George, here on Monday evening.
He added that there were a lot of such holes in the 1960s and when he was a student with the Sabah College, he used to see a lot of such holes and ‘facilities’ that were established during the WWII when going for the school’s cross country run.
“Whether or not there is historical value, we will decide later,” he said.
Richard claimed that the WWII bunker and tunnel has laid hidden in the heart of the city for more than two decades and it is believed that it was part of an extensive network of secret tunnels used by the Japanese military forces in Jesselton (now known as Kota Kinabalu) during the WWII.
He said that the bunker’s passageway into the hill where it is located is currently blocked by soil erosion due to last year’s torrential rains.
He added that they were planning to clear the site of unwanted man-made debris and invite war historians and experts who can work with them to see how far the bunker’s tunnel goes and how it was used.
Richard also said that they hoped to be able to share more of their discoveries with the general public.